Breville BES900 Dual Boiler - Owners thread

[Steve82]

So my question is whether it is expected that the steaming function on the Silvia is superior to the BDB? Why is it so hard to get the right milk texture on the BDB when I can turn the Silvia for the first time in 18 months and get a superior result? Latte art is secondary, it is the silky milk texture I am after....oh Ms Silvia, sorry I neglected you for so long...

The steaming POWER on the Silvia no doubt is more powerful. In terms of FUNCTION the BDB has it over the Silvia in spades. Firstly in that its a precisely controlled PID double boiler machine that will happily keep doing what it does shot after shot, consistently. The brew path is never subject to much higher than optimal brew temps.

If one has to make a lot of coffees in quick succession, at the start of a session program the volumetric to your dose and grind, hit this button once then you can straight away start steaming your milk. By the time i pour a double shot i have my milk ready around 10 to 15 seconds later....this is where the true value of such a machine lies and no doubt in most homes most of the time this value is lost. FWIW I think its very easy to get paint like milk for art.

With the ability to adjust temps accurately, pre infusion time and pressure, the espresso that the BDB is capable of producing and the consistency in which it happens is leagues ahead of a stock Silvia running on a bi-metal thermostat.

[rzkman]

The steaming POWER on the Silvia no doubt is more powerful. In terms of FUNCTION the BDB has it over the Silvia in spades. Firstly in that its a precisely controlled PID double boiler machine that will happily keep doing what it does shot after shot, consistently. The brew path is never subject to much higher than optimal brew temps.....the espresso that the BDB is capable of producing and the consistency in which it happens is leagues ahead of a stock Silvia running on a bi-metal thermostat.

Sorry if it was unclear in my rambling post, but I was purely talking about the steaming function. On a side note, I installed a PID on my Silvia, but yes it is a whole lot slower compared to the BDB.
So my next question is what is the next step up from the BDB and at what cost? Can the steam boiler on the BDB be upgraded to something more powerful?

[Barry_Duncan]

I did read somewhere that the wattage of the BES920 and the Oracle is higher than the BES900. I assume that the steam boiler has a larger element to give faster steam.

Barry

[MrCreosote]

Hi VirgilC,
I'm in a similar position to you. My machine is now in for repairs for the fourth time in 18 months. The first 3 went to a local authorised servicer. I only received the machine back a little over 7 days ago, and it is now with Breville at Botany. The first repair was something electrical, the second was an O-ring and gasket, the third was a solenoid and adjustment of the OPV. After this third service i rang and spoke with the Breville hotline, they ran me through a reset and a couple of test and confirmed over the phone that the machine doesn't appear to be operating as it should. The local service agent has been great and are very friendly, but this getting beyond a joke.

Our main problem has been pressure. Ive tried all types of grinds, beans and doses. This morning i went to the local coffee roaster and asked them to grind beans for me just to eliminate the grinder. In all truth i love the machine, but there is definitely something wrong with the pressure. When the machine was running normally I changed nothing in relation to doses and tampering, only fine changes to grind when there were big changes in ambient temperature. i do the auto-clean every 200 cycles and generally take very good care of the machine. i only use the manual button as I've found the 1 and 2 cups to be inconsistant.

In all seriousness i don't want my machine repaired for a fourth time. Enough is enough, if they don't replace it, I'm with you virgilC, and i will be communicating through the Department of Fair Trading.

[MrCreosote]

Full credit to Breville, they have come through and replaced my machine, with the updated BES920. Living in Sydney they allowed me to pick up the machine from their Botany Office, my choice, as i assumed it would be quicker than a courier. Many thanks to Kumar who handled the whole situation expeditiously. Hats off to Breville.

[wilko23]

I haven't been on here in a while but just lately the pre infusion thing has been bugging me! It has been like that on my machine for a fair few months... I did some tests the other day with no handle in and there was no water that came out during the pre infusion of 7 secs / 65%... I tried 7/70 and 7/60 no difference... it clearly isn't pre infusing my coffee! Im have just been delayed in doing something about this as I can still get a good coffee and I don't want to be without the machine for another 2 weeks! Will get in touch with Breville tomorrow though and get it sorted! My machine is about 18 monhs old and has been in once for a new seal and I also got my handle replaced with the updated thicker lugs to to stop the slipping...

