Solenoid E61 group
These are in interesting choice and not very common nowadays on E61 prosumer machines because many prosumer machines have a rotary pump, which requires a mechanical pre-infusion chamber, not part of a solenoid group. With vibration pump machines, if the system is carefully selected and the Gicleur (pin hole) in the E61 group is the right size…no preinfusion chamber is required. This has a lot of advantages (saving money is not one of them):
Non solenoid fully mechanical E61 groups (shown above) have a little lever you move which manually actuates, cams and valves with springs. This type of group has some disadvantages when compared to well specified solenoid operated E61 groups on vibration pump machines.
E61 Lever (mechanical) group
- A fully mechanical E61 group requires lever and cam removal for lubrication after backflushing with cleaner (or descaling). If these parts are not removed each time and lubricated with a product like Dow Corning Molycote 111 (food safe), excessive wear will result.
- Lastly in the prosumer environment a vibration pump has a much slower and quite desirable pressure ramp rate compared to a Rotary pump. This gives a nice gentle, progressive puck infusion, eliminating any necessity for a E61 preinfusion chamber/device.
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COOL
I have mine on a Meross WiFi plug and have it set to accept voice on/off commands from Alexa and a saved power scheme that switches it on a 9:00 am and off at 11:59 pm every day.