Breville BES900 Dual Boiler - Owners thread

[inertia8]

Peter,

Thank you for the response.

I was going to buy a bunch of parts from ereplacement and other sources here in Aus and new Zealand.

In the end, I waited and called breville Aus and have managed to buy the probe set, group seals, collar insert, solenoid and gasket as well as ball valve for about 230 delivered.. I was offered a deal on a new bes920 but only the package with the grinder.

Only issue might be the collar insert as it is specifically for bes920 version/revision a.. My 900 had a 920 group kit fitted at the end of warranty so I will see if it fits.

I just need to find some 007 orings

[inorog]

@inertia8

Do you happen to have the price they asked you for all those goodies?

Also - well done for getting those parts out of them. Excellent!

Ino!~

[pcrussell50]

Peter,

Thank you for the response.

I was going to buy a bunch of parts from ereplacement and other sources here in Aus and new Zealand.

In the end, I waited and called breville Aus and have managed to buy the probe set, group seals, collar insert, solenoid and gasket as well as ball valve for about 230 delivered.. I was offered a deal on a new bes920 but only the package with the grinder.

Only issue might be the collar insert as it is specifically for bes920 version/revision a.. My 900 had a 920 group kit fitted at the end of warranty so I will see if it fits.

I just need to find some 007 orings

I wouldn't worry about the collar fitting. The later -900's got the -920 group. (Maybe it's more actually correct to say that the -920 got the later -900 group, eh?) Anyway, the collar you are getting should fit. The only related question is whether your group has the four screws around the rim, which makes collar changes easier, or else if it does not, you will have to open her up (which you will be doing anyway for the other things), and take off the top half of the group, to get to the collar.

-Peter

[inorog]

@Peter

Being a BES900 - I doubt very much that it has the 4-screws group-collar head.

[pcrussell50]

Yep. You're right. I lost track of my thinking there. Thanks for correcting me.

-Peter

[inertia8]

@inertia8

Do you happen to have the price they asked you for all those goodies?

Also - well done for getting those parts out of them. Excellent!

Ino!~

2 x group head seals (steam ring they called them.. confirmed it was the large white rubber ring.)
2 x solenoid gasket and ferrule kits
1 x group collar insert
1 x solenoid valve assy
1 x steam probe set (should come with o-rings but unable to confirm)
1 x ball valve complete kit

$230.37 delivered. (I think once my order got to over $100 shipping was free.)


I actually added the ball valve complete kit as a separate order ($73.37) and the lady I spoke to for this was kind enough to waive the shipping on that given she was unable to simply add it to my previous order.

To get the group collar insert, I had to request the original salesperson to look for the part for the BES980.. which I found reference to in few places as being a substitute, because was originally saying that they only listed the full group rebuild kit for $168 (think it comes with seal, couple of collars, group head, shower screens, handle), not bad really...

Service was great and the pricing is not bad at all.. and I was informed that I can return the parts for a full refund if any are wrong.

eg: the solenoid was $79 and gasket kit $5.12. Ereplacement has it as 42usd inc gaskets.. and the collars for $11 but getting them to Australia was gunna cost all up approx 167aud and an estimated 3-4 weeks with cheapest shipping.. Bigspares or whatever wanted 139 for the solenoid, 18 for gaskets and 50 for probe set..

[inorog]

that's actually not particularly bad at all... Considering that I need none of that stuff (yet) but if I did - it would inject another uh... say 7-8 years into the machine... Not bad at all...

[inertia8]

I've ordered a pack of #007 silicone o-rings from rs-online, so add $13 to the repair bill.

Funnily enough I decided to fire the machine up this weekend and just make put up with the leaks (instant and stovetop just weren't doing it for me..).. ran 3 shots thru the season the group head following the cafetto clean and low and behold the solenoid valve has shut right up now... very weird considering how awful it sounded a week ago. Still, with the new one coming I shall replace it and keep the existing one as a spare in case they become hard to source in the future.

[inertia8]

Update:
Got home to find two packages and two invoices from Breville.

Unfortunately there's two issues to sort out once they are back from the public holiday tomorrow.
1) the group collar insert turned out to be the metal group collar instead.. this is the one with 4 external screws underneath.. not sure if it would fit and allow replacement of two piece collar inserts that I've seen or if I'd need more than just the chunk of metal to retrofit? It'll probably go back.
2) the 3 piece water level probe kit came with only two probes and they are not pre-fitted with o-rings like the parts diagram suggests.. so, anyone ordering in future, you'll need to get the o-rings too.

