Hot water only on a Magnifica, is it really just the knob?

[Thomas Martinez]

Quick one for anyone who owns a Delonghi Magnifica. As someone who likes to make tea and americanos out of these machine, you dont need to use the steam button at all. Just by turning the hot water knob, you can get water out of the wand without ever needing to use the steam function. Since the steam button will heat the boiler to steam temp, turning the knob will simply push the water through the wand at brew temp. Thus, I thought that it was necessary to hit the steam button and wait for the water to heat, then to get the water out of the machine. Nope. It’s as simple as that.
Any other Magnificas out there who use the machine in this fashion? Does the water come out hot enough to make tea (I haven’t used it for tea yet) or does people typically run it through twice? Does it matter what variant of the Magnifica you own? I thought I’d post this comment as others who own one may not be aware of this feature of the machine, but eventually figure it out for themselves.

 

[Impossible Ibex]

yeah this is just how the machines work, nothing special. Brew temp water out the wand whenever you crack the knob. Mine's an ESAM3300 and it's been like that since day one.

 

[Motionless Mantis]

Temp out of the wand is around 90C on mine, plenty hot for tea. I never bother running it through twice, that just wastes water.

 

[Proud]

wait so if you hit the steam button FIRST and then open the knob what actually comes out? does it flash to steam or do you get a mix?

 

[Impossible Ibex]

wait so if you hit the steam button FIRST and then open the knob what actually comes out? does it flash to steam or do you get a mix?

if the boiler is already at steam temp and you crank the knob you’ll get a sputtery mix of flash steam and hot water for a sec, then it stabilizes once the thermoblock cools back down. Not dangerous just messy.

 

[Topsy-Turvy C]

lol the manual literally tells you to use the hot water knob for hot water. People overcomplicate these machines so much

 

[M.C. Escher's]

I had a magnifica s for about 4 years and ran tea water out the wand probably every other day. Never once touched the steam button for it. The only time I would use the steam function is when I specifically wanted near boiling water but even then, by the time the water sits in a mug of tea leaves, the diference is nothing. People way overthink this. Also the wand gets crusty fast if you dont wipe it after every use. Mine got partially blocked once and the flow dropped to a trickle until I soaked the tip in vinegar.

 

[Fine Flamingo]

green tea drinkers actually prefer the lower temp fwiw. 90ish is basically perfect for sencha

 

[Proud]

ok follow up, does the pump run at the same pressure as when its pulling a shot? or does it throttle down for the hot water function?

 

[Divine Worm Ma]

Same behavior across the whole magnifica line as far as I know. ECAM, ESAM, doesnt matter. The hot water circuit bypasses the brew group entirely so its just pump straight through the thermoblock to the wand.