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Warm up time for 110V L1
For those L1 owners in the USA with a 110V unit (1400 Watt heating element), what is your typical warm up time for the L1? The 220V unit (with the 2400 Watt heater) states a 12 minute warm up time.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Comments
Maybe the 220v version MIGHT be faster warm up, but it also might be faster recovery after pulling a few shots.
For what are you using the L-I ? Commercial application or home use?
Does anyone have timings on warm up and/or recovery time for the 1400Watt verses the 2400Watt machines?
Just turn the machine on and leave it on the day you plan to use it. I never turn mine off until I am done drinking coffee for the day. All the owners of the European machines and the Australian machines could better address the times for the 220/240v machines.
If speed is such a priority I wonder why you picked a Lever machine. Semi-automatics with pumps and a whole bunch of other stuff are quicker to operate, but not necessarily faster to warm up.
The fastest warm up for making coffee was my wood cook stove. The stove was always on so setting a kettle of water for pour over or a moka pot on it was pretty fast.
Maybe Frans will chime in and comment about warm up. He has a 240/220v machine.
I just have one L1 so cannot compare, but it seems obvious to me that the kW-number of the element is not very important for warmup time. Sure, my 2850 kW element may be heating up the boiler a little faster but the 1400W would do just fine as well because remember it's not a huge boiler. The 2850 is more or less overkill. Heating up the boiler is a quickie for any element.
Next in line is heating up the machine. And it's not the "powerful" element doing that, but just the calm flow of the thermosiphon. It's not the "powerful" element deciding how long it takes, but the ambient temperature, any airflow past the machine body and past the heavy brew group. If I'm in a hurry, I do a few flushes and past experiments and comparisons have shown that you may win a minute by flushing a lot briefly or flushing verrrry slowly but longer. Just depends on the question if you have nothing better to do in the morning than just stand in front of the L1 waiting for it to warm up. With the help of a flush, or two flushes, you're ready for your first espresso in about 12 minutes. If you have the time, or if you're smart enough to switch on the machine an hour sooner, you're ready the moment you want it.
So remember, a bigger heart won't get your body warmed up quicker. Running around the house helps on cold mornings. BUT the Londinium cannot run around the house with you and a bigger heart for it is just that, a bigger heart.
Also, when the element snaps briefly on during the day, that's just a few seconds at a time so if a powerful element can swing back up from the low p-stat value to the high value in 2 seconds, a smaller power element may to it in 3-4 sesonds, big deal. No one will notice that in the brew head and not in the cup.
After drawing a cup of water for tea, a few seconds later all is ready again, even before the brew head would feel any cold from the fresh water entering the boiler. So here too, zero effect whatsoever between element choices, in my view.
If you plan to draw kettles of water all day: bad idea. It's a coffee machine, not a hot water kettle. Get one, they are cheap. Treating it as a tea kettle is torture for the machine.
I too keep the machine on all day as long as I'm home. Warmup time has only been an issue when I was experimenting with it, having all the time in the world.
I mention this here because it may tell us that even if our machine isn't fully warmed up yet, it might provide an opportunity to look for that early morning sweetness in some beans.
So are you sure that after 12 min. the machine is ready to go?
Are you giving the Group a flush to warm it at about 8 minutes (once pressure has built up)?