Well, that was certainly interesting. I just pulled the line up from behind the fridge to have a look at the water line pressure regulator, and it's hooked up right to left in terms of water flow. So, I thought, wow, not like me to hook something up backwards, but maybe it is the more logical left to right like the current model ones that CC sells.
NOPE I didn't think I would have gotten that wrong, esp since it would have been "upside down". I would have quadruple checked. I of course had to mess with the adjustment screw and everything, and couldn't figure out why I couldn't get the line pressure to reduce.... but of course I was looking at the town side pressure... darn, I wish I had looked closely, but you know, I don't think it was that super high... so I'm thinking I do have a PRV, and it's working just fine.... Anyway, a quick reversal back to the way it was for eight years... Adjustment works exactly the way the CC instructions say. You have to open up the lever and let the water flow through (machine on or off doesn't seem to matter), and that's when you adjust the water line pressure regulator. I have it back to 20psi, and the screw position looks right about where it was before I messed with it today (so I'll guess I set it right 8 years ago). When I relieve pressure from the brew boiler by opening up the lever, it sits at 2bar (and in that range of the gauge I'm not so sure it's super accurate), which is exactly where it normally sits. I'm waiting for the machine to cool off and I'll look at the "standing" water pressure indication on the brew gauge, I bet it will be back at 2bar. If I put in a blind and open the lever with the machine off, I get the same result, which tells me that the pressure going into the machine is 20psi/"2bar". Anything I'm seeing right now higher than that I am assuming is back pressure off the still hot boiler. Why the gauge was jumping to 0 before with water flowing, I have no idea. At least if I was starting from scratch (which basically I did after reinstalling it), assuming everything is right, I have it set correctly. I did notice that my starting brew pressure is a bit higher at 9b, and jumps to 10b when fully pressurized (and I can do the same thing with a blind as I can with espresso loaded), so at some point I might just want to back down the rotary a bit. I've never noticed during a brew (I'm surely looking at the crema not the gauge by then), but it's pretty much what I see every time I've backflushed, so I've probably always been at that pressure. I'd love to have a pressure gauge PF handy... Re the town pressure, I vaguely recall that there is a PRV for my house, but in glancing in the spot where the main shutoff is, there's no gauge or PRV visible, so my ailing memory (we moved in 20 years ago) is letting. I've got a plumber coming for a different reason next Friday, so they are going to check the pressure while here anyway. I'm beginning to suspect that the pressure increase might have only affected an adjoining neighborhood anyway... (my goodness all the confounding factors). Re bypassing use of the steam boiler, it would be fairly easy to pull the top (hot) wire and just connect it to the middle (runs to the brew boiler) set of wires if I'm reading the wiring diagram right. I'll cross that bridge ifI get to it I guess! Thanks for all the input folks, very appreciated. On Friday, July 27, 2018 at 2:25:30 PM UTC-4, bmacpiper wrote: > > Agreed re: house pressure. Mine is at 105psi so I have a reducer at the > back flow preventer (street) that can be adjusted, and we’re at about > 50-55psi now. Even at that, I regularly blow up garden hoses, etc. from > overpressure. > > As to the pressure in the machine—if flowing water through with the pump, > the reading is meaningless unless you use a backflush disc to let pressure > build. If you’re really wanting to see the pressure on the mains, you could > use a backflush disc and lift the lever to the first position—that will let > water flow but not engage the pump. In the end, though, you really just > need to know what pressure is during brewing, targeting around 9 bar. > > Back to the pressurestat question, I don’t recall the pinouts but you can > certainly just disconnect the steam boiler and it will then never get power > from the pressurestat. That will guarantee it never heats and never > over-pressures again. You’d then just direct wire to the brew boiler I > think, so that a failed/failing p-stat wouldn’t cause your brew boiler to > be cold if the p-stat stuck the wrong way. Also, you would no longer need > the switching capability that prevents the brewtus from powering both > boilers at once, which would over tax a typical 110V circuit (don’t recall > where you are, i.e. 220V, etc.). > > best, > bmc > > On Jul 27, 2018, at 11:09, bonner <[email protected] <javascript:>> > wrote: > > First, I’d worry about the house pressure. Normally this is kept around > 60 psi and I believe the building code requires 80 psi max. If your city > pressure is really 110, you should install a pressure reducing valve if you > do not have one already. Otherwise, there is the risk of leak from many > sources around the house and substantial damage secondarily. > Then fix the Brewtis. > Beeg > *From:* 'Mike Walsh' via Brewtus <[email protected] <javascript:>> > *Sent:* Friday, July 27, 2018 7:37 AM > *To:* Brewtus <[email protected] <javascript:>> > *Subject:* Re: Brewtus II - hissing x 2 > > I haven't ended up having to buy a replacement yet, but just searching WLL > with "exobar pressure" I found one that is $40 and