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Permalink Reply by Brady on May 11, 2010 at 6:20am

Please provide more info on your machine. Specifically what model are you asking about? I suspect that it is a 1 group, correct?

I'm going to assume that the current configuration is button-activated auto wand on the left, lever activated water spigot on the right. On the manual machine, it is rocker-switch activated water valve on the left, manual steamwand on the right.

I'm also assuming that you have the model that is detailed in this parts breakdown.

There are a couple of considerations.

The first being that no manufacturer is really all that excited about this kind of Frankenstein project (for a few very good reasons) and so can not be expected to step you through it. To me, it sounds like they've been pretty helpful so far, but that maybe you didn't really like their answer?

The autowand has a thermocouple which plugs into the board. Not sure how the thing will work if you just unplug that... maybe just fine, maybe not. Did you ask about this?

The reason that I suspect they have gone the route they have is that this lets them use the same control panel on both models. That way, there's a switch cutout on the left and a lever cutout on the right. The valve, solenoid, brass elbow, and mounting brackets can be shared between the two models. Clearly, the autowand version was an adaptation of the manual version.

Frankly, I think it would be kinda silly to have a manual valve on the right controlling water and a push-button on the left controlling steam. That's like the worst of both worlds, totally bass-ackwards. Perhaps this is why they were shaking their heads when you asked about it.

If you are going to do it, it makes the most sense to me to do it right. Take a good look at the plumbing, making a piece-by-piece list of which parts you already have and compare that to a piece-by-piece list of the one's you'd need. From a quick glance, it looks like you'd only need to buy a wand assembly, 2 water lines, and 1 steam line. The cost of those 3 lines is probably under 50 bucks, though you may need to bend them to shape yourself (ask about this) so add $20 for a handheld tube bender. What you'll end up with is something that, while a Frankenstein, is at least one that makes sense.

Hope this helps. BTW, when you call them, please don't tell Ben or Ryan that I helped you figure this out :).

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Permalink Reply by Sean Maddox on May 11, 2010 at 10:28am

First, I realize I came off a bit harsh in my original post. I apologize for that.

Correct, I have the machine that you linked to. Mine is configured with push button auto steam on the left and manual water spigot on the right.

In your reply you stated "Frankly, I think it would be kinda silly to have a manual valve on the right controlling water and a push-button on the left controlling steam. That's like the worst of both worlds, totally bass-ackwards. Perhaps this is why they were shaking their heads when you asked about it."

I completely agree with you. However, that's exactly how the automatic steam wand version is configured. Check out the explosion you linked to. It shows both versions.

I did ask about unplugging the themocouple - the person I spoke with wasn't sure if it would work without it or not.

I completely agree that the preferred approach would be to do it 'right' and fully re-configure the machine to the manual setup. The long and short of it is that I got this automatic machine at a deeply discounted price and I really want to install the manual steam wand pretty quickly as I will be using it for a wedding in a couple months. I have a lot of other stuff going on I don't want to deal with a full conversion yet - I just want to change the steam wand for now. However I don't want to do it at the expense of doing damage to the machine or causing it to do wacky things.

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Permalink Reply by Brady on May 12, 2010 at 6:24am

Sean Maddox said:

First, I realize I came off a bit harsh in my original post. I apologize for that.
Correct, I have the machine that you linked to. Mine is configured with push button auto steam on the left and manual water spigot on the right.
In your reply you stated "Frankly, I think it would be kinda silly to have a manual valve on the right controlling water and a push-button on the left controlling steam. That's like the worst of both worlds, totally bass-ackwards. Perhaps this is why they were shaking their heads when you asked about it."

I completely agree with you. However, that's exactly how the automatic steam wand version is configured. Check out the explosion you linked to. It shows both versions.

I did ask about unplugging the themocouple - the person I spoke with wasn't sure if it would work without it or not.

I completely agree that the preferred approach would be to do it 'right' and fully re-configure the machine to the manual setup. The long and short of it is that I got this automatic machine at a deeply discounted price and I really want to install the manual steam wand pretty quickly as I will be using it for a wedding in a couple months. I have a lot of other stuff going on I don't want to deal with a full conversion yet - I just want to change the steam wand for now. However I don't want to do it at the expense of doing damage to the machine or causing it to do wacky things.

Not harsh, a bit frustrated though.

I do understand the configuration of the autowand. It just seems like someone that uses an autowand doesn't care about steam control, and someone that is using a traditional wand should.

I guess I just don't understand why you want to do what you are suggesting. The autowand can be used like a regular wand. Seems like an awful lot of work and expense for something that isn't significantly better than what you have now. Do it right or don't bother.

If the wand circuit will function with the thermocouple unplugged (a big if) I see no reason that what you've proposed won't work. At least you'll be halfway to having the parts you need to do the conversion the right way.

I don't like "temporary solutions", as they have a bad habit of becoming permanent. At least keep the parts so that when you decide to sell this machine in a couple of years the new owner can return it to original configuration.

Good luck, and let us know how it goes.

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Permalink Reply by ben brown on May 12, 2010 at 11:52am

Sean-
You could remove the auto-steamwand and temperature probe. Then, you could install a normal steamwand on the left side, but it would be push-button activated/deactivated. You cannot install a lever on the left side. Without the temp probe, the software will program that button by time, so you could program it for 60 seconds so that it would not cut out in the middle of steaming. This would only require purchasing a new steamwand.
Another option is to move the hot water wand over to the left to be push-button activated and the steamwand to the right to be lever activated (just like the other model of this machine). This would require a reconfiguration of some hydraulic tubing and replacing the electrovalve that is involved. This option, though possible, would be pricey.
A third option would be to keep the autosteam wand on the left (or have nothing there at all) and install a manual steamwand in place of the hot water wand. This would only require purchasing a steamwand and one tube. This would be wise in that you wouldn't have a hot tap, the killer of steam pressure (particularly on a 110V single group). However, I'm not sure how the steam would keep up with the two wands running at the same time.
All of these options can be accomplished with parts and tubes found in the parts book for this machine.

ben

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