Breville BES900 Dual Boiler - Owners thread

[acoggins]

Re: Breville BES900 Dual Boiler - Owners thread

Hi Astley,

Theres no point troubleshooting this here, or theorising whats gone wrong.

Under Australian consumer laws, you have rights, which Im pretty sure will mean you can fairly expect a replacement or refund. Check http://www.consumerlaw.gov.au for your rights then call Breville back armed with the right information.

Move quickly, the longer you leave it, the less chance you have of getting a favourable outcome.

[Thirteen13]

Re: Breville BES900 Dual Boiler - Owners thread

Move quickly, the longer you leave it, the less chance you have of getting a favourable outcome.

I 100% agree.

Three options off the top of my head:
- Grind it at -2, then give it another quick burst for that little bit extra
- Grind it at -2, slightly finer
- Grind it at -1, slightly coarser

Thats what i was thinking the last 2.... Its not that the coffee is bad, its just im trying to get it to run out like oozey honey and its either a touch to runny or gets all drips

[nickoyang]

Re: Breville BES900 Dual Boiler - Owners thread

Hi all,
Despite reading through 35 pages of discussion on the BES900 I cant find anyone who seems to be having similar problems to me.
I am an early adopter, my unit arrived in Brisbane in September of last year. It was a combo deal including the breville BCG800 grinder. All had been going very well up until 2 months ago. I noticed that the extraction times seemed to be increasing while the boiler seemed to make some struggling noises. Over a few weeks the amount of water coming through the head dropped off. Finally no water would come out, even without attaching the filter. The steam wand and hot water heads continued to work fine.
I have continued to use the same beans, from Dibella. My technique has remained unchanged (I hope).The machine has been cleaned regularly as per the manual and the filter changed.
I called the breville support line. I stated the model number and problem. I was advised it was likely a scale buildup, easily fixed by flushing vinegar through the system. Despite my query that the manual stated not to descale the machine, the support person reassured me this was the correct thing to do. You can probably guess what happened. The machine still didnt work but now smelled very strongly of vinegar. As did I.
Further advice from breville was to take the machine into a service center.
After two weeks the machine was returned. I was advised that the had replaced some internal seals that they presumed the vinegar had damaged.
The machine still does not work properly. When the auto extraction buttons are pressed there is now a loud zapping noise. The machine cycles though the pre-extraction phase, generates pressure for less than ten seconds, pressure falls and then continues to chug along at a pressure of zero indefinitely. Right now no water comes through the head at all. I have also noticed the top surface of the machine, for resting cups, has become too hot to touch.
Im very sorry for the long dialogue. The breville support line doesnt seem to have done me any favours and neither has the authorized service center. At least I wasnt worried about electrocution before I took it in. If anyone has some advice as to my next step I would be very grateful.
Cheers

Hello all,
Just an update if anyone is interested. I contacted the store I bought the machine from and was referred on to Breville. After again contacting Breville I received a call from Phil of the forums fame. He gave me a few things to try, none of which made any difference. He then suggested I return the machine to the repairer I had already tried. At least he didnt suggest I put vinegar in the machine.
All in all a fairly disappointing response from breville so far, given that its been at least six weeks since Ive had a proper working machine and is likely to be many more until I do.
Im glad most people seem to be happy with their purchase, but Im afraid I cant reccomend this machine at all. 
Cheers

You should send the machine back to the service center and tell them what happened to your machine. I think the 3-way solenoid valve in your machine had been clogged or the brew boilers vibe pump had been degenerated. Return your machine to the service center as soon as possible so that Breville has the obligation to repair it during the machines warrenty.

[>mcknightp]

Re: Breville BES900 Dual Boiler - Owners thread

If you disconnect the power it will reset.

All this does is, reset the clock to 12:00am. All the other settings are held in memory. As you alluded to, just reset the volumes manually or as a lot of experienced people do, use the manual button.

Cheers, Phil

[DavidW1960]

Re: Breville BES900 Dual Boiler - Owners thread

All the other settings are held in memory

Hmm Ok. I swear after mine reset it reset the shot volumes too.

[nickoyang]

Re: Breville BES900 Dual Boiler - Owners thread

All the other settings are held in memory

Hmm Ok. I swear after mine reset it reset the shot volumes too.

The issue also happened to my machine but I dont remember whether it occurred after unplug the AC power cord or aborted an automatic shot control.

[Thirteen13]

Re: Breville BES900 Dual Boiler - Owners thread

i havent tested about the power off yet.

