Breville BCG800 Smart Grinder

[Bames]

Re: Breville BCG800 Smart Grinder

It is not a constant rub but almost pulses so I query if there is an allignment problem in the upper bur or the motor/spindle.

Kinda like this??
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X2YNL2Fcbko&list=UUoD6VGzVQ1ooL4o0xxELHpg& index=1&feature=plcp

[dski]

Re: Breville BCG800 Smart Grinder

I would very much appreciate a response from a Breville rep on this.

I called Breville Australia and got told to speak to the retailer. An exchange may be a solutionvia retailer RMA but Id prefer direct Breville support as the replacement may well be the same.

How many people are using these that do not think there is an issue? If it were my first grinder I may not know or expect different.

Im very interested to hear the outcome. I really just want a working grinder.

The debt. store I got mine from indiated that the machine not grinding sufficiently fine for espresso was a personal preference thing, rather than a fault.

I suppose it puts Breville in a hard place having broken into the coffe snob market.

[dski]

Re: Breville BCG800 Smart Grinder

mgrobins wrote Yesterday at 5:12pm:
It is not a constant rub but almost pulses so I query if there is an allignment problem in the upper bur or the motor/spindle.


Kinda like this??
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X2YNL2Fcbko&list=UUoD6VGzVQ1ooL4o0xxELHpg& index=1...

Isnt a pulsing sound exactly what you would expect in case of a alignment problem?

[Rusty]

Re: Breville BCG800 Smart Grinder

The debt. store I got mine from indiated that the machine not grinding sufficiently fine for espresso was a personal preference thing, rather than a fault.

Dont accept that from them

Page 9 of the Instruction Booklet says:
F. Grind Size Dial
25 custom grind settings from espresso to plunger.

Tell them they should know their products better 

[dabbler]

Re: Breville BCG800 Smart Grinder

The debt. store I got mine from indiated that the machine not grinding sufficiently fine for espresso was a personal preference thing, rather than a fault.

Dont accept that from them

Page 9 of the Instruction Booklet says:
F. Grind Size Dial
25 custom grind settings from espresso to plunger.

Tell them they should know their products better 

And remind them of their STATUTORY responsibilities  - particularly with reference to "fit for purpose".

Which your BCG800 clearly isnt.

[Bames]

Re: Breville BCG800 Smart Grinder

Personal preference? What a joke.

Yep - fit for purpose. Rather, unfit.

[zdam]

Re: Breville BCG800 Smart Grinder

HI,

I just thought Id report that I bought a BCG800 today, I upgraded from a modded BCG450 that could not produce a fine enough grind for the BDB.

I have the 1149, and do not need a shim, 3 from finest setting is too fine for my machine I think.

To those in this thread who have asked if BCG800 worthwhile over BCG450, a definite yes, grinds much finer!

I am seeing a lot of clumping though...

Cheers, Adam.

[WiredArabica]

Re: Breville BCG800 Smart Grinder

I bought a BCG800 a couple of weeks ago (1149), after reading pretty much every thread on this forum that discussed it and its merits / limitations.
With fresh beans I found that about 2-3 notches from finest was the go. I did have one blend (I suspect it was a little older) wanted to go finer still.

I had quite a bit of clumping originally too - though this seems to have settled down now after about 4-5kg through it.

Although I didnt really have a problem as such I wanted a little more headroom so contacted Breville NZ customer support to request a shim kit. No trouble and they were very helpful, even offering to have it installed for me if I would so like (I didnt, but good of them to offer).

I discovered on removing the lower burr that there were no shims in my particular example, and after some playing around I went with the 1.0 + 0.4mm shims, and it now seems to work out set in roughly the middle of the "Espresso" word. Some vague metal on metal sounds in my unit - looks like a small oscillation in the motor shaft. Considering the price bracket Im happy with its performance and itll do me until I can afford a Mazzer...

I note that theres about 3-4 clicks on the adjustment knob for every notch on the display so there is some quite fine adjustment available with this grinder.

[dski]

Re: Breville BCG800 Smart Grinder

Personal preference? What a joke.

Yep - fit for purpose. Rather, unfit.