[pcrussell50]

I've ordered a pack of #007 silicone o-rings from rs-online, so add $13 to the repair bill.

Funnily enough I decided to fire the machine up this weekend and just make put up with the leaks (instant and stovetop just weren't doing it for me..).. ran 3 shots thru the season the group head following the cafetto clean and low and behold the solenoid valve has shut right up now... very weird considering how awful it sounded a week ago. Still, with the new one coming I shall replace it and keep the existing one as a spare in case they become hard to source in the future.

Don't overlook disassembling and cleaning the solenoid as a possible fix. When I had a buzzy solenoid, I just replaced it. But later, I found evidence that disassembly and cleaning was a good fix. After I put on the new one, I disassembled and cleaned my old one. I did NOT find it very dirty. But I also never put it back on to see if "cleaning" fixed it. Also, as an option for you guys there is this: Go to eBay and search on "Olab coil" Olab is the solenoid maker and the black box on it is the coil. For me, a new coil is $30USD plus $9USD for shipping from Germany. For only a handful of dollars more, I can buy a whole solenoid brand new. But youz guys, if I remember correctly, pay a good deal more for a brand new solenoid. having just a coil shipped over from Germany might be more cost effective. Maybe even by a lot. Worth a try? Don't forget to choose the coil with the right voltage and frequency.

-Peter

[inertia8]

Don't overlook disassembling and cleaning the solenoid as a possible fix. When I had a buzzy solenoid, I just replaced it. But later, I found evidence that disassembly and cleaning was a good fix. After I put on the new one, I disassembled and cleaned my old one. I did NOT find it very dirty. But I also never put it back on to see if "cleaning" fixed it. Also, as an option for you guys there is this: Go to eBay and search on "Olab coil" Olab is the solenoid maker and the black box on it is the coil. For me, a new coil is $30USD plus $9USD for shipping from Germany. For only a handful of dollars more, I can buy a whole solenoid brand new. But youz guys, if I remember correctly, pay a good deal more for a brand new solenoid. having just a coil shipped over from Germany might be more cost effective. Maybe even by a lot. Worth a try? Don't forget to choose the coil with the right voltage and frequency.

-Peter

Hi Peter,

My solenoid is much quieter after cleaning and then resting for a week.. I've made about 10 coffees and there's a short buzz at the beginning then it is quiet.

Cost wise:
USA was 43usd + 20+usd shipping
OLAB from Ebay was $70 with shipping from Germany
Breville was $79 and shipping was waived as I ordered other parts that amounted to greater than $100.

Based on this, Breville Aus price was fair.

[inertia8]

Update:
Contacted Breville and have arranged to return the group collar and the incomplete probe set.

I quoted the BES980 Group Collar Insert Part#, SP0009141, and the representative confirmed they were able to supply these for about $5ea, so i've ordered several to have on hand (I generally pack too much coffee into the basket).

I also picked up a few sets of the probe o-rings and the coffee probes.. this time I had to pay $11 delivery.

I will update once all arrives and document any issues faced in the repairs.

[inorog]

Well done, mate... that's good to hear that she's good and going again!

And yes, the inserts are a pain to locate - and they are cheap enough to justify having 3-4 of them around. I might do the same - and get handful of them too - as I just used my last spare in February.

Mind you - since I've given away my BCG800 to pair it with a new EM7000 to a very dear friend of mine, I upgraded to the BCG820 - and I find that the quality of the grind is certainly different, so I don't need to overfill the basket. Also - the control for the time of grind is better - so again - there's not a lot of chance to overfill. Over-all - I find that the BCG820 is an improved grinder - if for nothing else than you being able to set the grind timer in finer increments, and being able to adjust the burrs a lot better than on the 800.

[pcrussell50]

I have the newest style group that uses those two piece collar inserts anyway, and I did just what you suggested. I got a couple of spare sets just in case... Too cheap not to. then again, I had my old -900 for over five years and never wore out the insert. I have a habit of just inserting the portafilter to where I think it is barely tight enough to do the job. I can't be sure, but I wonder that delicate treatment helps my particular collar inserts last longer than average?

-Peter

[inertia8]

Peter,

I'm holding off sending the group collar back to Breville, as I suspect that I am going to receive the two piece inserts rather than the older style, which will require the new group collar as it has the provisions for the 4 screws to hold the two piece collar inserts in place..

What I do not know, is whether I require the entire group head service kit, or whether my bes900's supposedly upgraded to early bes920 group components will all bolt up to this new style collar.. from what I've read the boiler doesn't line up 100% and requires a bit of fiddling/re-drilling/tapping or some such..

We'll find out over the next week or two.