How often are you guys backflushing and flushing the portafilter (build pressure and remove to clean rubber seal)

[peter.scales]

Re: Breville BES900 Dual Boiler - Owners thread

Anybody with the problem of the portafilter unlocking itself under pump pressure, there is a simple fix :



The trick is to take the shine off the lower surface of the retaining lugs on the portafilter. I used 320 grit wet and dry paper. Very little rubbing required, no significant material to be removed, just enough to dull the surface. The portafilter then locks beautifully. Even if it does shift slightly as the pump pressure builds the movement stops itself within 1mm or so of the handle.

Wouldnt hurt for portafilters to receive this treatment on the production line. Ive had a couple of experiences of the portafilter unwinding, the results are not pretty. Ive also had a scald from the coffee expelled in the process. Caused me to look more closely for a fix.

Hope that helps others.

[DavidW1960]

Re: Breville BES900 Dual Boiler - Owners thread

How often are you guys backflushing and flushing the portafilter (build pressure and remove to clean rubber seal)

Im doing it every night after I make my last cuppa.

[Thirteen13]

Re: Breville BES900 Dual Boiler - Owners thread

so a backflush and portaflush for the last of the day.... atm, im doing it if im at the end of a zone of drinking coffee. Like in the morning if im home, ill have maybe 3, so maybe one every half an hour and then at the end of that time, backflush, then rubber seal flush... Is that too frequent.. perhaps i should do only once a day

[DavidW1960]

Re: Breville BES900 Dual Boiler - Owners thread

Um.... WHat is the rubberseal flush? I just do the backflush Phil has described here - using the silicon disc, press and hold 2 cup button and work portafilter around loose to wash away grounds from the head, then, attach PF and bring up to pressure 4 or 5 times for a few seconds - is this what you mean?

Some people will do it after every coffee making session - I do it once a day. I do wonder if there are any adverse effects on doing this - Im also using a proper blind filter, not the silicon disc.

Thes once every couple of kg of beans Im doing a chemical backflush with the bilnd and then I do the clean cycle as prompted with the silicon disc as well.

[frangutz]

Re: Breville BES900 Dual Boiler - Owners thread

( PS:- doesnt every coffee snob have a 2nd grinder stashed away somewhere ?)

Probably. I did but I gave one to my mum and I cant really get it back from her now....

[frangutz]

Re: Breville BES900 Dual Boiler - Owners thread

Ok. unfortunately my BCG smartgrinder just died this morning itself- not happy   dropped it off to the breville service centre & was told I would need to wait about thirteen days (work days) before getting it back   So, now I am without a grinder for at least 3 weeks. So... has anybody used pre ground coffee in their machine? should I use the other type of basket for pre ground?

What Service Centre did you take it to?? If you took it back to the original place of purchase with a receipt, it would have been replaced on the spot. Give me the details & Ill see what I can do.

Cheers, Phil

Thanks Phil.
WHen I read this post today, I called the store in the city (where I purchased it). the guy there said, exactly that - bring it back to the store with a receipt and they will swap it. I dont know how I missed this on the packaging  ;D

Not only did he say to bring it back - but he told me they only had 2 left in the store so he would put it away especially for me!

I have to say that is service. I told a couple of the guys about the service and they were impressed that Breville and even the store went that far - and not to mention your time Phil for monitoring this board.

Anyhow, my wife called the service agent to arrange to pick up the grinder and they said it would be ready to be picked up on Wednesday as they "fixed" it. Apparently there had been a build up of coffee on the burrs (I doubt that because I follow the cleaning instructions.... but that is another story). To me it sounded ilke something was stuck in the burrs or had come loose. I will find out exactly when I go pick it up and query them myself.

Anyhow, Phil, wont need to follow this up right now.

If you want the details of the service agent anyhow I am happy to forward to you.

=F.

[frangutz]

Re: Breville BES900 Dual Boiler - Owners thread

I suspect that after you have tried pre-ground you will either buy your coffees pre-brewed, or source another grinder.

Thanks for everybodys responses re pre-ground coffee. I wasnt sure what the fuss was about. I was using a good pregound coffee (not from a supermarket). in the first couple of days i thought i managed to get the shot right. however now that im in about the 5th day with lots of practice, i can say that the shots are getting worse in flavour. Ive thrown out more shots in the last couple of days than in all the time Ive had the machine ;D

Both the dual wall and single wall baskets are pretty bad.

Im looking forward to my grinder returning. :-X

[Thirteen13]

Re: Breville BES900 Dual Boiler - Owners thread

Grinding fresh is the only way to do justice to the bes900.