Dont accept that from them

Page 9 of the Instruction Booklet says:
F. Grind Size Dial
25 custom grind settings from espresso to plunger.

Tell them they should know their products better

And remind them of their STATUTORY responsibilities - particularly with reference to "fit for purpose".
[/QUOTE]

Dont accept that from them Shocked

Page 9 of the Instruction Booklet says:
F. Grind Size Dial
25 custom grind settings from espresso to plunger.

Thanks for all the support guys.

Still unsure of whether to accept that its as good as the machine gets and to suck it up / get my money back OR the machine is also faulty and should be exchanged. I do want to give the manufacturer the benefit of the doubt, but I DONt want to be stuck with a useless machine.

I do sympathise with the dept store employees, as they have A LOT of products to know. (I got blank looks when I mentioned pour times) And really specialist knowledge is why we have specialist retailers, like cs sponsors.

[Bames]

Re: Breville BCG800 Smart Grinder

I do sympathise with the dept store employees, as they have A LOT of products to know. (I got blank looks when I mentioned pour times) And really specialist knowledge is why we have specialist retailers, like cs sponsors.

Unfortunately though some manufacturers dont look after the site sponsors who put the time and effort and energy into their products :

Maybe just take it back for a replacement, and then if the same thing happens again take it back for refund - or call Breville and see if they have any further advice.
Maybe Phil or Dave will be happy to come to your place and run through it with you!

[mgrobins]

Re: Breville BCG800 Smart Grinder

Ok... update for people.

Nil response to e-mails or PM from Breville support (out of office was on).

Decided to see what the retailer could do and my grinder is now in the post being returned for an exchange.

The salesman was very understanding when I explained the issue and asked if Breville have officially recognised this as an issue with the product.

Though they sell many of these we both agreed that a lot of owners may not grasp that their grinder burs are wearing against each other (i.e. they may not know any different or be as curious as most of us).

Ill see what the next one does. If it is also a problem Ill be pushing the issue with Breville. Its not fair on a retailer to have to keep exchanging or on me to randomly sample the grinder population to find one that is built appropriately.

Any comments of bur contact like this being "normal" is rubbish as far as I am concerned unless its in the context of grinders manufactured with a poor QA process.

[Bames]

Re: Breville BCG800 Smart Grinder

Any comments of bur contact like this being "normal" is rubbish as far as I am concerned unless its in the context of grinders manufactured with a poor QA process.

Yeah that was my feeling when Phil replied to me and said that the burrs rubbing against each other was normal... it just didnt sound right or fair. Before contacting Phil I called Breville with my first grinder and spoke to the customer service person and explained that the burrs were rubbing against eachother. She obviously didnt know much about the product cause shes a contact for all Brevilles stuff, but she seemed to think that shouldnt be happening - it makes logical sense that the shouldnt rub.
Really keen to hear the outcome, I too dont want to keep taking the grinder back until I stumble on to one that works properly.

[mgrobins]

Re: Breville BCG800 Smart Grinder

Well I have one that doesnt rub so I know they are out there

if there is a next time with Breville Ill push to get pased on to someone within the technical support area for this equipment rather than the front desk.

If it is rubbing it cant be grinding evenly either and would surely produce more fines??

[Bames]

Re: Breville BCG800 Smart Grinder

If it is rubbing it cant be grinding evenly either and would surely produce more fines??

Yep it could produce more fines, but what I reckon it is doing is:
a) prematurely wearing out the burrs
b) creating oscillating in the burrs so that grind size is not even
c) crushing the coffee instead of cutting it (like an aldi grinder), creating grinds that do not extract well

This is just an assumption though, I could be totally wrong - people with actual expertise and experience would have more idea!

Bottom line - either way its not good, and the manufacturing tolerances and quality should be such that we can get one that works without rubbing

[shawty]

Re: Breville BCG800 Smart Grinder

I would suggest that the reason you need the burrs to rub to get an OK grind is because the forces required to grind the beans are forcing the burrs apart while grinding (plastic mounting design??), but when there are no beans inbetween the burrs they close up again.

I doubt they would rub whilst grinding (for a reasonable grind)

If you always had beans in the hopper this wouldnt be a problem (except for freshness)