Breville BES900 Dual Boiler - Owners thread

[pcrussell50]

Nicko, of what material are the new o-rings you put in your 3-way valve? Did you use the common automotive ones or some special ones?

-Peter

[nickoyang]

Nicko, of what material are the new o-rings you put in your 3-way valve? Did you use the common automotive ones or some special ones?

-Peter

Hi,

It is SI-4C. Maybe VITON(VT) will be better for higher temperature but it will be stiffer. Automotive ones should be closer to VITON type.

Thanks

Nick

[pcrussell50]

great nick, thanks for that. good news. viton is the commonly used o-ring material these days so o-rings are available in that material in a staggering array of sizes. one should never be unable to find the round o-ring he needs if viton is an option. excellent.

based on your report, i'm thinking i might tear into my off-warranty BDB and check out that 3-way valve _before_ it becomes a problem.

see folks, this is what i have been on about re off warranty BDB's. resourceful owners will figure a lot of this out.

-peter

[mrearthpig]

I just came home from 3 weeks away.... Went to make breakfast this morning and something weird is going on with my BDB.

I was out of beans so went to my local Continental Deli and grabbed a batch of beans. I haven't tried this particular blend before, but I doubt the blend is causing the problem. I used the grind settings from the last lot of beans I bought and ground a double basket full. The ground felt ok.

I tamped as per usual and pulled the shot. I always pull my shots on manual and cut it off when blonding starts. This normally occurs between 23 and 30 seconds. However, the shot this morning came GUSHING out. I had to kill the shot at around 14 seconds. I ground a second basket and pulled a second shot. The same thing occurred. The shot gushed out but this time I let it run for 25 seconds to see how much liquid would come out. I didn't measure it, but there was about 2 to 3 times the usual amount.

I tried to make another cup this afternoon. I cleaned the grinder and wound the Breville grinder to the finest setting. I dosed up a double basket, tamped as usual and pulled the shot. No change. Again the liquid gushed out. I tried another shot but this time used the single shot auto button. The shot ran for 14 seconds before cutting out.

What the heck is going on???

[TC]

What the heck is going on???

Hello mep,

The beans are long stale....They usually sit in deli hoppers for months/years

[Yelta]

Talk_Coffee is spot on as usual, stale beans, The Time Team is probably on the track.

[mrearthpig]

The beans are long stale....They usually sit in deli hoppers for months/years

OK, cheers. Learnt something new today. Still, it was better than drinking instant.

[artman]

don't go for supermarket beans, i was impatient and the only place i could get beans was from david jones during xmas and close to closing shop hours.

for those beans that's hanging around in a shop not packed in vacuum sealed bags, you will get little or not crema and the water rushing out, not reaching optimum extraction time

best to go with those sealed foil packed coffee beans, you will get better creama as i did with my next experimental beans from Grinders (ironically also got from david jones on another day)

i import beans from Campos as i live in perth, don't know where else i could get good coffee beans as i like roast similar to Campos. I like my Campos extraction time to go ~35 sec unlike what's stated on the brochure 25-30 sec extraction time and no bad burnt taste :P

Nice latte art!

Bean freshness is paramount as a basis to getting great coffee, you can get great roasted coffee from beanbay, or get green and start roasting yourself like many others do, its easy and fun. Once the beans are 3-4 weeks post roast, they go downhill very quickly and are beyond their best, so must stuff in the shops is long gone, regardless of how its packed. There are also a few locally roasted sources in Perth, but go green and you will never go back!

Cheers

[pcrussell50]

+1 on the stale beans. it's almost counter-intuitive just how much staleness affects how fast the pour goes through. with a marginal grinder like the smart grinder and others in it's class, it might not even be possible to grind stale beans fine enough, even on the finest setting, yet do the same with fresh beans and you might choke your BDB. if you roast your own beans, you can "watch" your grind settings drift as the beans age. you will find yourself using finer settings or higher doses two weeks after you roasted your beans than two days after roasting, just to keep the timing right.

-peter

[Metatron]

Hi,

It is SI-4C. Maybe VITON(VT) will be better for higher temperature but it will be stiffer. Automotive ones should be closer to VITON type.

Thanks

Nick

Nick

Do you remember what size of o-rings you used? It is handy to buy some before taking the 3 way valve apart.

Thanks

Jim

[geekylucas]

It'd be great if someone could post a howto guide for the o-ring replacement (with photos). I'm kind of worried about what's going to happen when mine die.

[nickoyang]

Nick

Do you remember what size of o-rings you used? It is handy to buy some before taking the 3 way valve apart.

Thanks

Jim

Hi,

The o-ring used underneath the square base of the 3-way solenoid valve is 6.07mm x 1.78mm. This o-ring also can be used for sealing the OPV hose connection and the water level probes for the steam boiler.
The o-ring used in the HX pipe and all the TFL hoses is 3.6mm X 1.78mm.
There are other two sizes of o-ring used for the steam boiler safety valve and the piston inside of the valve but however, I don't know their exact sizes because they are not given the spec when I bought them.

Thanks

Nick

[geekylucas]

I have a half baked theory about how to avoid the portafilter coming loose mid-extraction.

It only seems to happen to me when I attempt to brew as soon as the machine has reached operating temperature.

I've found that if I turn on the machine, take the dog for a walk (20mins) then start brewing when I return home, it doesn't happen.

Also the portafilter just "feels" different when inserting it into the group head if the machine has warmed up for 20 mins. It's like the seals expand a little bit after a few minutes, although it's also possible that they are just drying out (Phil recommended that the seals should be bone dry, right?)

Note: before anyone trolls me for suggesting that people wait 20mins before brewing... a) i don't care if the breville says you don't need to wait this long, b) waiting for 15 or so mins is probably good advice for *any* home espresso machine.

[dbfcottee]

Hi Guys
New to this forum so go easy !! Ive owned a Breville BES900 now for 14 months and had excellent coffee. 2 weeks before Christmas i noticed there were no pressure on my gauge but I could still get steam ok, No pre Infusion and no pressure at

Similar story to you. Had been gradually getting worse, with inconsistent flows through the group head. In retrospect, it had never really worked properly, so the failure was a blessing.
Got excellent service from Breville in Sydney, I am in Newcastle. It was picked up by courier and returned within a few days, and is now working better than ever. Consistent pressure and beautiful taste. Very happy.
Presumably this was an early machine, with the o ring failure talked about here. The opv wasn't working correctly either, but now it sits on 9 bar with no flutter.
Sounds like your problem was the same as mine. Doesn't sound like its been repaired fully though.

[neofelis]

All I can do is sigh.

My machine was in for repair in October and I hadn't used it much over the last month. Today I made 2 coffees and now my pressure guage won't go over 8 bar when previously it was 10. When I put the silicone disc in I only get 6 bar now instead of 7.

I've lost 1 bar is pressure for no reason and i'm going to have to take it in for repair again