Breville BES900 Dual Boiler - Owners thread

[citizen_smith]

After only 16 months of very light use (normally only a coffee or two on the weekend) my BES900 has had to go in for repairs. The machine seems to pressure up to pre-infuse but refuses to go any higher, I must say that I'm a little disappointed as with the limited use it gets and the strict cleaning and back-flushing regime it receives as per Phil's instructions I expected it to last a lot longer before breaking down.

I've dropped it in to the Brisbane Appliance Service Centre (Salisbury Qld) for repairs, has anyone dealt with this centre before? Do they do a good job?

As my machine is 16 months old I'd expect there has been the odd revision or two made to the model since I've purchased, would it be likely for me to see any 'upgrades' done to the machine when I pick it up again or just a stock standard repair job?

Thanks

[Steve82]

After only 16 months of very light use (normally only a coffee or two on the weekend) my BES900 has had to go in for repairs. The machine seems to pressure up to pre-infuse but refuses to go any higher, I must say that I'm a little disappointed as with the limited use it gets and the strict cleaning and back-flushing regime it receives as per Phil's instructions I expected it to last a lot longer before breaking down.

I've dropped it in to the Brisbane Appliance Service Centre (Salisbury Qld) for repairs, has anyone dealt with this centre before? Do they do a good job?

As my machine is 16 months old I'd expect there has been the odd revision or two made to the model since I've purchased, would it be likely for me to see any 'upgrades' done to the machine when I pick it up again or just a stock standard repair job?

Thanks

I think if you look back towards the earlier parts of this thread...I think a lot of the earlier machines had a problem with seals on OPV? Sounds like what could be causing your issue. Anyway from memory its a pretty quick fix to change over to the upgraded seals.

[to4garret]

I have an earlier machine which just spat it's second set of seals.
I went to pour this morning and noop, no pressure, just a lite trickle with the pf off te group head.

First time the seals were replaced was about this time last year, now it's happened again but out of warranty.

I will give breville a call tomorrow and see if they will ship the upgraded seals/gasket kit out so I can enjoy some coffee again.

[water_dragon]

I have an earlier machine which just spat it's second set of seals.
I went to pour this morning and noop, no pressure, just a lite trickle with the pf off te group head.

First time the seals were replaced was about this time last year, now it's happened again but out of warranty.

I will give breville a call tomorrow and see if they will ship the upgraded seals/gasket kit out so I can enjoy some coffee again.

These machines have a 2 year warranty, have you had it longer than that?

[Wingfat]

First impressions of Refurbished Breville 900XL...

The unit appears "like new" in almost all respects. Found some coffee residue underneath the black plastic thingy after I removed it. Preforms nicely in all functions. Only included one water filter... these things are expensive!

My prior machine was a Quick Mill Andrea which I used for about 3 years and forms my basis of reference.

Although the Breville is nicely assembled and designed, the Quick Mill is far superior in materials and build. The Quick Mill weighs almost double the Breville (just a note).

Of course the only thing which counts is the expresso extracted and I can't comment on that yet. I have roasted a few batches of beans but I'm out of practice it seems. During the last several years without an expresso machine I must have dulled the blades on my Kitchenaid grinder.I'm in the process of upgrading the Kitchenaid with Mazzer Burrs. I've managed to get one or two 9bar 30sec extractions out of 12 attempts. I realize this is a combined problem of my technique and the grinder. The resultant successful pulls were however lacking in enough crema. More practice and new Burrs will make a difference.. I shall report back after more practice and burrs.

Anyway for $499US it is a steal.

[Bentley]

1 year of service

Hi All, my BDB is near on 12 months old. Service screen is showing 1570 shot which is a decent number even considering a 1/4 of them would be back flushing etc. It has suffered some of the apparently common complaints, PF unscrewing + making a huge mess, unreliable volumes using auto buttons etc. Now its just a vague feeling I have, but I think the pressure is starting to drop off. I just had 2 gushers that barely made 4-6 bar with fresh coffee, gound exactly the same as always. It used to be quite 'snappy' making full pressure following pre infusion, or with the blind in the PF. Now it builds more slowly, and barely makes it to 9Bar with the blind. Is it worth sending it in for repair based on this? Literally 3 days to its first Bday. Very Happy with this machine so far!

[PrescottCR]

Bentley- try cleaning the grooves where the lugs from the portafilter go with some cleaner solution. Also try soaking all the head parts, screen gasket and block in cleaner solution, and the portafilter but take care to keep the solution off the plastic handle.

