Breville's new dual boiler machine BES900

Brett H

on 1354139354:

Another new reliability issue has popped up on mine, just posting in case anyone else has had the same or similar. Now and then, the machine will short-shot the brewing, so with a consistently filled and tamped basket, extracted at 9bar, sometimes the double shot program will just cut the shot off at 15-16 secs. It started doing this very occasionally, but now that I'm over the 12 month warranty threshold, it's started to become much more regular. As you can imagine, the growing incidence of "sink-shots" has become annoying and expensive. There is also a new clattering noise which is starting to worry me, happened the first time when I was backflushing. I'm reluctant to send it once again back to the servicve centre for two reasons, potential cost and another major time out. I do like the machine and I so want to believe in this product, however I'm starting to lose confidence in it. I hope it doesn't just decide to turn up its feet and fail on me AJ

I'm sorry to hear this mate.  We all want this machine to succeed!  Lets hope it's just a minor glitch. 

Hatchy

This goes to the question of longevity. Just days over a year old my machine seems to have a very poor water flow. Where it previously took not a lot of time to get to OPV level with a blind, it now takes a whole 15 seconds to get to OPV level. It's all clean, that's not the issue. Any ideas?

Hatchy

I called Breville who gave me an authorisation number as my receipt may have gone walk about. She was really nice on the phone. Actually followed me when I said things like group head and solenoid. I then called Mr Sparky's at Oxley who said their tech was on holidays till next week and that Sparky's at Albion was the authorised repairer for BES900 anyway. Sparky's Albion is on holidays (as you said AM) or at least not answering the phone. Interesting that Mr Sparky's whilst listed on the Breville site didn't want to handle the machine, rather direct me to another repairer. Horses for Courses. Thanks AM for your feedback.

Hatchy

You Beauty. Thanks for the heads up AM Phoned them and will take it in hopefully this afternoon if I can make their 4pm close.

ajst2duk

How did you go Hatchy ? Ours in addition to the now regular short-shots (usually fixed by reprogramming) is making funny noises in the pre infusion stage with no pressure showing on the gauge where it use to show 3bar. With a blind it still gets to OPV pressure ok. I've reverted to using the manual shot as I got tired of  sink shots where they were just the result of being cut off early. In each case the grind dose and tamp have remained consistent. I thought that this machine might have been the endgame for us for the next few years but its proving a bit of a challenge. I would rather hang on and manually shot  for the time being instead of sending it off yet again to the service agent and have to pay for 4 coffees a day for two weeks.

ajst2duk

Hi AM - yep mine has already had the o ring replacement  - in fact the whole solenoid assembly was replaced as a little bit of o ring had blocked it. Mine is out of warranty now being one of the first - in fact serial number 00000001 so I will deal with issues myself as and when they impact our ability to pull shots - happy to do this and I'm sure that this forum will help us all share ideas and experiences. If I come across as a little grumpy about our machine - I guess yes - we were a bit disappointed given the cost of the machine to have had problems so early but it was always on the cards with a ground breaker like this. - cheers and happy new year everyone !!  AJ

Hatchy

Hi Guys, I picked up the machine today. 1 week turnaround. Speaking with the local repairer in Brisbane, they have stopped using o-rings after going through 3-4 types and now have a gasket instead. They replaced this in the main solenoid and upgraded the software and reset the OPV to 10bar (I did like the feeling of having it set at 9.75 by AM - something nice about it being below 10, but the guy did talk about the needle flutter issue that doesn't happen at 10 - I did want to say that it doesn't happen at 9.75 either, but in reality there is nothing to quibble about, and I was grateful they went that extra mile to reset the OPV) I'm happy, have only pulled 5 shots thus far today, and all have been great. Flow is back to normal. I liked the comment from the repairer - "this machine makes a great coffee, we had one this morning" - they actually real world test every coffee machine they repair! The repairer in Brisbane is excellent and treated my machine with a lot of care. AJ - As for having to buy 4 coffees a day - that's a bit extreme, try pour over / chemex for a week or mocha pot. Plenty of alternatives in the coffee scene at the moment and beans to suit. Might be worth investigating a bit more to see what the go is with this new gasket instead of o-ring replacement as to whether it will more permanently solve your issue before you buy a Bialetti to see you through the repair wait. The repairer in Brisbane is excellent and I'm sure would give you the time of day if you just wanted to ask about the defect. AM - you're welcome to look at my machine to see what was done. Anytime.

ajst2duk

This is great info thanks - I may try a call to Breville to see if I can get the gasket and software update done under warranty even though its expired. Yes I'll take advice on the coffee side - or fund another service crew who have a quicker turnaround.

repeet

I haven't seen anyone post about the problem that I am having.  On occasion, about 6 times in the last month, the machine has started making pulsed gurgling sounds and the temperature display keeps going up past 102 before I noticed then shut it off.  All the buttons become non responsive and steam comes out of the hot water outlet when turned on. Obviously the temperature is going above its setpoint of 94.  The first time that I noticed this noise, the machine was actually in sleep mode.  I have to let it cool right down and purge all the steam from the water outlet, then cross fingers its usualy ok for a few days.  Its currently at Mr Sparkys at Oxley for warranty repair. Its only about 5 months old, Breville told me to take it there.

repeet

Thanks for that I'm confused that the Breville call center told me to take it there.  I'll call Mr Sparky and see if they have started on it.

repeet

I tried to contact Sparkies but they are closed on Saturdays.  Then I tried calling Breville to check if they made a mistake sending me to Mr Sparky but they are also closed.  Then I tried Mr Sparky to see if they have fixed it.  They said they can't fault it yet, but will leave it on for a few more days.  The water tank also leaks out of the valve on the bottom when removed so they have ordered me a new tank.

repeet

Rang Breville and it was definitely a mistake. Picked it up from Mr Sparky and dropped it off to Sparkys.

