Bonavita Connoisseur - BV1901TS water distribution

[deadzone1003]

Just purchased a Bonavita Connoisseur, the BV1901ts, to replace my old original Bonavita. I had problems with the new brewer as the brew was weak and watery. I isolated the problem as to what was apparently causing this problem, water was only coming out of 3 holes in the showerhead plus the brewing time was much shorter than its supposedly 6 min brewing time. Originally, I was changing the grind and amount of coffee, but no matter what I did it came out watery. The coffee brewed from the Connoisseur came out quite red as opposed to a very dark brown on my old Bonavita, no matter the grind or amount of coffee. The coffee I use is Sumatra peaberry - city roast. I had contacted Bonavita and them the problem. We tried different options, but eventually they sent me a replacement, but I never had to send them the defective brewer. The replacement brewer works as I expected. However, I like to tinker around with the defective brewer to see if I can get it to at least produce a decent cup of coffee (though Bonavita quality may be asking too much) so I have a backup brewer.

Question then is what would cause water to come out of only 3 holes (there are 10 holes, but I estimate that 95% of the water comes out of the 3 holes with the center hole sending 50% of the water)? The water comes out in a more or less continuous stream, unlike the intermittent style like it did with my original Bonavita. Any ideas, anyone??

 

[Musicphan]

It would say its blockage inside the brew head. Can you remove it? If so, get some Urnex scale remover and soak. Option that may be less expensive is get some citric acid and soak. You can find this at most hardware and/or walmart. Its typically in the home food canning section. It's super mild so you will probably have to soak for a day or two.

 

[deadzone1003]

It's a brand new coffee maker. I already took it apart to see if it was any different from the shower head of the replacement brewer. It is identical. I just ran a cycle of water through it. I started raising the front end of the brewer by over a quarter inch and water began coming out of holes in the shower head where water had never came out of. My table is level as I have checked it out with a level. I will have to do further tests. This is a promising lead.

 

[Musicphan]

It may be a difference then in the pressure produced by the water pump. To eliminate the shower head... take the head from the defective unit and swap on your good unit and test. At least that way you could eliminate the head.

 

[deadzone1003]

Already swap out the shower head between the two units and the BV1901 still has the water dispersal problem. This morning, I used the BV1901ts and I raised it about 3/8-1/2 inch in front, tipping the brewer back a tiny bit. I used the basket coffee filter and the BV1901 disperse the water more evenly, instead of coming out of 3 holes. Instead of red color coffee, it was a very dark red, indicating much better extraction. It is now a decent cup of coffee, not quite Bonavita quality yet, but quite drinkable. I don't think it is a design defect, but one of quality control where the angulation of the showerhead is lower than design specification, thus water is coming out of just 3 holes. Now, I will be testing to see what is the optimum angle for best dispersion by running a complete cycle without the coffee filter basket, observing how the water is coming out of showerhead. In the next few days I will be adjusting grind and amount of coffee to see if the BV1901 can make the same coffee as my original Bonavita or BV1900.

 

[deadzone1003]

Well, final report - finally got the BV1901 to make coffee as almost as good as my original Bonavita. I think with the 1500w heating element instead of the 1400w of the original Bonavita, water is getting to the coffee grounds a tad faster, thus, slightly less extraction. I could adjust it by adding more coffee. If people who have Bonavita Connoisseur or the BV1900 have water coming out of just 1 to 3 holes of the 10 holes in the shower head and water is coming out like a faucet, then the shower head might not be angulated properly. You may have to raise the front or the back of the brewer a tad to get a more even distribution of water. You may want to raise the rear of the brewer when there is no more water from the shower head as there is residual water in the shower head.