Grimac Eclisse two group compact

UNM

Grimy got power! Gave him 240v yesterday. Started to fill, kept filling, then water out the steam wand and hot water tap. Turned them off and immediately realised it would be wise to stop pump too. Let's call that a boiler pressure test. Antivac valve, over pressure valve OK. Slight weep at heater element and sight glass under high pressure. Helps if auto fill probe is connected at BOTH ends of the cable to control box. Both volumetric touch pads go into program mode OK.

Brett_H

IT LIVES! Sounding better and better mate. @Jeff: thanks for putting me straight. I've seen the one group Grimacs and any of the parts were similar to the Diademi Ive owned. I s'pose this could be said for many machines.

UNM

took the sight glass out for a quick clean as it was impossible to tell boiler level. gave it heat - 1.2-1.4 bar cycling. dropped pstat so it is now at 0.85-1.05. Takes a full twenty minutes to get up to heat at 1650watt. Left group weeps very slightly while idling. Anti vac valve was also leaking slightly at first, but settled down after a few minutes. Will monitor and see if the group also fixes itself after a bit of use as it has been sitting dry for quite some time - it will either get better or worse I reckon. set boiler fill to stop at midway between low and high mark. will need a bit of use to fine tune. The flow meters incidentally have a date code of march 2003, which sets the machine as being ten years old maximum. So what next? Need to fix/replace drain cup as it is split - might just make a new one. Need to monitor for any intermittent issues. I dont understand a couple of valves, so will take photos and ask for words of wisdom from others here. basically though, it all seems to work.

UNM

Mystery valves. First one is main valve, but what connections actually do what? Don't suppose anyone has a similar valve or knows where I might find a cut away drawing of it? Second one is a simple on/off stop valve. What is it for? You can see that it links to the main valve bottom left of image. If only I had schematics. Edit - found the inlet valve assembly and group schematics on espressoresource.com

Bottom_Line

Should be the boiler fill. The push "button" from the front is the manual fill. Plumb the machine and push. You should hear water going into the boiler. The solenoid is the for auto fill. Bugger if I can remember what the on off valve is for.

UNM

Grimy currently works from a bucket so manual fill doesn't work, but that is straightforward. One outlet on main valve goes to waste water drain cup, seems strange don't know how/when it is used. One pipe goes to the mystery valve. Also got one inlet from pump, one on side of manual fill assembly and one more. Five pipes total. Edit: six pipes total, forgot about the one straight out the rear of the assembly On my azkoyen, there is a handy 'scald operator' on/off valve - also for boiler drain but seriously dangerous if opened when boiler under pressure. I know this valve doesn't do that as I checked. In open position, everything seems to work as it should.

Bottom_Line

This help?

UNM

Bottom Line wrote:

This help?

I think so. Will print and follow through all the lines on my machine, but it certainly seems like what I needed. Did I mention you are a prince among men? :thumb: Edit: Yep, that clears everything up. the mystery valve is the 'autofill exclusion valve' I have a very slight weep from the OPV, but that is probably just an old and slightly dodgy seal. Once the Azkoyen goes, this becomes its replacement and gives me a chance to monitor for intermittent problems. That will also return a corner of workbench and I can roast again.

UNM

Grimy No More! Machine is now installed and worked to pull a couple shots this am. I gave it a quick spruce up with some metal polish and replaced the cracked waste/drip cup. Then hooked up and put into service. First couple shots could probably be described as 'average' (you reading this Jeff? 😃). I do hope to improve on that, but for now I need to come to grips with different group heads, different baskets, different temperatures to what I have been used to. One group head is significantly hotter than the other when idling - problems with flow through HX circuit? Also it doesn't have a manual start/stop button. I need to use one of the volumetric buttons. To prevent premature shot termination, I will ensure the long double is programmed for a large amount and manually control using that one. It sits with element off 100seconds, then 35 seconds on - running single leg of element 1650Watts. Haven't done any tweaking yet as I want to get to know the beast first. Photos to be attached - easier to type here and add from phone later.

Koffee_Kosmo

Looking good in the photos Lets hope you sort out the couple of remaining small issues KK

Brett_H

You guys and your bargain basement machines ... Kudos!

UNM

Couple quick measurements this morning. 50 minute warm up. Changed to basket I was previously using successfully in the Azkoyen, dose as I used to (17gram). Flow rate looked good. Slightly better than before, but still thin and poor quality. Second spot for my daughter looked better, but hard to say for sure. Thermocouple on the top of group head (they are e-61 groups) reads 75 degrees on the left group and 64 degrees on right group at idle. Drops no more than one degree during pour. Temp in the cup is 64 degrees. Pretty sure used to be 70 degrees when I used the v azkoyen. Wish I had a Scace type device. Next step check pressure with different gauge. I think I will raise boiler temp a bit. Need to look up pressure/temperature tables first. Currently at 0.8-1.0 bar edit. boiler pressure raised to 1.0-1.2 bar. 69 degree exit temperature measured with my 'scace' (portafilter handle with a hole drilled in side to get temp at base of filter ). That was after 30 minute warm up will leave idling a bit longer and see if temp rises, then try making a real shot with good beans rather than sweepings - have been using grinder sweepings just to get flow rate down to normal extraction rate. pulled a shot with fresh beans after another 30 mins warm up. Much more palatable but not there yet. This machine runs seriously cool and ANY cooling flush just drops temp. Tomorrow I will be trying without any cooling flush to see what happens. As one group runs so much cooler, I guess I need to research servicing E-61 group heads.

UNM

finally got a few decent shots. On for well over an hour, preheat cup using boiler water. Rinse and heat p/f with boiler water after a short flush through the filter. Load with three day old brazil/india blend. 35 sec extraction, 40gram in the cup from 17gram coffee. Well balanced shot. So next up is a bit of investigation of whats going on inside the group head and see if I can raise temp a few degrees.

Brett_H

Sounds intriguing!

UNM

And now Mac is illuminated. Crap pictures, but does show the LED lighting on the e-61 groups.

derrilex

Do they make the coffee better ? :rofl: :stir :stir

UNM

derrilex wrote:

Do they make the coffee better ? :rofl: :stir :stir

Previously the crema was a bit dark and occasionally bitter. I now find it a bit paler and blondes slightly sooner so quite possibly. It MIGHT be subjective though, the jury is still out. Time will tell Regardless, just playing with it brightened my day which has to be a good thing

Koffee_Kosmo

Bling done tastefully is always cool KK

derrilex

UNM wrote:

Regardless, just playing with it brightened my day which has to be a good thing

And that's all that matters. Toy time

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