Breville Dual Boiler BES920 - Shot Count and Any Problems Encountered?

mshanann on 08/12/2022 - 10:37

Hi All

I'm thinking about moving away from my reliable Lelit Glenda single boiler to a Breville dual boiler BES920 (to see what all the fuss is about!).

The only thing I've had to change in my 10 year old Glenda was a steam cut-off thermostat (~$10) and I got a new pump recently (~$30).

For those having had multi-year ownership of the BES920, would you be willing to provide a rough shot count value and any issues you encountered that required repair or consumable part servicing?

To calculate the shot counter value -
With the machine in standby, press and hold 1 cup and 2 cup buttons for 4 seconds then press the Power button (whilst still holding the 1 and 2 cup buttons).
When the machine powers on, press the Menu button to bring up the shot counter. Multiply the displayed value by 10 for the number of shots.
Switch off the machine with the Power button.

Food & Grocery Breville Coffee Machine

Comments

  • notJV on 08/12/2022 - 10:44

    would you be willing to provide a rough shot count value

    Out of curiosity, what would this help with ?

    • Fellow Breville lurker here
    • mshanann on 08/12/2022 - 11:50

      I'm thinking of going down the second hand route - as FB marketplace has some great deals - rather than paying the $1k for a new one. I'm trying to understand what can and is likely to go wrong with older machines. I figure I can probably sell my Lelit for a very similar price to what I can also obtain a second hand BES920 from.

  • resisting the urge on 08/12/2022 - 10:58
    +2

    What a good idea!

    Actually this is something OzB could do to measure and support product quality and discover real value provided by manufacturers: E.g. Allow the community to suggest products and metrics for polls to measure true longevity.

    I'd say quality too, but that is very subjective, so best to get it right with longevity first. Probably a way to track failure symptoms and or causes, perhaps even fixes and their success rate, would be good.

    Now more than ever, in a plastic-infested burning future, how long things last vital as part of any purchase decision.

    BTW:
    Mine is at 6290 of which 90% are daily doubles.

    FYI The 4-digit code just inside the removable water reservoir says 1643, so IIRC it was made on 3/4/2016: That's about 5.5 years worth of use.

    No filter used ever (Sydney water is soft AF anyhow). Normal cleaning done as the machine prompts via the display.
    Replaced the pump at 5900 or so, inside looked like brand new. I also changed the group and pipe seals whilst doing the pump, and expect the brew solenoid to fail at some point, as they do on all machines.

    • mshanann on 08/12/2022 - 12:04

      Did you do the pump replacements and seals yourself? Looks like it just uses the same common Ulka EP5 vibratory pump as my Lelit also uses, and an EX5 will also work which has brass output rather than plastic. As mentioned above, I'm thinking of going down the second hand route.

      • resisting the urge on 09/12/2022 - 11:15

        Yes I got an EX5, it is defo better than the original. I bought everything I needed from outwestcoffee.com.au, at 1/4 the price of a new one, it was well worth the effort- certainly less time than finding and buying a new one, let alone offloading a worn one that isn't working.

  • fedwood on 08/12/2022 - 11:32

    1150 at 7 months which is about 5-6 per day. I probably have 2 maximum.

    Looks like it counts every time you press one of the shot buttons whether its just to warm it up or clean a portafilter, rather than a fully run shot.

    • kiitos on 08/12/2022 - 11:51

      I was about to ask this too - makes sense that all uses are counted, even thought some are a couple of seconds of water only, with no pressure.

    • mshanann on 08/12/2022 - 11:57

      Yeah that is a good point. I found a guy selling a 5 year old machine with the display showing "490" .. multiple by 10 ; 4900/(5*365) ~= 2.68 coffees per day
      He stated he only makes the one cup, but presses three times, one for the shot and the other two times to flush the hot water.

      • carlJack on 08/12/2022 - 13:27

        I do that myself. Press once for flushing for about 8 secs. Next for brewing and the last one for cleaning. Dont know the exact number in mine. Its a 2 year old machine.

      • BargainCowboy on 08/12/2022 - 15:04

        Same, once to warm it up, one for the shot and another one to clean.

        • resisting the urge on 09/12/2022 - 11:24

          If it's just reached temp it might be worth doing this, but once warm for a few mins everything is hot other than the portafilter/group handle. I mostly don't bother as I can't taste any difference- but then again, I often like to warm the cup so if there's no hot water in the kettle handy… yeah, probably do it more than I think!

          In terms of counts, I would've said you're right- but we don't really know. If you were I'd say my machine's count should be way higher. maybe the microcontroller only logs a pulls that reach completion (Eg 30s). EDIT: Minimum 14s as Geoquack is a sensible value for Breville to use.

          Keener to know if a double shot counts as two rather than one. Could test your theory by doing up to 10 incompleted single pulls, checking Menu>Count between each. If the log ticks over at any point during this test it counts incomplete pulls.

          Then the moment it ticks over, do another 5 double pulls, and check the log. if it ticked over it counts doubles as two pulls. If not, do another 4 and it should tick over more one count.

  • KaTst3R on 08/12/2022 - 13:36

    Does this shot counter trick work on other Breville machines with a display? Cant test it out now as im outside.

  • GeoQuack on 08/12/2022 - 19:07
    +2

    Mine is 6 years old and has done 15380 shots. It counts a shot if you run the shot for longer than 14 seconds so some of these are flushing it. I've replaced the brew pump, the three way solenoid and valve, the O rings on the boilers, the washers in the steam valve, the inner shower screen and the group seal. The steam boiler pump will need replacement soon. These are all things that would need maintenance on any medicine. It's relatively easy to work on and for the most part uses the same parts as European manufactured machines. Most claims of better reliability from these machines are due to them receiving regular maintenance rather than nothing until something breaks. Newer 920s have a better way of sealing the pipes on the boilers than the O rings in mine.

  • Mcuser on 08/12/2022 - 21:46
    +1

    First one lasted 4 years was fixed 3 times, sold it to local repair guy for $250 and bought a new one for $890 few months ago, once they start having issues sianara

    • resisting the urge on 09/12/2022 - 11:33

      Where are you? Water in Aus varies a lot, hard water tends to foul machines quite fast. Alternately, yours may need more cleaning than Breville configure the prompt for, even though it prompts you about water quality prior to first use.

  • dwhcom on 12/12/2022 - 12:14
    +1

    Shot count: 1810, owned for ~5 years. Used pretty much daily in that time for morning cuppas.

    Has been running solid all that time, and produces great shots. The only issue that I may have to date is the descale prompt not going away after my latest descale - will have to attempt to descale it again and see if the prompt goes away.

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