looks just like the one > that's in the machine. Tim says they have no issues with them, and they > are a bit more than 1/2 the cost of the Jaeger. Mine hasn't stuck again > yet, so Tim said just wait until it does. > > I did find the wiring diagrams on how to switch off the steam boiler and > it's fairly easy, I will probably do it at some time. Just lazy. Probably > will wait until the pressure stat goes and do that to keep the machine > running since I really only pull shots. > > My next adventure is going to be to look at my water line pressure > regulator. They just jumped our municipal water pressure from 70 psi to > 110 psi, and as close as I can tell by the cold brew pressure gauge my > standing water line pressure post-regulator is still about 2 bar or a bit > below. But, the water pressure regulator has a gauge and I've tried to > verify there by the instructions, however when I run the water through the > group, that gauge drops to zero instead of showing regulated water > pressure. I'm really wondering if I installed it backward 8 years ago, > though it's working fine, and I'm pretty careful about that. The guy at > Chris said if the front panel brew gauge when cold shows 2 bar, don't worry > about it. > > On Thursday, July 26, 2018 at 2:11:17 PM UTC-4, StevieG. wrote: > > Hey Mike, what was the alternate pressurestat to the Jaeger? > > > > On Monday, July 23, 2018 at 12:37:04 PM UTC-4, Mike Walsh wrote: > > I talked with Tim at WLL today and he suggested resetting the high limit > button, but I think that would be indicated if the boiler wasn't heating. > > Otherwise he said all the current operation sounded good and to just watch > it for now, he didn't recommend spending the money on a new pstat just > yet. He said they would have me put in the same part, that they don't see > any premature failures and it's about 1/2 the price of the Jaeger for what > that's worth.... > > He said the variability I see in turn off pressure was fine, as was the > cycle time on the steam boiler running. > > I wouldn't doubt that at some point the pstat will get stickier, but he > said for now to watch it and that it's not a dangerous thing. If I have to > replace, I guess I'll decide on the brand then :) > > Tim didn't have any quick kluge to not power the steam boiler (ie. run > only the brew boiler) in case the pstat does go bad, so I'm still in search > of an easy kluge. > > I've got the cover and everything back on, so if there is any extremely > minor leaking going on, I definitely cannot hear it anymore. > > On Sunday, July 22, 2018 at 4:46:48 PM UTC-4, herman dickens wrote: > > I didn't have any trouble getting the wires to fit. It's been a couple of > years at least since I put the last one in. I'm not sure I ever replaced > the vacuum break but I've replaced the o-rings several times. It's an easy > fix to remove the pressurestat and put the new one on. > > Herman > > On Sun, Jul 22, 2018 at 4:31 PM 'Mike Walsh' via Brewtus < > [email protected]> wrote: > > Greetings all, > > Thanks for the encouragement and help. > > I pulled out a couple of crescent wrenches and disassembled the vacuum > breaker valve, and replaced the o-ring without any issues. The old one was > pretty shrunken and dry as you'd image. There really wasn't much crud or > scale that I could see, so I quickly hit it with a scrubby but didn't go > too crazy. As easy as that was, I'll just keep doing that until the bag of > 10 is gone, and then trade out the whole part with the spare I have :) > > And no more pstat sticking so far, but I know if it sticks once, it's > probably going to get worse, not better. I'll get on the phone with WLL or > CC tomorrow to look into a new psat. > > Q: I assume the pstat is fairly easy to change out? > > Q: With the Jaeger, the wiring point locations are different, do the > existing wires reach OK, or did you have to extend them Herman? > > Q: Since I rarely use the steam boiler anyway, if the pstat sticks again > is there an easy way to "disable" the steam boiler and just run the brew > boiler? I can dig in the archives, but if the answer is as simple as "just > pop off one of the connectors on the element on the bottom", that would be > great to hear and avoid the searching. > > Q: I swore I could hear a very, very faint continuing steam leak, but > maybe now a few hours later the o-ring has softened and settled because now > it's dead silent And of course my "cycle time" of heating the steam boiler > is WAY better (it's been as short as 90 seconds with the bad o-ring). Now > when it heats it'll generally turn on at about 1.05 bar and then most of > the time turns off at 1.25, but I've seen some variability up to sometimes > 1.3, 1.35. It'll typically settle around 1.2, then slowly decrease over > about 4m45s until it turns on again. Does that sound reasonable? > > Thanks for any and all continued help. > > PS: Adam, if I get to pulling the Brewtus apart at all and you want to > come on down to Cary, you are welcome to come by, I'll let you know. An > extra set of hands is always helpful, and it sounds like you are a bit more > advanced on the plumbing side than me > > -mike > > On Sunday, July 22, 2018 at 8:26:40 AM UTC-4, Adam Meade wrote: > > Hi Mike, > > I'm in Raleigh and last fall, I was attempting to fix a steam leak and > broke the part that comes out of the steam boiler on my Brewtus IV. I > called around and end up taking it to the Appliance Service Center on Peace > Street. However, I can't say that I'd fully recommend them. The owner did > not communicate well and when I dropped it off, I