ACS Vesuvius Evo Leva

jakesmorrison

@CoyoteOldMan and @Eiffel

Temperature Charting. Cuprajake PID vs. Default PID.

* None of this probably matters from a, “is the coffee better” perspective, but it is fun to look at.

* X axis range is different across the 3 panels. I wanted to zoom in on specific times of interest.

Coyote, you are correct I am in the US and have a 110/120V 15A machine.

I used Cuprajake’s PID values from the YouTube video a few post above. Here are the things I noticed:

The brew boiler did not heat up as fast with the new PID values. I think that makes sense because Kp was reduced (a lower Kp should overshoot less). What would be the advantage of a lower Kp (1) if the default value (2) was not overshooting? I think I am going to change Kp back to 2.
New steam boiler PID changes were slightly better (few second faster heat up time). Too small to actually matter in practice.
Eiffel suspected that increasing the group heater B value would decrease the oscillation; I think you are correct. The oscillation is gone and the temperature comes to a steady state faster. Interestingly, the steady state doesn’t get to 94.5C; it only gets to 93.7C. I need to do some experimenting after I get a better grasp on what each value changes. I think if I increase the Kp value to 3 it might help get it up to 94.5C.

Cuprajake

The figures were changed for stability when brewing, not sure what effect it has on warm up as I’ve never looked at that side of things, mine warm in 15 mins but I’m in no rush.

tliptak

Woke up today and the machine won’t turn on.

Flipping the green power switch doesn’t do anything and the machine is fully dead.

Tested power and no issues from the outlet.

Any recommendations on where to start troubleshooting?

Cuprajake

where in the world are you?

tliptak

Midwest USA

Cuprajake

hellojava

have a look at this post

Cuprajake

just click on hellojava’s name and it will take you to his post, hes had the same recently usa again

danielpugh

Hi All, been a while but latest update in case any use…

Paolo sent bungs, sealed boiler and replaced along with failed pressurestat - all good in theory apart from…
Loud hissing. Partially isolated to bubbling water sensor - nudge to @Paolo_Cortese as waiting…
Turns out also … elbows connected to top of boiler are leaking- removed and re-sealed. Largely fixed apart from…
Turn on and pump constant. Wiggle water inlet and fine but still happens every few hours of operation… culprit isolated as a cracked filter. The pipe suction causes it to move down inside the filter housing until it locks onto the bottom creating a seal and blocks intake of water (hence pump constantly running!) - waiting on replacement from @Paolo_Cortese but largely fixed at this point apart from…
Water coming up through the top of the piston/lever again - have just re-greased so fingers crossed.

So in short largely sorted and back in action, but some minor niggles that I can live with. Most notable being the filter annoyance which may explain a post I read earlier about the pump running endlessly…

LMSC

danielpugh Good to know you are getting there. Sorry to hear that your troubles with this machine is relentless. I hope you can draw a line very soon mate.

Cuprajake

is the filter a perishable item?

danielpugh

@LMSC - don’t worry - happy in general, warts and all. Working in meantime, and end in sight. I’m just unlucky and sorta building in an annual boiler removal into servicing regime…

@Cuprajake not so much perishable than the pipe can slip (mine particularly being Friday build) and when it does the sections pulls it. Loads of fixes e.g. remove filter, superglue, etc. Took me a while to figure out as initially panicking because of the pump and error (al.11 from memory)

DavecUK

danielpugh pity Paolo didn’t put a group seal set with o rings into the shipment.

danielpugh

Hi @DavecUK it failed after only a couple of months, and had 4 seals so far, which didn’t help much. The leaking seems linked to the rubber band a bit higher on the piston. Adding grease seems to sort it for a month or so. Suspect the bore is slightly wider on mine perhaps making it a bit more susceptible (total guess)…

DavecUK

I think you have to keep on with ACS it’s always a possibility that there is an issue with the group liner ..

danielpugh

DavecUK

Nothing from @Paolo_Cortese in last week so have sent another nudge. Things working OK given the hissing currently, but despite re-greasinf still getting water gushing through the springs/lever. Fingers crossed some new ideas shortly..

Cuprajake

esp if its under warrenty

DavecUK

Cuprajake Even if it’s not but the problem has been there from new, keep at them!

gus6464

Received the new temp probe from ACS today. I must say the customer service is outstanding. It arrived at my door in 4 days from when I sent the email to Paolo from Italy to California. Replacing the probe on the brew boiler was a PITA because of the wire routing but other than it was very simple. Machine is back in business and the new probe is stainless steel instead of brass.

LMSC

danielpugh I am sorry to hear the repetitive nature of the problem with the group. I am wondering if the entire piston needs to be re-assembled. I don’t how it can help. I am not sure I can PM you here.

danielpugh

@LMSC pretty sure it’s not the piston assembly itself unless the metal parts have incorrect dimensions, although could well be wrong. I think @DavecUK is right and more likely the problem is slightly to big by a tiny tiny amount, that’s enough to allow ingress if the gaskets have any wear. Anyway first stop is to wait for @Paolo_Cortese …

LMSC

danielpugh

Am clearly over thinking here!

IMHO, the best option is swapping the whole group inc the piston assembly.

I don’t know if it is even possible to swap without a proper set up to reconstruct the group. You may have to remove all the internals to give a convenient access.

I understand it’s an expensive option for ACS. But, it’s a great opportunity for them to investigate the mysterious issues that bug your group and take any corrective action, where / if required.

Others’ have had issues for sure! But, not like this. I have always thinking why only your machine? An outlier for sure.

Please keep us posted.

Edit :

Another strange / stupid thought is did you have this problem before plumbing in?

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