Breville Smartgrinder replacement

eggbert

I got one of the original BCG800 smartgrinders back in 2011, and while the grinder isn't stepless, my 1970s Bezerra Lever is forgiving enough for that not to be a major issue. Unfortunately the start button seems to be on its way out, and currently only works about 1 in 5 times it is pressed (and getting rapidly worse). I guess as its a Breville this wouldn't be easily repairable - especially considering that being in Darwin I am probably around 3500km from any of their repair centres.

Having a 2 year old around the house, I just haven't had time to keep up with what new kit is out there, so thought I would come back to the fold and ask here if there are any new grinders recommended as a good bang for the buck, or should I just swallow my pride, and purchase another disposable smartgrinder?

Brett_H

Oh there are so many better choices that will still work perfectly after 6 years.... even if you wish they wouldn't. Sure they're more money but their better in every way perhaps though with less bells and whistles. Look at the Eureka and Macap range as a starting point for simplicity with excellence! Nice to hear from you mate!

eggbert

Cheers Brett. Babybert is finally getting to the age where we can get a little spare time and not just want to collapse in bed ourselves. Trying to persuade Wifebert to part with more than what you can pick the smart grinder up for is going to be a bit of a struggle. Just missed out on an ECM this evening from evilbay that ended up going for a very reasonable $130. I was out and had forgotten to set a snipe up so asked my wife to bid up to a certain amount, but not understanding how eBay works she was placing small bids every few minutes, so that didn't work out :tearhair:

UNM

Back in the day, Bernard at Amanti coffee in Blackburn VIC sold his used grinders on evilbay for a fair price. I bought an old Azkoyen from him once and it worked fine, just a tad on the large size for home use. If you find one in Melbourne and shipping is a problem, I could pick up on your behalf and forward to you (there is one vendor in Melbourne I wont deal with though). Or you could try and fix the Breville - should be possible to replace a microswitch. I'll have a quick peruse of the web and see if it is an easy job.

eggbert

Thanks for the offer UNM. Amanti don't seem to have anything up at the moment. But I will keep my eye out.

Brett_H

eggbert wrote:

Thanks for the offer UNM. Amanti don't seem to have anything up at the moment. But I will keep my eye out.

The couple of Amanti grinders that have come into my sphere of influence have been terrific and only needed immediate burr replacement to get them working well. Moreover the ones I know of are still working happily for their owners.

askthecoffeeguy

my mazer super jolly is just ridiculously large for my bench so my old faithful sunbeam cafe series is what i tend to use most often ten years on and several changes of blades later and its still going strong ! p

UNM

askthe coffeeguy wrote:

my mazer super jolly is just ridiculously large for my bench so my old faithful sunbeam cafe series is what i tend to use most often

I seem to remember that was the budget grinder of choice until the Breville SG came along. It is a simpler unit, so presumably has potential for longer life. The best diagram I have found for the Breviile is here: http://www.ereplacementparts.com/breville-bcg800xl-smart-grinder-parts-c-116052_116057_296085.html Based on that, it looks like it would require stripping, identify what type of membrane switch is used and solder in a replacement. Not a huge problem, but fiddly. You'd have to find someone willing to do old school repairs - not so common nowadays. I am willing to bet there are plenty of $2 circuit boards on ebay that have those switches and it wouldn't surprise me if I had one or two kicking around in my garage junk.

eggbert

Does this seem a little too good to be true? http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/322561884171

LeroyC

eggbert wrote:

Does this seem a little too good to be true? http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/322561884171

Good buy. If you're after something like this I'd grab it as they're awesome grinders. I had the old K8 Silenzio until I got my K10 Coni. I scored my K10 for $150 cause the seller didn't really know what they were selling. $280 for a K6 Silenzio is a good price, even if you have to replace burrs as they can be found for about $70.