Brett H

on 1360563521:

Rang Breville and it was definitely a mistake. Picked it up from Mr Sparky and dropped it off to Sparkys.

That's a step in the right direction.  Fingers are crossed for you mate! I have a Breville mix master and cyclonic wiz that are at least 15 years old and work great! Here's hoping BDB owners get similar satisfaction and longevity.  Would love some updates from other owners because we only tend to hear the negatives on the net.

repeet

Thanks for the replys. I have been in Melbourne all week so luckily haven't missed it. Hopefully they won't be much longer with the repair. They are also doing all the current upgrades while it's there. I wish that I had videod it when it happened,  it may have given them some clues.

Brett H

Breville shares are off almost 20% today after their report.  They are up almost 100% from when I put a watch on them so they've certainly out-performed in the past 12 months.  The latest fall may present a buying opportunity given the Keurig thing is more quantifiable and a deal with Nespreso is in the works.  Certainly the company is building brand awareness and taking market share with innovative products like he DB.  I just hope there's a DB mkII and not just a Nespresso focus in the future.

repeet

Picked it up today, they replaced one of the temperature sensors. No seal upgrade was done, apparently didn't need it. Hope its fixed :thumb:

Brett H

on 1361869101:

Picked it up today, they replaced one of the temperature sensors. No seal upgrade was done, apparently didn't need it. Hope its fixed :thumb:

Fingers crossed mate!

repeet

Made 2 coffees yesterday, great. Machine turned on automatically at 6am today, had my morning shower, come back to make coffee and gurgle, gurgle, temp display flashing 100 degrees. Back to the shop it goes.  Not impressed. 3 weeks in shop for what?  At least I videod it this time.

Brett H

on 1361997458:

Made 2 coffees yesterday, great. Machine turned on automatically at 6am today, had my morning shower, come back to make coffee and gurgle, gurgle, temp display flashing 100 degrees. Back to the shop it goes.  Not impressed. 3 weeks in shop for what?  At least I videod it this time.

What a pain Fingers re-crossing!

admin

mmm ... not good

derrilex

I guess thats the problem with these modern appliance type machines. So much electronics to make them look flashy and perform all sorts of useless functions. Great leap forward or 2 steps backwards ? The latter I think. I still find it baffling that they can't get it right and make something that just works. How hard can it be ? Repeet must be 1 more failure away from a new machine under the lemon laws

derrilex

:rofl: slapped by the teacher. And that's another issue all together. Component failure, with proper R&D should be largely eliminated and yet what do we see time and time again. Sure there are user issues like collar wear and overdosing but just about everything else has no excuse. You cant abuse orings, you can't flog electronics to death. Obviously the componentry is just not FFP to ensure longevity. Yes the environment is hostile but it is also very, very mild compared to under the bonnet of a car, where electronics, orings and components just get on with it, mostly perfectly for 10 - 15 years. Ok, the investment in R&D is in the billions for cars but every single component is made to a standard by a manufacturer other than the one selling the final product. Everything is outsourced yet it all comes together to just... work. Is it too much ask for things to work as they should or should consumers be expected to pay for dodgy product that in reality is still in R&D spec?

conikal

on 1362107288:

.... Yes the environment is hostile but it is also very, very mild compared to under the bonnet of a car, where electronics, orings and components just get on with it, mostly perfectly for 10 - 15 years.

  Even some of the best car makers get it wrong at times..     Owners of VW's FSI turbo engined golf GTI's etc will probably be familiar with the engine "Vacuum control valve" .. a simple plastic component with a small rubber diaphram inside. Although VW wont admit it, this  is a regular failure item ( web forums are full of how to fix threads )., and they have more than 10 design revisions on. VW charge $300 to fix an item that you can buy on ebay for $20..and takes 10 mins to fit. So , car makers are not an ideal example !...

derrilex

But  you can get it replaced in 10 minutes and be on your way and not be without your car for 3 weeks. So even from a repair perspective the motor industry is still a good example. Not perfect but as an example of longevity in hostile conditions its as good as you will get.

repeet

I'm not anoyed with Sparkies, just the situation. They are seeing a new fault and are working closely with Breville on resolving this. I wish it would do it for them though, makes diagnosis simple. I am an auto electrician at Mercedes so fully understand how frustrating intermitent faults can be.  I just hope it gets sorted out quickly.  I can't do instant.

repeet

Short video of fault. Starts off with machine turned off. Temperature is set at 94. Keeps going up over 100.  Gurgling noise can be heard. Push buttons are non-responsive. You can see little to no water coming out of hot water outlet when operated near the end.

Bern

Oh mate, that sounds like a death rattle:-(((((

lars

Made in china = not built to last

derrilex

For sure AM. Look at the progress Sth Korea had made. Their stuff is pretty damn good now. Made in China is fine as long as the parent company puts in place the right QA and more important, has QA on the QA.

admin

on 1362179311:

Made in china = not built to last

interesting... to me it goes to the whole ethos/philosophy of the type of machine you purchase. The equation might be something like: BES = @$1,350 [approx. street price] for say 2-4 years' longevity vs @$3,000 for a high quality Italian machine which [theoretically] should last a lifetime. If you think of the equation like this, then buying a made-in-china unit probably would not stack up; but on the other hand, you could think that by buying a machine of this type, it gets you into making a pretty good quality espresso when you wouldn't otherwise have been able to afford it!! Difficult choice - other thoughts? A