# 2 x 1 group machines or a 2 group machine?



## Brewsters (Dec 2, 2021)

Hey,

I am currently running an old 2 group GB5 from 2012 and looking to upgrade in the new year. I run a mobile trailer with a fixed location, running from a 7kw generator for power.

Hoping to reduce my power consumption, I am tempted to look at 2 x 1 group machines where I can only run one machine on a quiet day. I could even have the second machine set to turn on at 11:30 just as it's starting to get busy. If I use something like an Eagle 1 Prima then it's a 6 minute power up time, and connect it to the app to dial in the recipe from machine 1.

Another benefit is that I could look at expanding into cooperate coffee events with one of the machines during off season and if it works out then purchase a 3rd machine.

Or should I just keep it simple and go with a 2 group machine?

Has anyone got any experience with this set up or has anyone got and words of wisdom for me?

Ta, Jon


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## Three Hills Coffee Co (Feb 22, 2021)

Doubling your machines will double a lot of your hassles and will not half your electricity usage, the difference between a one and two group machine in terms of load is probably negligible.

You have a 7kW genset which is pretty beefy, if you want to reduce the load on it (which is a sensible idea) I'd look at machines with better insulation which unfortunately price wise tend to be the multi boiler systems as they have the hardware to work to a set temp rather than the cheaper single boiler setups which use a heat loss system going to the heads.

For instance we have a cafe racer (multi boiler, well insulated) rated at 7kW and a demo single boiler heatloss machine rated at 3.3 kW, the larger more powerful one uses less electricity.

As with many things it's a case of invest to save in the long term.


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## Coffeejon (Oct 10, 2014)

I'd be interested to know if you would actually save that much Elec by having a single group or a double group of the same machine. I doubt it would be that much difference?


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## Brewsters (Dec 2, 2021)

The more I look into it the more it seems that an efficient 2 group would beat a 2x1 group set up even when only using one machine in quiet periods. Plus the work flow of two stream wands even on a small order would be much better.

It's next to impossible to get actual data on power consumption in real terms on machines though.


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