ECM Synchronika

[petercoota]

I'm concerned about the quality of the mains water I'll be connecting to. The figures I obtained from the water authority are; pH average 7.91, Total Suspended Solids – ( Measured as Turbidity) average 0.21 NTU.Total calcium – (Hardness) Average of 86mg/, These numbers are meaningless to me, anyone have a view if these are good or bad numbers & if bad, what treatment the water might need in way of filters etc?
I'm looking at buying a DB ECM Synchronika with Flow Control

[YeastNCaffeine]

I thought most manufacturers recommend hardness to be under say 50mg/L. I'd discuss it with your machine vendor. Most of them sell solutions for this.

[Cats]

https://www.usgs.gov/special-topic/w...center_objects
This page would suggest that your water is 'moderately hard'.
Have a look at the brita C150 finest water filter system. You can contact numerous places to get more detailed information that helps your specific needs, also consider if you are planning to plumb the machine.
I suggest the C150 because you need some kind of system that reduces hardness. you can go 'hardcore' and use deionisation (which requires you to reionise in order to not create water that is corrosive), or you can use something like ion exchange (which is the C150) which basically substitutes the calcium ions with sodium (no it doesnt make your water salty).
That unit can be mounted under your sink and so on, you can plumb the machine using it, or just hook it up to a tap. I use mine on a tap because my kitchen layout prevents me from plumbing my machine

[Synchro]

I have bought and installed the flow rate control unit and group head manometer on my machine (ECM Synchronika). Has anyone else done that? I would like to exchange a few thoughts about this.

[thoang]

I have bought and installed the flow rate control unit and group head manometer on my machine (ECM Synchronika). Has anyone else done that? I would like to exchange a few thoughts about this.

Is it worth it?
Are u pulling better shots?

[Jaishar]

Do the Synchronika's sold here have the drain valves on the boilers? If so how does that effect performing a descale on the machine?

[>JetBlack_Espresso]

Do the Synchronika's sold here have the drain valves on the boilers? If so how does that effect performing a descale on the machine?

They do. You wouldn't necessarily use the drain valve during a de-scale. If you ever wanted to empty the boilers (storage/transport etc) that's when the drain valve would be very handy.

charlie

[splashalot]

I have bought and installed the flow rate control unit and group head manometer on my machine (ECM Synchronika). Has anyone else done that? I would like to exchange a few thoughts about this.

I have the flow rate device on my Profitec Pro 700, which is near enough the same machine. What do you want to know?

[Phils]

They do. You wouldn't necessarily use the drain valve during a de-scale. If you ever wanted to empty the boilers (storage/transport etc) that's when the drain valve would be very handy. charlie

I haven't read anywhere that the boilers need descaling; presumably because they are made from stainless steel. I've stored brass boiler machines full of water as it prevents oxygen from getting to the wet surfaces. Charlie, what do you recommend?

[roosterben]

<<Insert can of worms here>>

Here is a good thread on Copper versus Stainless Steel boilers;
https://coffeesnobs.com.au/forum/equ...tainless-steel

Both have their pros and cons with Stainless you need to remove chlorine from your water

[one]

Has anyone Dynamattted the panels. Just trying to quiet it down a bit.

[Mono]

Has anyone Dynamattted the panels. Just trying to quiet it down a bit.

Wow, I thought these machines are well refined and did not require this type of treatment. I have done my Rocket and as advised just put say a 100mm square piece in the centre of each panel. Dulls the things done without holding all your heat in, bad for electronics

[one]

Wow, I thought these machines are well refined and did not require this type of treatment. I have done my Rocket and as advised just put say a 100mm square piece in the centre of each panel. Dulls the things done without holding all your heat in, bad for electronics

Thanks Mono. The machine is awesome, just at this level, there are still some simple improvements that can be made.

I find the side panels vibrating a little when the pump is running and thought a little damping with some Dynamat should do the trick and make the machine even quieter.

At the same time, I was just a little concerned about heat retention. As the machine is not used for extended periods, I didn't think it would pose too much of a problem, and just wondered if it was a done thing.

[simonko]

Anyone know what changed with the V3 Synchronika over the V2?

Finding it a bit confusing. A few Australian vendors say they have the V3 in stock, others out of stock, yet Di Bartoli says "preorder" for Feb 2021 like it hasn't been released yet, rather than it being just on back order.

Additionally DiBartoli's site says the V3 is the latest model with the 2 bar steam pressure PID upgrade, but their V2 page said the 2018 model had the same 2 bar upgraded PID/PRV. Whole Latte Love also talked about the upgrade in April 2018 as well.

I'm thinking may V2 didn't come stock with the upgraded PID/PRV but dealers manually updated it, and V3 came standard with it? Or are there other changes?

[simonko]

Thanks both. Prosumer, was planning to visit you this morning to have a coffee and a look, but as you indicated scarcity, I just ordered one from you. Hope I like it

[>Prosumer]

simonko Awesome, they're a great machine so I doubt you'll be disappointed

[icantroast]

Whoa, when was the V3 even released? I've not heard anything about this.

[simonko]

I finally retired my 20 year old Bezzera BZ99 after the Procon pump siezed the other day and picked up a Synchronika today from Prosumer. Thanks Lance and Steve. One afternoon thinking about it, next day pouring shots with it.

