Leaving Your Espresso Maker On???

[thejavaman]

Just wondering if anyone leaves their espresso maker on for an extended period of time?  The reason I ask is because I tend to exclusively drink espresso based drinks on the weekends and my Gaggia Carezza seems to perform at it's best when it's been thoroughly warmed-up, which can take in excess of 30-45 minutes.  I'm considering turning it on before I go to bed on Friday night and then leaving it on through Sunday night.  It probably can't be good for the machine, but could it really be that bad for it?  Does anyone do this already or have any opinions on it?

[grinderz]

You could use a timer switch like this one. You could set it so it comes on an hour or so before you plan on getting up. Just make sure to get one rated with enough wattage for your machine.

[Dante]

My La Cimbali M30 is on 16 hours a day. If I am killing it that way, I sure would like to find out and your question is very timely. Paging Felix! Any thoughts on this?

[bobvilax2000]

I'm not sure that I would leave it on for two days straight, mainly because it would be completely unattended for at times,  but really there is no threat structurally. It's mostly brass with a bit of teflon inside. The T-stat and P-stat life will be shortened because they'll be cycling more often. These always die eventually, though, and the P-stat is a snap to replace. The T-stat, depending on the machine, may be a little more interesting.

Get an appliance timer. I use one just to make sure it shuts off in case I forget.

- -Barrett

[thejavaman]

You could use a timer switch like this one. You could set it so it comes on an hour or so before you plan on getting up. Just make sure to get one rated with enough wattage for your machine.

I never thought of that - thanks....

[mp]

Like any other small appliance the parts in the espresso machine have a finite life.  The more hours put on them the faster their time of expiry will come.  The commercial machines will have heavy duty parts and will last longer but will eventually also need to be replaced.  One of the variables most people overlook at is the grade of water that goes into the machine.  Nothing will bring the service of your machine faster than hard water being input into it and never doing a thorough descaling. 

A timer is a good way of having it turn on a 1/2 hour or so before you are ready to use it. In my case I have an Isomac Tea ll and the manufacturer suggests a 20 minute warm up period but I find that 30 minutes produces a better brew temperature so I turn it on at least 1/2 hour before I use it.

Hope that helps.

 

[donn]

We leave our commercial lever machine on 24 hours.  I think the seals would last longer if we turned it off between uses, but I'm told inactivity ages them faster than heat.  The boiler size is several gallons and the groups are pretty massive, so for practical purposes, turning it off between uses is going to mean some compromise to the brew temperature.   In Seattle a little extra heat is almost always a good thing, so we don't worry too much about that.