Hi,
Firstly, I don't intend this to be a thread discussing the merits of insulating a simple single boiler machine like the Silvia - rather just to point out how quick and cheap it is to fully insulate all the appropriate internals IF that takes your fancy.
I know insulating PID equipped Silvia's is quite common - however I did mine on the basis of keeping more of the generated heat where I want it (in the brass/water etc) - while it may seem simple this is where the heat is wanted and should mean less 'brew cycles' in my warm up time etc. I know there is the argument about thermal overshoot and insulation making this more extreme BUT I tend to do a 2-3 sec cooling flush prior to extraction if you waited a given period of time you'd have to extend this to adjust for the improved heat retention. Anyway as I said I didn't want to do a pro vs cons as suffice to say I felt it made sense for me.
Thanks to Greg Wormald (hope I spelt that right) - as several posts of his keyed me onto Insul-Bright as a suitable material for internal insulation of espresso machines. It's essentially polyester wadding with an aluminium/mylar layer interfaced within it. Many posts discussing it's heat rating etc - I got mine at Spotlight ~$16/m for the ~115cm wide roll they sell (they also sell a ~58cmm wide roll but the larger one is better value).
I bought a metre of it - though thats WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY more than required - my wife will make many oven gloves with the remainder.
Now FWIW I did cheat a little - though it really wasn't that handy in the end. I downloaded the image from PID Silvia of their pre-cut V3 insulation. If you enlarge this 190% and print it up it's about bang on the right size for the require pieces. This is handy for the top of the boiler but I did find that for the rest of the Silva I just cut bits off as required - BUT if thats your thing 190% enlargement is right to allow you to make almost perfect templates.
Fully dismantled the Silvia (when you remove the cables etc make sure you number them or similar so you know what goes where). By measuring and using the piece of steel that goes over the grouphead section I made the right shape for their, did right around the outside of the group with a single piece tripled over, even tucked a bunch of small bits around behind it. You have to play around a little so you don't get lil bits coming out down the bottom - but it's pretty easy to do. The grouphead was very well packed - having that piece of steel over the top really allows you to load it up and ensure it's very well insulated.
The boiler was next. Measured it's height and circumference, cut a single piece and went round twice. Cut lil slits/sections out as I went around to allow me to get around the two lil bits that protude from the side. Connected two cable ties to each other to allow me to get around the outside and hold it in place. Insul-Bright is actually VERY friendly to work with and due to the mylar/foil it will be able to be pushed/molded into place to a certain degree. I made sure the sides lengths were a few cm more than required so I could put it down and cover the full length of the boiler.
Then used the templates to do the top - this was handy. Important to cut the 2 small holes in the right spot as this really holds it in place. Triple layer up top.
The steam arm was easy, used a very long inch thick strip and wrapped over and over. Did a double layer on this - and it was essentially already doubled up from the wind over technique so this is very well insulated. Even did the ball joint section with a nice wrap around - again very roughly cut out a longish inch wide strip and you just wind it around like you might a bandage etc.
The boiler connection/OPV was last but again inch wide strip and round this a bunch of times and couldn't be easier!
Then wiped out the exces polyester fluff that had come off - also vacuumed it out a lil. Screwed everything back into place and carefully reconnected all the electricals, making sure not to accidently catch the mylar foil into a connection (this was my only concern).
All cleaned up pretty easily and no polyester fluff showing at all. My one slight concern was whether there'd accidently be any shortcircuits by the mylar foil around the terminals at the top of the boiler but this was thankfully not an issue - powered up fine!
IMG_0103 by
It's no beauty queen BUT I estimate the cost of the material used was around $2-3. It took me around 2hrs - but thats me fiddle farting with the templates etc and you really don't actually need those. I won't use it till tomorrow morning but I anticipate it should be a tiny bit more temperature stable and also require less pre-heating - perhaps marginal benefits but it was a small amount of work and other users have reported using Insul-Bright for years with no issues.
There was no sewing, glue or anything other than a few cable ties. So whilst I don't doubt the closed cell silicone is a superior material - it's cost + inavailibility are negatives for it. I was also able to use the Insul-Bright in a few spots the silicon couldn't get (like behind the grouphead/boiler slot) so I don't think it'd be that worse off in overall performance.
Anyway see what you think but it's a very easy overall project that anyone of entry-average skill could easily do in an afternoon.
Cheers, Nick
PS. As stated earlier full credit to Greg for the idea.
