JeepinGeo Senior Member Joined: 5 Dec 2007 Posts: 175 Location: Campbell, CA Expertise: I love coffee
Espresso: Alex Duetto, Silvia Grinder: Mazzer SJ (x2), Rocky DL
Posted Tue Aug 21, 2012, 1:56pm Subject: Re: Duetto II steam boiler not working!
emradguy Said:
Chris' says there's no different in the home environment, and he may be right, but I've thought at times (particularly when making a bunch of drinks back to back for guests) that I wold notice a difference if I could run it in 20amp mode.
I'll back up what Chris says. During the development of the 15A mode, it was a concern that the alternating heaters would have a negative effect. By design the 15A mode is brew boiler prioritized meaning the steam boiler will be turned off if the PID turned on the brew boiler. 100% control of the brew boiler temperature is maintained in 15A mode.
I ran a lot of tests in both 15 and 20A modes (including simultaneously steaming while pulling a shot) to determine if there was degradation to the steaming performance and found there was no difference in performance. No matter how fast I worked there was no problem keeping up with multiple shots.
Regardless of 15 or 20A mode, the biggest factors I've found with steaming are the setting of the PStat, the depth of the water level sensor and mostly the type of steam tip used.
emradguy Senior Member Joined: 31 Mar 2011 Posts: 1,698 Location: Houston Expertise: I live coffee
Espresso: Izzo Alex Duetto II Grinder: MacapM4T, Macap M4, OE Lido,... Drip: Espro press; Aeropress Roaster: internet
Posted Wed Aug 22, 2012, 8:08am Subject: Re: Duetto II steam boiler not working!
JeepinGeo Said:
Regardless of 15 or 20A mode, the biggest factors I've found with steaming are the setting of the PStat, the depth of the water level sensor and mostly the type of steam tip used.
George, thanks for the info on your testing. It makes me happy to know I'm not missing out on anything. I'm wondering what mods you did on your PStat and water depth sensor.
I increased my steam pressure by raising my steam boiler to 260, but other than modifying my steam wand, I haven't change anything else in the steam realm. For my wand, I pulled out the plastic tube and then added a rubber insulator (from espressoparts) to the wand so I could manipulate it without burning my fingers.
DarkLlama Senior Member Joined: 15 Mar 2012 Posts: 2 Location: Los Angeles Expertise: I live coffee
Espresso: Alex Duetto II Grinder: Ceado E37
Posted Wed Aug 22, 2012, 9:37am Subject: Re: Duetto II steam boiler not working!
On my machine in 15 Amp mode, if I pulled two double shots then steamed my milk, I would loose steam pressure fast as the coffee boiler get priority over the steam boiler. I have a dedicated 20 Amp outlet so I switched it over to 20 Amp mode and the steam issue went away.
If you are going to be making multiple drinks, even at home, you really need the 20 Amp mode / outlet.
JeepinGeo Senior Member Joined: 5 Dec 2007 Posts: 175 Location: Campbell, CA Expertise: I love coffee
Espresso: Alex Duetto, Silvia Grinder: Mazzer SJ (x2), Rocky DL
Posted Thu Aug 23, 2012, 8:44am Subject: Re: Duetto II steam boiler not working!
emradguy Said:
George, thanks for the info on your testing. It makes me happy to know I'm not missing out on anything. I'm wondering what mods you did on your PStat and water depth sensor.
Ah ... just realized you have a Duetto II (no PStat controlling the steam boiler). I have my PStat set at 1.1 Bar. What does your pressure gauge read when you're up to temp?
Water level sensor is adjusted to be as far down as possible. I'm using a Duetto II steam arm with the Isomac 2 hole tip and thread adapter from Chris Coffee, attached to a Quikmill joystick style steam valve.
DarkLlama Said:
On my machine in 15 Amp mode, if I pulled two double shots then steamed my milk, I would loose steam pressure fast as the coffee boiler get priority over the steam boiler. I have a dedicated 20 Amp outlet so I switched it over to 20 Amp mode and the steam issue went away.
How low does the brew boiler temp go when you pull a couple shots in a row? Mine seems to recover quickly without hogging all the power to the steam boiler. I do tend to steam smaller quantities of milk (12 oz. pitcher, enough for a couple capa's) and have plenty of power to finish steaming.
An experiment I did early on was to create a hybrid boiler priority system. I attached a micro switch to the steam valve triggered by the position of the rotary valve knob. When steaming started the control to the brew boiler heater SSR was bypassed, making sure the brew boiler did not interrupt power to the steam boiler. This addressed my concern for maintaining full power to the steam boiler during steaming but turned out to make no difference in my ability to steam.
Another 'what if' moment ... If we just had 220 VAC as the standard in the US a lot of devices could run much more efficiently. :)
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