wasn't sure if he had > experience with espresso machines as the place was strewn with old junk of > every sort and no signs of espresso gear. However, he was somehow able to > source a part that WLL had back ordered and did get it put back together. > On the other hand, he didn't test it before I picked it up so there were > multiple steam leaks and I ended up disassembling everything on my own > anyway and putting in high-temp plumbers tape. He also put the steam > gauge back on crooked. On the whole, I wouldn't go back there unless I was > really desperate and I'd first try to fix it myself if I could. The crazy > thing was when I went to check on it once, someone else had dropped off an > identical Brewtus IV there! > > Good to meet another Brewtus owner in the area. > > --Adam > > On Saturday, July 21, 2018 at 6:14:42 PM UTC-4, herman dickens wrote: > > Mike the red high temp o-rings seem to work fine on mine I've had it since > the month the BII's came out and I can't even tell you how many times I've > replaced it. You could have a pressurestat sticking. Mine did and the same > thing happened. I got the Jaeger Pressurstat from Chris coffee and it > worked a lot better than the one that came on it. The first Jaeger lasted 8 > years, 2nd 8 months, 3rd is several years old. I think I got a bad one the > second time. I don't know of anyone around Raleigh but I'll ask around. I'm > just north of Louisburg so not too far away. Keep us posted if you have > problems. > > Herman > > On Sat, Jul 21, 2018 at 5:54 PM 'Mike Walsh' via Brewtus < > [email protected]> wrote: > > All, > > Grateful for any help. I've had this Brewtus II for years, and I'm > probably the 2nd or 3rd owner of it. To my knowledge, no maintenance of > any kind has ever been done on the machine. I fire it up twice a day, and > pull a shot - I rarely use the steam boiler. I've had no water leaks or > anything else significant to this point. > > I turned on the machine to warm it up today, and sometime WELL after it > would have come up to temp we heard a very loud sound (I honestly thought > our pug dog had passed really loud gas), and the sound of steam coming out > of the Brewtus under the cover. I quickly turned it off, gathered some > tools, and took off the cover. I then turned it back on, and waited to see > what happened. > > I found I've got hissing from the vacuum breaker valve, but I've had that > for years. I've had a full replacement valve (the kind with the white > insert), as well as a bag of the little o-rings as another option, but life > got busy and I've used neither.... Let's hold on that thought. > > The safety value was hissing as well this time, so I popped it DOWN, and > it seemed to settle. If it is hissing at all, I can't tell it over the > vacuum breaker valve. I've let it cool a bit and warm back up a few times, > and have not had the big problem reoccur, and the brew gauge shows a very > solid maximum of 1.2 bars, so I don't think it's an out of control pressure > stat or anything. I grabbed a pair of pliers and worked it UP against the > spring pressure and rotated it a number of times just to make sure if there > was any crud I broke it up or moved it. > > So... > > 1 - any thoughts or concerns on the safety valve? Is this just some weird > one-off? Anything I should do or watch/listen for? > > 2 - Obviously I need to get off my rear and do something about the vacuum > breaker valve. > > - I assume just put on the full assembly one I have rather then messing > with repairing the other one's o-ring? > > - Any precautions I need to do like holding the lower part of the > assembly to keep it from rotating when I wrench off the vacuum breaker > value, or can I just take a wrench and spin off the vacuum breaker valve? > I don't want to break anything. If I need to hold it, is a pair of pliers > sufficient? > > - STUPID question: do I have to move the fridge and crawl back there to > turn off the plumbed-in water line before doing the repair? > > I'm hoping this is fairly quick, and I'll go back to good operation. I > appreciate any advice! > > PS: I imagine at some point this machine will need real maintenance, does > anyone know anyone in the Raleigh, NC area that works on these machines? > > Thanks, > Mike > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "Brewtus" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to [email protected]. > To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. > Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/group/brewtus. > For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "Brewtus" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to [email protected]. > To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. > Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/group/brewtus. > For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "Brewtus" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to [email protected] <javascript:>. > To post to this group, send email to [email protected] <javascript:> > . > Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/group/brewtus. > For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "Brewtus" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to [email protected] <javascript:>. > To post to this group, send email to [email protected] <javascript:> > . > Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/group/brewtus. > For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. > > > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Brewtus" group. 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