I've gotten in contact with ACS about the Minima cost since I can't find a UK retailer and Maria got back to me with a standard stainless steel Minima for €1200,00 (approx. £1050) including shipping to UK with 24 months of warranty where they will support for any issue/s or replacements (free of charge for the warranty period) by emails, pictures and video calls. Am I right in thinking this is a fantastic price right?

@"Verion"#p28064 It used to retail £1179 to £1379. Please note, unless they have advised you otherwise, you will be charged VAT and import duties by DHL for customs clearance in the UK.

@"LMSC"#p28065 Good point about the VAT and import duties by DHL for customs clearance in the UK. I'll ask Maria about that.

Still a good price though. Is there another dual boiler in or around that price available from a UK retailer?

id buy now before it goes 2 euro to a pound haha there a good machine tbf

@"Verion"#p28066 One point to note - there should be no duties, only VAT, as the machine is made in the EU. I was charged (incorrectly) a fairly minimal amount of duty on my ACS machine, and I didn't challenge it. I was charged a much higher % amount on a recent import of a sweater (from Italy, as it happens)… and DHL backpedalled very quickly when I challenged them. Just make sure that ACS adds a declaration of origin to the paperwork if you go the 'direct from manufacturer' route.

@"dfk41"#p28067 The only dual boiler that comes close is the Lelit Elizabeth v3 at Bella Barista for £1,149 in price. But I'm not into the design. Maybe it looks too much like my current Sage DTP which I'm ready to move on from after a number of years. If Black Cat Coffee had the stainless steel Minima in stock it would have been £1,279, so the prices direct assuming I am liable for VAT and Import duties makes it around £1,260(ish). If not, then it makes it better value at £1,050 with everything included than the Lelit Elizabeth v3 or if I wanted an HX machine, then the Lelit Mara X v2. The next jump is closer to £1,800 with the Lelit Bianca v3 or something from Profitec or ECM. It's a lot of money when a Minima is a lot, lot less.

@"CoyoteOldMan"#p28071 Can I assume you bought your Minima direct?

@"Verion"#p28073 It was a Vesuvius Evo Leva, but yes - direct from ACS, so dealing with exactly the same people and carrier that you'd be!

@"Cuprajake"#p28070 Would be good if it did go 2 euro to the pound - Minima would only cost £600! Sadly parity is more likely.

haha you know what i mean lol the bianca is a different kettle of fish, alot more for your money than the minima - but its £600 more

ACS Minima

dfk41

My son’
s machine arrived mid morning but he has just collected it!

Cuprajake

That wood and black works very well

ken0062

Doram Personally I also think rubber gaskets give a nicer feel when inserting the portafilter, silicon tends to be more stickyer and also makes it harder to remove shower screen

Verion

My portafilter is quite tight. Manual says to turn it to 6.30, but it’s more like 5.30. Hopefully the gasket will loosen up a bit but then all new gaskets I suppose are like this.

Cuprajake

Yeah will wear in

dutchy101

It does - mine was the same

dfk41

Feedback from my son is very positive. He had an L1 prior to the Minima and found the different process required to use a pump machine very easy to switch too. Hopefully over the weekend I will get the chance to go down and have a play myself. I am afraid to say that he is another A1 coffee cheap Nicaraguan Decaf convert!

dutchy101

Glad he’s enjoying the machine dfk41

Gtbarringer

Well, just had an event weekend with the Minima. Yesterday I had a run away steam boiler (150 C) and the safety check valve kicked on. Then this morning, I heard a loud pop and the machine lost all power. Appears to be total failure of the power plug connection, the leads blew straight out. Thoughts on the root cause?

(

DavecUK

230v machine or 110v.

Either way, looks like a dead short somewhere to me. Anything burned, you need a new one.

How old is the machine and where are you?

Gtbarringer

Machine is early 2022 build and it a 110v. USA. Do you think there any risk of damage to the Gigar brain ?

DavecUK

Gtbarringer I think probably an SSR inside the Gicar box failed on (as SSRs usually do). Presumably Stean boiler SRR This means both boilers were capable of being on at the same time, the machine trying to draw a lot of power (as you had just switched it on). This would be in excess of 20 amps and caused the problems below.

You will need a new power socket, some new cable ends crimped on, and a Gicar box, unless you have soldering skillz to replace the failed SSR.

That’s my best guess anyway.

Gtbarringer

110v machines use a sequential heating pattern. The brew boiler had been on for 3 hours and then I switch the steam on for my wife. I also have an independent 15 amp breaker to isolate the machine from the rest of the house circuit. Just really strange.

DavecUK

Well it was my best guess? Based on the info I had, hard to think of another cause. Plus a 15A breaker will allow higher current for a time. It definitely drew big power for a short time to do that.

If a 15A breaker really blew at 15A, then the wires couldn’t have burned like that.

I am at the ACS factory with Paolo at the moment and it’s what Paolo thinks as well.

P.S. the other clue for me, is it didn’t fail last night because the brew boiler was already how any using very little current at the time the steam SSR locked on. Of course when you switched it on in the morning, brew boiler was cold and max power drawn.

Hope it all makes sense now.

Gtbarringer

DavecUK Maria confirmed replacement parts will be sent. My follow up question is do you think the over heating steam boiler is a root cause to the electrical failure or unrelated? (we are well over my basic knowledge of electrical circuitry) The last thing I want is a repeat episode. I can borrow a volt meter from work to test the resistance across the heating elements, that would be my only assumption on what could pull 20 + amps.

CoyoteOldMan

Gtbarringer I would think that the overheating is a consequence of the electrical failure - if the SSR failed ‘closed’ (i.e. ‘on’ - they are not supposed to, but they do), then the element would stay on until something else broke the circuit: the element fails, the wires melt or the thermal cut-out intervenes.

I would think that checking the heating elements is a sensible thing to do in any case - even if they were not faulty before the overheating, they may be now… ; a 1 kW/110 V element should have a resistance of about 120 Ω

DavecUK

Gtbarringer I helped put your repair pack together. There is some extra bits (wire and cable ties) and the blue wire is longer than you need so you can trim to length. I stole a wago connector as well to make it super easy.

When you wire in the replacement Gicar box take photos of the wiring of the old ones pins.

The short wire in the wago, is just to show you where the blue wire will go once you have cut the bad bit off and stripped the end.

Abcan

Hi all and @Verion, would you be able to tell me how you go about ordering direct from ACS please? I’m thinking of the Minima.

DavecUK

Abcan I think you can write to [ info@elcor.it](mailto:info@elcor.it)

Abcan

Hi again. @Verion or anyone else who’s ordered direct from ACS….do the machines come with a UK plug?

Thanks

DavecUK

Abcan If you state UK….yes

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