[tscs]

I got my machine back from Breville Botany. It seems the pre-infusion is fixed this time! Phew!

[VirgilC]

Full credit to Breville, they have come through and replaced my machine, with the updated BES920. Living in Sydney they allowed me to pick up the machine from their Botany Office, my choice, as i assumed it would be quicker than a courier. Many thanks to Kumar who handled the whole situation expeditiously. Hats off to Breville.

Great to hear you received the support MrCreosote, my matter has also been resolved with the assistance of the Office of Fair Trading.
I sincerely hope Breville continues to improve their customer service for those who have invested in and continue to use the BDB.

[peter.scales]

pre-infusion issue

So it seems it's just two of us (J_Hutt and me) at have a machine that doesn't turn on the pre-infusion pump before each shot? Does anyone else here have that experience?

I've just started getting the problem you've described.

Mine is a very early BES900, purchased from Talk_Coffee on 3rd Dec 2011. It had been their display model, so it is a very early one.
While I've dealt with the flying portafilter and unreliable volumes from the 1Cup 2Cup buttons this is the first "real" problem from this machine.

I've just turned the pre-infusion pressure up to 75....so will try that before deciding a next step. I've not had the software update, so that's not a factor.

In the intervening two years the machine has provided me with very considerable pleasure from quality espresso which (for me) at least equals but mostly exceeds pretty much all the commercial offerings I've sampled during that time.

If Phil McKnight is still monitoring this thread - kudos to the Australian design team. I've been prepared to wear the "quirks" I've encountered because the bulk of the functionality has been just great from the get-go. The "tell" for me is that so few turn up in the "for sale" section - owners are staying with them.

I'd really like a brief update from someone on the Breville team on how many of the "developments" in the BES920 can be retro-fitted to the BES900? I'll happily pay a service fee if there are significant upgrades on offer from a trip to an authorised service centre.

[Barry_Duncan]

Kat Brazier is now doing what Phil McKnight formally did as coffee specialist since he climbed further up the Breville tree.

She had worked as a barista for many years and as a trainer with Toby Estate and Danes Coffee in Sydney.

Barry

[peter.scales]

I've just started getting the problem you've described.

....snip

I've just turned the pre-infusion pressure up to 75....so will try that before deciding a next step.

Increased pre-infusion pressure has fixed the problem for me.

Still hoping for input from Team Breville about retro-fitting BES920 improvements to BES900s.

[Barry_Duncan]

It may be possible to fit the higher powered element in the steam boiler in the BES900, to speed up the steam, but the other changes may be more difficult.

Barry

[crazysurfanz]

well fellow snobs, wish me luck, today the BES900 goes in for service. It's been a good run - 1 year 7 months since purchase without major incident.

A couple of nights ago I was running the cleaning cycle and when it was on the second backflush cycle it sounded like the machine jammed up and something internally was jamming - there was a loud metal on metal grinding sound. I had to turn the machine off. I tried running the cycle a second time with the same result. Weird thing is, doesn't appear to have done any damage - still making coffee ok.

I've had some of the other issues people on here have mentioned (portafilter slipping very occasionally, pressure at 10 rather than 9 bar, steam wand 'bubbling'/dripping), but never an issue that prevented it from making good coffee or was dire enough that I felt it needed to go in.

Here's hoping they can sort it out quickly. Guess I'll have to see if I can get anything good out of my old dodgy Nuova Simonelli Oscar... otherwise it's back to the stove top

[KatBrazier]

Increased pre-infusion pressure has fixed the problem for me.

Still hoping for input from Team Breville about retro-fitting BES920 improvements to BES900s.

Hi Peter (and thanks Barry for the nice introduction),

These improvements are all done at the factory so it is not possible to retro-fit the improvements to the BES900.

[gunta]

Have to get some more filters for my 900 and thought I have a look at prices at E/b .You don't really save any money there on genuine Breville
filters but one interesting thing is that one of the suppliers states that filter changes should be done every 2 month OR every 60 tank refills .
I assume they got this info from Breville .I only refill my tank every 5 days or so and got fairly soft water .Maybe I'm wasting good filters ?
Any thoughts on that?