Coffee machine

[Werner van Aardt]

Where can I find portafilter baskets in Pretoria area? I am looking for 54mm baskets.

[MphatiPyga]

My new baby, ok it is at work but I drink coffee at work!! Home is a Saeco Xsmall and away is Aeropress

[V12man]

Where can I find portafilter baskets in Pretoria area? I am looking for 54mm baskets.

What machine is this for? 54mm is an odd size, but you could try Koldserve in Jhb or the San Marco agents - I think the stock San Marco PF is 54mm.

 

http://www.italespressoworx.co.za/refurbished-machines/la-san-marco/might be able to help, although they are not the importer as far as I know

[Reindeer21]

Hi guys,

 

I have an expobar office HX (about 16 months old) still in excellent condition with an extra naked portafilter and a 4 hole steam wand tip and a Baratza Forte grinder (basically brand new) that I want to sell.

 

I'm selling because I want to upgrade to a Linea Mini.

 

The grinder I won in a competition and used it for about 300g of beans to test it and decide if I want to keep my current grinder (Mazzer Mini) or the Baratza, but I prefer my Mazzer, so the Baratza is basically brand new.

 

PM me if you are interested for prices (Will give discount if you take both)

Edited August 3, 2015 by Reindeer21

[HappyMartin]

My Oscar is back at the importers for repairs. Went in for a replacement heating element and service. I think this is the fourth time in a month it has been back for the same repair.

 

It overheats and blows steam out a safety valve. It seems they are incapable of sorting it out but after R3750 for the original repair I have to keep trying.

 

Thai time they told me there might be something wrong with my electricity. Seems unlikely to me. I run the usual appliances in my house and have never had a problem.

[stewie911]

My Oscar is back at the importers for repairs. Went in for a replacement heating element and service. I think this is the fourth time in a month it has been back for the same repair.

 

It overheats and blows steam out a safety valve. It seems they are incapable of sorting it out but after R3750 for the original repair I have to keep trying.

 

Thai time they told me there might be something wrong with my electricity. Seems unlikely to me. I run the usual appliances in my house and have never had a problem.

Sounds more like a temperature probe problem

[V12man]

My Oscar is back at the importers for repairs. Went in for a replacement heating element and service. I think this is the fourth time in a month it has been back for the same repair.

 

It overheats and blows steam out a safety valve. It seems they are incapable of sorting it out but after R3750 for the original repair I have to keep trying.

 

Thai time they told me there might be something wrong with my electricity. Seems unlikely to me. I run the usual appliances in my house and have never had a problem.

Does your pressurestat actually work? this is easy to find out with a voltmeter and 5 minutes or so of watching the screen - if the machine overheats, then the pressurestat is not opening the circuit to turn off the element - they do have a known tendency to burn points, and often they come with 2 sets - so it could be a simple excercise to change the points in use.

 

Perhaps a different service center?

[HappyMartin]

I will suggest that thanks V12man. I'm at my wits end with this thing

[Pants Boy]

So, two gazillion posts later, and not enough attention span to read it all ... which machine to look at, for home use few times a week, small budget? (SARS payout .. whoop)

 

We've got a big mofo Carimali machine at work, but that thing is needy like an ex-wife, serviced every couple of months.

Edited August 5, 2015 by Pants Boy

[Stretched@Birth]

So, two gazillion posts later, and not enough attention span to read it all ... which machine to look at, for home use few times a week, small budget? (SARS payout .. whoop)

 

We've got a big mofo Carimali machine at work, but that thing is needy like an ex-wife, serviced every couple of months.

I'm very happy with my Breville!

[HappyMartin]

Rocket Giotto? Anyone have any experience or knowledge of these machines. Found one with the specs I would like though to be honest even the specs are a bit of a thumb suck for me. Bit like reading about bicycles and choosing one from a catalogue while never having actually ridden on one. Anyway we try.

 

Can't find a local price for the Linea Mini. Looks amazing but I'm almost afraid to ask the price. Reccomeded by V12man so that makes me kind of want one.

[Brian Fantana]

Rocket Giotto? Anyone have any experience or knowledge of these machines. Found one with the specs I would like though to be honest even the specs are a bit of a thumb suck for me. Bit like reading about bicycles and choosing one from a catalogue while never having actually ridden on one. Anyway we try.

 

Can't find a local price for the Linea Mini. Looks amazing but I'm almost afraid to ask the price. Reccomeded by V12man so that makes me kind of want one.

Linea Mini will be in the region of R55k judging by international prices.

 

The Rocket Giotto looks like an E61 workhorse. I follow Rocket on Instagram and judging by photos they post, they are a big company. They also support cycling, they have sponsored a machine for team Sky, and there was a limited edition run of 200 Rapha models.

 

I guess if the machine has any major flaws, you will quickly find more information on it on Coffeegeek or HomeBarista forums.

 

 

Edited August 5, 2015 by Brian Fantana

[the nerd]

Rocket make amazing machines.

[HappyMartin]

Thanks for the info. Looks good to me and at 27k for the model I fancied it should be on

[V12man]

Rocket Giotto? Anyone have any experience or knowledge of these machines. Found one with the specs I would like though to be honest even the specs are a bit of a thumb suck for me. Bit like reading about bicycles and choosing one from a catalogue while never having actually ridden on one. Anyway we try.

Can't find a local price for the Linea Mini. Looks amazing but I'm almost afraid to ask the price. Reccomeded by V12man so that makes me kind of want one.

The Rocket is an E61 heat exchanger machine - and they are all much of a muchness in use - the only 3 features that are variables between most 61 machines are:

 

1 - Vibration pump vs Rotary vane pump - Rotary is much quieter and better in general, but more expensive

2 - Boiler size - they are in general in the 2 - 3 l sizes - bigger is better, but for home use 2l is enough, 3 l is better, and 4 l is overkill. (there is also copper vs Stainless boilers, but I don't think there is much in that discussion of value)

3 - There are a couple of double boiler E61 machines around - Expobar is most common in SA - these are marginally better than the HX, but to get full benefit of the DB, a better grouphead would be an advantage, so a double boiler machine like the linea mini with it's saturated grouphead would be a lot better than an E61 db machine.... a LOT....

 

There are lots of places that sell E61 machines in SA - look around and compare prices and specs - and service.... and aesthetics.

 

of all the E61 machines, I like the aesthetics of the Isomac Mondiale most - http://www.isomac.it/model.asp?id=1 - I have one in a box in my study as a backup machine - slightly different to the photo link - the portafilter handles are stainless.

 

I think when one decides to spend serious money on a machine, you have to look at it as a 10 year plus investment, so over 10 - 15 years, the difference between 25 and 50k is not large, and it becomes important to make sure you can live with the way it looks that long.

[SimpleDom]

V12man, you need to stop. I'm starting to look around and feel like I'm cheating on Sylvia.