Firstly, I don't intend this to be a thread discussing the merits of insulating a simple single boiler machine like the Silvia - rather just to point out how quick and cheap it is to fully insulate all the appropriate internals IF that takes your fancy.
I know insulating PID equipped Silvia's is quite common - however I did mine on the basis of keeping more of the generated heat where I want it (in the brass/water etc) - while it may seem simple this is where the heat is wanted and should mean less 'brew cycles' in my warm up time etc. I know there is the argument about thermal overshoot and insulation making this more extreme BUT I tend to do a 2-3 sec cooling flush prior to extraction if you waited a given period of time you'd have to extend this to adjust for the improved heat retention. Anyway as I said I didn't want to do a pro vs cons as suffice to say I felt it made sense for me.
Thanks to Greg Wormald (hope I spelt that right) - as several posts of his keyed me onto Insul-Bright as a suitable material for internal insulation of espresso machines. It's essentially polyester wadding with an aluminium/mylar layer interfaced within it. Many posts discussing it's heat rating etc - I got mine at Spotlight ~$16/m for the ~115cm wide roll they sell (they also sell a ~58cmm wide roll but the larger one is better value).
I bought a metre of it - though thats WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY more than required - my wife will make many oven gloves with the remainder.
Now FWIW I did cheat a little - though it really wasn't that handy in the end. I downloaded the image from PID Silvia of their pre-cut V3 insulation. If you enlarge this 190% and print it up it's about bang on the right size for the require pieces. This is handy for the top of the boiler but I did find that for the rest of the Silva I just cut bits off as required - BUT if thats your thing 190% enlargement is right to allow you to make almost perfect templates.
Fully dismantled the Silvia (when you remove the cables etc make sure you number them or similar so you know what goes where). By measuring and using the piece of steel that goes over the grouphead section I made the right shape for their, did right around the outside of the group with a single piece tripled over, even tucked a bunch of small bits around behind it. You have to play around a little so you don't get lil bits coming out down the bottom - but it's pretty easy to do. The grouphead was very well packed - having that piece of steel over the top really allows you to load it up and ensure it's very well insulated.
The boiler was next. Measured it's height and circumference, cut a single piece and went round twice. Cut lil slits/sections out as I went around to allow me to get around the two lil bits that protude from the side. Connected two cable ties to each other to allow me to get around the outside and hold it in place. Insul-Bright is actually VERY friendly to work with and due to the mylar/foil it will be able to be pushed/molded into place to a certain degree. I made sure the sides lengths were a few cm more than required so I could put it down and cover the full length of the boiler.
Then used the templates to do the top - this was handy. Important to cut the 2 small holes in the right spot as this really holds it in place. Triple layer up top.
The steam arm was easy, used a very long inch thick strip and wrapped over and over. Did a double layer on this - and it was essentially already doubled up from the wind over technique so this is very well insulated. Even did the ball joint section with a nice wrap around - again very roughly cut out a longish inch wide strip and you just wind it around like you might a bandage etc.
The boiler connection/OPV was last but again inch wide strip and round this a bunch of times and couldn't be easier!
Then wiped out the exces polyester fluff that had come off - also vacuumed it out a lil. Screwed everything back into place and carefully reconnected all the electricals, making sure not to accidently catch the mylar foil into a connection (this was my only concern).
All cleaned up pretty easily and no polyester fluff showing at all. My one slight concern was whether there'd accidently be any shortcircuits by the mylar foil around the terminals at the top of the boiler but this was thankfully not an issue - powered up fine!

It's no beauty queen BUT I estimate the cost of the material used was around $2-3. It took me around 2hrs - but thats me fiddle farting with the templates etc and you really don't actually need those. I won't use it till tomorrow morning but I anticipate it should be a tiny bit more temperature stable and also require less pre-heating - perhaps marginal benefits but it was a small amount of work and other users have reported using Insul-Bright for years with no issues.
There was no sewing, glue or anything other than a few cable ties. So whilst I don't doubt the closed cell silicone is a superior material - it's cost + inavailibility are negatives for it. I was also able to use the Insul-Bright in a few spots the silicon couldn't get (like behind the grouphead/boiler slot) so I don't think it'd be that worse off in overall performance.
Anyway see what you think but it's a very easy overall project that anyone of entry-average skill could easily do in an afternoon.
Cheers, Nick
PS. As stated earlier full credit to Greg for the idea.
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