MatBat said:
Does anyone have a view on the longevity / maintenance requirements / common issues for the V? The linea mini is rock solid and feels like very little can go wrong (especially given the simplicity). Interested to hear others' views
They have replaced the old combined pressurestat safety valve with separate units due to reliability issues when used with hard water and steam boiler on most of the time, there is a retrofit available (often given free) that may have been done on most early machines. So this isn't an area for problems any more (at least no more than on any other machine). I still have the old unit, but with the water I use, it has not give any problems. There was some production issues where a particular solenoid could block (the one controlling the separation between brew and steam boilers) which could split a PTFE tube, this was solved ages ago.
So these were the early production issues.
The other area that has given the odd problem is the display plug comes loose and or text/1 colour can disappear from the display. In some instances it's definitely a bad connection on or other end of the ribbon cable (loose plug etc.), In others it might be the little display panel itself. Unfortunately diagnostics are not often done by the retailers. My own display no longer does the bluish colour properly, it's either a failed LED or a bad connection on the ribbon cable/plug. As it doesn't really affect anything and I tend to use the green display as normal on mine and it all looks normal, I have not bothered about it..
These have been the main issues on the forum that seem to come up.
I have not had any problems with mine in the 3.5 years I have owned it (and had to do zero maintenance apart from inspection/dusting). Other than these areas, the V doesn't really have any other common issues and when I say common I do mean only a few....not that many, so "most" owners don't get these problems. The pumps, seem to have been rock solid as does the main electronics and they don't tend to be leaky machines, due to the use of PTFE piping in the main and decent o rings on the boiler heating elements.
Also don't be fooled by the prosumer/commercial grade thing with the Vesuvius, unlike most prosumer machines it mostly commercial grade stuff, well tried and tested over the years.
1. Ochrestrale control board (well respected 3 group commercial board) and the sensors used are all commercial grade as they work with this board.
2. Stainless steel solenoid valves (not brass)
3. Commercial Gear pump with steel gears and not the cheapest version of this pump (cheaper versions of the same pump is made, with less expensive seals/bearings and one with plastic teeth)
4. PTFE high pressure tubing with larger internal diameter than usual in prosumer machines. It may look the same grade as a Quickmill or a Verona but there is a world of difference
5. Front panel is around 4mm thick (including reinforcement) where the group is supported
6. Steel on rest of machine is 2 x thickness of prosumer machines
7. Boilers are 316S low corrosion surgical steel and 2mm thick with 12mm end plates (again you won't find the like in a prosumer machine, not thickness or grade
8. Pressure is controlled via a PID
So reliability should not really be an issue long term,
but as with all machines, certain maintenance areas eventually go wrong, vacuum breakers have to be replaced, group gaskets need replacement, limit stats might eventually get over sensitive, etc.. The one advantage is if used as intended the V has much lower operating temperatures within it's very roomy case. This is good for reliability...
The main thing to consider is that the V and the LM are different machines. One is a DB the other a DB with pressure profiling. I use: a long 17s 2 bar preinfusion, followed by8s 10 bar.... 9 s 9 bar....8s 8 bar....3s 7 bar. I use a low pump acceleration, so it moves to these pressures more gradually, so think of them as peaks on a curve. I use these as my go to and they work really well with the 18g VST that Dave Kidd kindly gave me. In fact I use the VST with naked portafilter all the time now.
I hope the information above helps in your decision.
P.S. With a walk up shot no flushing, temps do seem spot on (when I measure them) with the V. This is measured at 93.5 set, which is the brew temp I prefer (mine has the offset as described in the user guide).
P.P.S I never liked the wood finish, glad they moved back to phenolic resin finish and the same portafilter as on the Verona (those are very nice).