A gusher at 4-6 bar is expected if the grind is too big. If the pump was broken and couldn't push more than that and your puck was properly prepared you wouldn't have a gusher, you'd have the opposite. I would think that if your blind produces 9 Bar then maybe your grinder is the issue. Tighten that grind down a lot. Burrs do wear out. What are you using for a grinder?

That said, if you're 3 days from the warranty ending then call/write Breville now. No harm in getting under the wire if it is your pump or a gasket.

Good luck!

[Bentley]

Thanks, I've done all that before. It wasn't really a concern as it still made great coffee on manual and very rare PF spinoffs. But I just did it again.


I just tried to make a few coffees, same grind as always. My only comment is that the pump seems weak.

It takes noticeably longer to build pressure. This morning, even with the blind in, it took maybe 4 seconds to build pressure following the end of pre infusion. Max pressure with the blind was 8.5 Bar. I was wrong to describe them as 'gushers', the volume is not there. It is taking roughly 17 seconds for the pour to start following the button press. Even with a big dose, it only got to 6-7 Bar with coffee in it. I've made a shed load of coffees with this thing (and on another mates one), I just don't think it is the coffee, flavour is crap too, very acid, with thin crema.


Off to service I guess!

[PrescottCR]

Sorry to read that, I was hoping it would be something easier for you! From the reports I've seen here & elsewhere their service is pretty reasonable.

Hope it's as painless as possible...

[Barry_Duncan]

Hello Bentley,

Your machine is behaving in a similar way to mine when it had a perished O ring just a year ago.

I rang Breville and took it to the Breville Seconds Shop on Wattle Street Ultimo in Sydney.

It was repaired within one day.

Barry.

[coolie21]

O no not me as well

O ring seals gone at 14 months
Service agent here in Qld replaced them with a 2 day turnaround - very good. Less good was the fact that max pressure with a blind filter on return to me was just under 8 bar. Very disappointed that a Breville service agent would return the machine in that condition. Hadn't even bothered to line up the factory marks (see pic)
Rather than another 50km round trip and more waiting I adjusted the OPV myself thanks to good instructions on the web (» My OPV adjustment journey. Nic's Stuff)

This is a great machine for the money but I don't have much faith in its likely longevity.

I would love to know what other owners, having been spoiled with PIDs and the dual boiler, would aspire to after the bes900....

[citizen_smith]

O ring seals gone at 14 months
Service agent here in Qld replaced them with a 2 day turnaround - very good. Less good was the fact that max pressure with a blind filter on return to me was just under 8 bar. Very disappointed that a Breville service agent would return the machine in that condition. Hadn't even bothered to line up the factory marks (see pic)
Rather than another 50km round trip and more waiting I adjusted the OPV myself thanks to good instructions on the web (» My OPV adjustment journey. Nic's Stuff)

This is a great machine for the money but I don't have much faith in its likely longevity.

I would love to know what other owners, having been spoiled with PIDs and the dual boiler, would aspire to after the bes900....

Maybe you should let Breville know that the service agent they have entrusted to do their repairs isn't doing his/her job properly?

I've currently got my machine in being repaired (seals as well most likely) and I (or anyone else) shouldn't have to worry about whether the machine has been set to Breville defined specs.

[snewman]

Hello all,

I think I may have an O-ring or perhaps an OPV problem similar to the ones described in this thread. My BDB is about 7 months old and has done 520 shots so far. It has recently gone from pulling shots at around 9 on the gauge with the pour starting at 11 seconds to barely registering on the gauge at all with the pour not starting until about 20 seconds. I can also hear water trickling into the reservoir after the preinfusion completes, which I guess is the OPV kicking in.

So my questions are:
1. Is there anything I can do to try and rectify this or even diagnose it further?
2. If service is the next step, who would you recommend in Melbourne that knows what they're doing with the Breville BES900 machines?

[Mads]

Thanks Steve82 - Purchased the Compak K3 Touch Polished and highly impressed....After a full bag of beans used dialling it in, OMG - Amazing coffee..... Looking forward to giving it a run tomorrow, think 2 coffess tonight enough. LOL Thanks for the suggestion. Highly recommend this grinder.

[coolie21]

After a full bag of beans used dialling it in...

Hope it was a small bag!

Great choice of grinder, I love mine
Once you have it dialled in you won't need to vary it too much