Re: Starting out - advice appreciated
You say you will eventually venture out.....
Look forwards.
If you venture out you will have trouble with 15 and 20 amp machines.
If you buy the tiny 2 grouper you found, you will have trouble at events.
So somewhere in the middle there lies the happy compromise.
You may be short on budget but if you buy cheap, you will undoubtedly end up with an older machine. Do not be misled by the stories you read in these sites about how people pick up some out of service obsolete machine, recondition it and its a beaudy.... to do that
a) you have to have some money and
b) you have to know what you are doing because you are going to put the end result to work and dont have time to hit and miss with repairs or rebuild jobs, and still end up with an old machine no matter how reconditioned it is.
My advice is to buy a good used late model machine, from a professional trader, who will guarantee it and be able to repair and supply parts long term and do service calls to you if you have a problem. Commercial size esp machines are not "portable" so you cant easily take them in to get service work done. Possibly, it will be your coffee supplier.
In business, its all about surrounding yourself with as a good a gear as you can get, and being able to get service to back you up.
Regardz,
A.
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Re: Starting out - advice appreciated
Again, thanks for the replies; I really appreciate the frank answers.
To clarify Ill be in a caravan that will mostly live out the back of a former factory come market/bazaar/gallery arrangement in the countryside in Vic. The factory has a 2 phase power outlet, that Ill be connected to by a 15 amp lead. The caravan will also have a 15 amp phase 2 power outlet to connect a coffee machine to (if necessary). For the rare occasions that I venture out, maybe to service a local footy game, or similar smallish events, I have a Chinese Honda knock off generator (6.4KVA from memory).
I dont expect to do an enormous amount of coffee at the factory, actually 20 an hour over the course of the weekend would be great.
If I really get the hang of it, I could look to applying to attend festivals etc in the future... but not this year.
My budget, if you hadnt guessed, is pretty small potatoes. Im just looking for a nice way to earn some pocket money and drink coffee with mates of a weekend.
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Re: Starting out - advice appreciated
Most 3 group machines are around 24 amps...forget it for a mobile sitiuation.
Most full size 2 gp machines are 15 amps. Again, forget it for a mobile situation. In most places where you may be likely to be offered the use of power it will be 10 amp. Some venues will be able to offer you 15 amps, but they are few and far between.
Depends on the situation you are looking at. If you are going to be permanently sited then you can arrange permanent power of whatever type. Otherwise, as above.
That leaves you for a potential mobile situation, with a full size 2 group machine reduced to 10 amps, or a 10 amp Compact of appropriate size.
Sorry, but the 4.7 litre 2 group machine is a toy if you mean to run business. It essentially has the caoacity of a 1 gp machine but with 2 groups on.....but your capacity comes from steam / milk in this market.
If you run a 10 amp Compact...no worries. If you run a 15 amp full size machine reduced to 10 amps, you compromise your speed of recovery, but compensate by having the larger boiler that starts off with a bigger head of steam before you start drawing off.
If you plan on doing events, you need as much capacity as you can get given the compromises of the mobile set up.
You can buy a 15 amp type genie but.....what is your budget and....
It all depends on what you think you are planning to do...and what eventuates....none of which you have told us about.
Find an experienced coffee supplier / roaster that you intend dealing with, and consider their advice seriously.
Regardz,
A.
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Re: Starting out - advice appreciated
I would just buy a machine that is 15 amp, otherwise you are just adding costs to your business. As for the capacity of the machine it all depends on how many coffees constitutes a "rush" 20 in an hour the machine will keep up, 100 not a chance.
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Re: Starting out - advice appreciated
Thanks for the replies. Its funny, the advertising for the Fiorenzato Compact promotes it as being able to handle a commercial amount of coffee, but the boiler size seems worryingly small.
There are a ton of 20amp machines available. Ive heard that it is not too difficult to reduce the element size of the machine so that it can be powered by a 15amp cable. Have you done something similar to your BFC Fresh Coffee?
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Re: Starting out - advice appreciated
Welcome.
In my opinion., too small. If you are wanting to go into business dont handicap yourself by buying / fitting a machine that seems on the face of it (2 gps - 4.7 lt boiler) to be a very small volume model possibly designed for office use.
As a means of comparison, our 2 group BFC Diadema compacts run an 8 litre boiler, and our regular 2 groups run a 14 litre boiler.
In my opinion it would be better to run a pressurised water supply. In our own coffee van we bought a plastic potable water tank (80 litres???), set it up with a 12 volt caravan water pump & filtration system to feed the machine, which is one of our 8 litre compacts running a 10 amp electric element. The compact was also modified (by us) to run more efficiently thereby using less power and recovering faster. This setup coped very well with all day events.
Hope that helps.
Regardz,
Attilio
very first CS site sponsor
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Re: Starting out - advice appreciated
Start by having a read of this thread http://coffeesnobs.com.au/YaBB.pl?num=1270821027 which might answer some of your questions and make some more
As to a compact 2 group I wouldnt the steam reserve may cause you problems like having to wait for the boiler to recover before making the next drink depending on your expected coffee volume/day.
Water supply is normally easy from a tank and it will just operate the pump as required for the machine. Procons like fitted to most commercials will draw from a tank but the pressure relief valve on the pump may need a crank if it was last used on mains water.
You will need other pumps etc but read the thread above for some ideas.
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Starting out - advice appreciated
Hi all. I have purchased a caravan, and are in the process of setting it up to serve food and coffee. Of course I need a coffee machine, and have decided that an Italian 2 group volumetric would probably suit my needs.
I have my eye on a 4 year old Fiorenzato Ducale Compact in great condition, and although its smaller size is ideal, I am worried that with only a 4.7L boiler that it may struggle to churn out coffee (or texture milk) quickly enough if I get a bit of a rush... opinions?
Second question, does a coffee machine require constant water pressure, or water pressure on demand (as in when the machine is drawing water from the boiler). Basically I want to know if I should purchase a water pump that runs all the time and constantly supplies water pressure, or to purchase a demand pump, that switches on as the coffee machine starts to draw water, then switches itself off again.
Hope that was clear! Thanks for your time.Tags: None
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