Minimising power useage on Espresso Machines

davlee

Hi,
I am in my sixties and about to purchase my first ever coffee machine.
Useage will only be twice a day (early morning & late afternoon). My intended purchase is an Expobar Semi-Auto that doesn't seem to have a power saving function.

Does it do any harm to the machine to completely turn the power on and off after each use or should it be left on as suggested by the salesman?

Thanks,
Dave

beanflying

Hi Dave and welcome 🙂 With the Expobar and the sort of usage you are talking about (2 uses a fair way apart) a good multifunction timer would make some sense. This sort of thing http://www.rockby.com.au/catresults.cfm?imageField.x=55&imageField.y=15&searchkey=timer&offset=31&stock_no=38316 most will handle several blocks per day some even allow different settings for days of the week. I am running a 5L comercial 1 grp on the kitchen bench at present which has enough thermal mass in it even if turned off for a few hours to only take 10-15 minutes got get hot again through the day. Generally however it goes on in the mornings when I am at home and off about 3 or 4pm. On time to off time ratio isn't high (off more than they are on) and cheaper than one bad coffee at your local cafe 😉

Koffee_Kosmo

davlee wrote:

Hi, I am in my sixties and about to purchase my first ever coffee machine. Useage will only be twice a day (early morning & late afternoon). My intended purchase is an Expobar Semi-Auto that doesn't seem to have a power saving function. Does it do any harm to the machine to completely turn the power on and off after each use or should it be left on as suggested by the salesman? Thanks, Dave

It costs no more than boiling water in an electric kettle to run your machine from cold start It then cycles on for just a few seconds to keep the machine at the set temp and off again I turn off my machine at home between coffee making KK

lemoo

i turn off my machine between uses too

Thundergod

I have an Expobar Leva on a timer. It comes on in the morning 1 hour before my first coffee and goes off again until about an hour before my next one. It then goes off again for several hours until it turns on for the last time for my afternoon drink. It's then programmed to go off again until the morning when it all starts again. I have a digital timer so it has a weekday and a weekend program to accommodate my sleeping patterns. I've been doing this for a few years with no problems.

Kelsey

I was looking at this recently on our wireless energy meter thingy and the espresso machine consumes next to nothing when idle. Every now and then it heats up for a few seconds and then goes back to minimal draw. Given the few minutes it takes to get up to temp at full-boil, I'd suggest it'd be much of a muchness between leaving it on and turning it on and off as needed.

derrilex

Thats my thinking too Kelsey. I turn mine on at 6.30 am and shut it down when I go to bed. Ive watched it a few time now and it only cycles in a few times / hr for about 15 seconds. And I dont have to wait for it to heat up

FreshCoffee2

Harever my esteemed collaborators.....the power useage (while machine is left on but idle) is not the relevant problem. The catch I am afraid, is that the managing components that switch the element on and off for those few seconds throughout the day while the machine is idle, are wearing out while they cycle uselessly on and off for no gain (gain = coffee making). Any components only have a certain "designed in" service life, measured in number of cycles, and the cycles are being used up NOT making coffee. And then we get clients coming in after 12 to 18 months with a breakdown, while complaining words to the effect of "....but it hardly ever gets used....". 5 minutes later during the booking in for repair process we find out someone told them (or they read on the web), they should leave the machine on 24/7 or risk destroying "the seals" prematurely, supposedly due to the heating up / cooling down process of switching on and off. The answer is: switch on to use, and unless you are going to make another cuppa "shortly", switch it off until you next want to use it. Hope that helps 😉

Koffee_Kosmo

Just a note on the point of contact comments made Going back a few years cars had points in the distributors that were regularly changed as a required service Now surpassed by electronic ignition systems The reason they were phased out in motor vehicles was the speed of the contacts per minute gave them a low life period It's a very reliable system on other applications that have low per minute activation KK

UNM

cost wise and convenience wise it is a balancing act. my machine has a solid state relay so it is a pointless item. heating and cooling does cause some stress on components. wear of contact relays and switches is also an issue. neither is something to lose sleep over. for a couple coffees in the morning and a couple later in the day, a cheap timer should be good, set for approx a 30 min warm up time. I think most of us are in agreement there

Kelsey

I generally wind up making about four to five doubles a day, two of which are shared with my wife. Then tend to be fairly well spaced out through the day, so let's say once every two hours at least..... I wonder what the better balance would be then... nevertheless I think it might be much of a muchness.

mycuppa

A very experienced tech at the Australian agent for a large espresso machine importer told me that reliability for machines was best achieved from leaving it switched on at all times. Then his colleague contradicted that statement. If I look at the anecdotal track record from our own fleet of equipment installed at customer sites over many years, some who leave it switched on and others who power on for just the trading hours there is no clear evidence that points to one practice being better than the other for reliability as we have incurred faults across both power practices. We can't see a developing trend. There may also be subtle differences in component grade between full commercial, prosumer and domestic and as per A.'s comments above - I have seen prosumer machines left switched on fail after 18 months or 2 years and yet commercial systems chug away for many years with no issue. Having a background in electrical engineering, I can understand all the theory behind the MTBF stats. In terms of real life scenarios on reliability I have formed the opinion it's just a random number game if you are unlucky enough to experience a fault. Sure there are measures you can take to aid in longevity. For me, the choice or decision to make is driven by personal convenience and individual attitude to energy consumption.