I chose this machine for a few reasons:

• Rotary - after modding the BZ99 to a rotary, I could never go back to vibe.
• DB - I didn't mind HX, but I only have 1 milk drink a day and around 4-5 espressos, so always felt it was a waste of power to heat a larger boiler to a much higher temp than needed.
• Insulated boilers - the BZ99 was kept on 18 hours/day, costing about $400/yr in power. Planning on turning this one on only when needed to make it not so easy to have 5-6 coffees a day. Wanted insulated boilers to reduce the wait, and not heat up the kitchen so much.
• Switchable tank/rotary - was a pain to descale the BZ once I'd converted it to an external under sink rotary.
• Nondescript PID display - not a fan of electronic displays on a piece of art and I think ECM must not be either for them to make the display so unobtrusive and even allow the digits to be turned off.
• Overall design - Rockets I found too much branding for my taste. Profitecs didn't do it for me. Definitely fond of Bezzera brand after the BZ99 just was so reliable, but the display the DB's have on them is not my cup of tea. I get a bit OCD about design, to the degree that the font used on the gauges of the Synchronika nearly turned me off it.

Upon unboxing - flawless panels, and I went over them like the staff when you return a rental car.

Quite a big machine - noticeably larger than the Technika V Profi next to it at the showroom. I do have ample room under the cupboards for cups, but the tank is quite deep and I'd have to either slide the unit out to remove or fill with a jug. I will be connecting to the filtered line used by my old machine when everything appears to be working well, so not a problem.

I have it paired with a Sette 270, but must say the Sette 270 is now punching above its weight. It looks totally outclassed. First world problems.

Tried the Witham's Mocha blend they gave me with the machine - first two shots ran too fast and got banished to the sink, third ran well but sloppy puck. It's my first E61 though and I learnt I wasn't putting the brew lever all the way down to activate the 3 way (or whatever the E61's version of that is).

Drinkable with milk though - maybe a 6 out of 10.




Weighed next dose and noted it was only 15.5g in a double. Coarsened it up a little, upped to 20g, a bit slow, not sloppy puck but quite spongey and lots of residue on the basket walls when tapped out.

Went down to the single basket which on the Bezzera I found hard not to get channeling. Surprisingly much easier with the Sync, but still lots of work to do. Decent looking pour, definitely not thin so suspect no major channelling, but shots haven't been good yet. Feel a bit blind without a naked. Maybe I'm just used to my pucks coming out clean like biscuits with the basket requiring no more than a drying wipe between shots. Not used to doing so much basket cleaning! Lots of experimenting and reading up on E61 to do. Prosumer/Withams chuck in a home barista course so I'll do that soon too.

Steam: wasn't as powerful as I thought it might be at stock temp, but totally nailed the milk first go which I never do on a foreign machine and even rarely on the BZ99. Was the two hole tip - no four hole tip as Ecm2020 mentioned above. I'd forgotten how silky milk can be.

Pumped it up to 132° and that's more like it. Nailed the milk again despite only being 150 mL. It's a damn good steam wand/tip - very impressed. It's nice that the steam lever isn't on/off but can come on slower to get started. I was a bit concerned I'd miss the precision of a knob but far prefer the lever given that it shuts off instantly.

More condensation in the steam wand than I'm used to, but it's my first cool-touch wand. Might eventually rip out the teflon tube inside or whatever they're using as the anti-burn sleeve is adequate for control.

Will run it on tank for a week to ensure all is good, then swap to the filtered line. Looking forward to running a drain line as well which I've never had before.

Question: the manual states the T1 temperature displayed is the coffee boiler temperature, which shows 93°C from factory. I did a crude check with a k-type in showerscreen stream and was seeing around 91°C which sounds fine. But the configured E1 offset value is 15°C - so confused as wouldn't that imply 78°C brew?

[>Prosumer]

Glad you’re having fun playing and glad we could help. Once you nail that extraction on the Super Mocha blend, it should be nice and chocolatey (hence the name) and hopefully will score a bit higher than a 6/10

As for the offset, the temp in the brew boiler is always higher than the temp at the group and the PID takes the temp reading from the boiler rather than the group but it’s much more useful to have the group temp displayed, which is where the offset comes in. So with the offset set at 15°C and the display reading 93°C, it means the temp of the water at the group is 93°C and the temp in the brew boiler itself is 15°C higher (i.e. 108°C).

Steve

[simonko]

I should have made that clearer - the 6/10 was 100% due to the pour, not the blend. Getting better, had a 7/10 this morning.

re: offset - what you say confirms what I'm seeing with the k-type (and I'm sure ECM wouldn't send them out at 78°C). Just got thrown by the manual (pg 25) saying it's the temp. of the boiler, and the extract from the Technika V manual Charlie posted at the link below saying the same, with figures clearly HX boiler temps in the 120's.

Thanks.

https://coffeesnobs.com.au/forum/equ...558#post722558

[simonko]

Much, much nicer - 20g of Witham's Super Mocha - so good.

Such a difference that I scavenged through the bin find the empty packet to see if the beans had just been roasted when I tried above, and yes, earlier that morning. Too excited to try the new machine I forgot to look. They're 4 days old now.

Meanwhile 3 kg of Grinders from their Black Friday special just arrived with a 10/2022 Best Before date... (no typo)