Breville BCG800XL Smart Grinder Troubleshooting
This guide will help you troubleshooting the most common cause of jamming with the BCG800XL (and BCG800) Smart Grinder from Breville.
Many users of the BCG800XL SmartGrinder experience jamming / clogging and a horrible gear-stripping, clacking sort of sound during use at some point. This is usually due to either a worn out impeller or stripped drive gear.
Here's a 10-second video I recorded of the problem / symptoms.
Symptoms of a worn impeller
The main symptom of a worn impeller is the motor will bog down even at a coarse grind settings (which should be easy on it) and after a few seconds, after too much coffee gets compacted beneath the burrs, it begins making that stripping /clacking sound you hear at the end of the video. When the hopper is empty and no beans are in the burrs, it all sounds great. You can even hear in the video above: The unit starts out sounding normal, but under load, up until the clacking sound. Often, incorrectly, the coffee beans get the blame.
On the other hand, a stripped drive gear will sound bad nearly ALL THE TIME, even with no coffee beans. Each revolution of the damaged gear teeth will make a bad sound. If the teeth are really wrecked, you sometimes won't even get rotation anymore and you'll just hear the motor spin up like a jet engine. Thankfully this failure mode is much less common; typically occurring if you got a rock or pebble jammed in the burrs during grinding.
What does a bad impeller look like?
A good impeller should not be removable without dis-assembly and the tips of the impeller blades should not be visible. If the impeller can be removed just by taking out the lower burr then it definitely needs replacement.
If your impeller is made of stainless steel rather than plastic you likely have a newer model with significant design changes (eg: BCG820). Stainless steel should not wear out and so your problem is elsewhere.
Why does the BCG800 Smart Grinder's impeller matter?
It sits underneath the steel burrs and receives the ground coffee. Its purpose is to push those grounds out the chute that leads to the basket (or espresso portafilter). When the plastic blade fins wear down over time, the grinder begins to clog up because it can't properly expel the grounds anymore. This often gets mistaken for a problem with the main drive gear when a stripping sound comes from a torque limiter mechanism. You can examine your impeller if you simply remove the burrs, and look at the gap between the cylinder wall and the impeller blade tips (See Step #1). If that gap is more than 1 mm, then it's probably worth replacing. If you can take the impeller out without dis-assembly, then it's definitely worth replacing (A good impeller is wider than the hole and can't just come out).
Replacement Parts
Breville unfortunately doesn't sell parts, so this tutorial has been made possible only recently by 3D printer technology. I've designed an improved impeller for the BCG800XL and made it available here: Shapeways Impeller Source
Here's a quick two minute overview of this replacement part.
Other Common Symptoms
Clumpy Grounds or Little to Nothing Coming Out
Static Electrical Charge on Coffee Grounds
Horrible clacking sound when running (Even without beans!)
Burr clearance creates incorrect grind size
Grinds coming out too quickly
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23 Kommentare
My grinder in my BES870UK sudently has stoped - No reacktion at all when i activate it.
What can be the problem. The rest of the machine works.
Kristoffer Nyholm
Kristoffer - Antwort
Hello Krisoffer,
You can cantact with Breville support centre.
AL JOVAYER KHANDAKAR -
Did you receive a fix for this? I have the same problem…
David Giusti -
Mine is now doing the same thing. What ended up being wrong?
Suzanne Lanctot -
Hello Ben, I have an issue with my Smart Coffee Grinder BCG800XL: the motor is spinning with the high-pitch squeal, but the impeller and the conical burr are immoveable. What is the problem? It would be better to know it before I decide to disassemble the grinder completely. Thanks in advance.
Igor Kogan - Antwort
Is there a Grind fan impeller for sale anywhere for the BCG820BSSXL? any help would be appreciated. Thank you
Andrew - Antwort
you can buy the improved impeller (fan) with pressed steel (it’s made for the integrated machine/grinder BES870) part is BES870/6.30 i fixed a few machinse in 2015 after many hours of research to find the part (breville are not very helpful, even less so with obsolete machines)
grgry - Antwort
Hi, i Have a BCG800XL the grinder is super clean but not spinning, whenever i click it to start grinding the grinder light start flashing as its grinding but nothing is spinning after the time allegedly required to grind the flash light stops. Looks to me as an electronic fault, any ideas please.
The Flaming Diamond - Antwort
the disk that has an opening for the grinds to come out is not lined up so that it cannot expelled the grounds. It is turned to the right and the opening does not line up.
christa burke - Antwort
I can’t get basket onto the grinder, it’s like it’s not lining up properly
Denise - Antwort
Hi,
My Sage (what we call Breville in UK) BCG820BSSUK does have a steel impeller but is easily removable like the worn plastic one. What's the fix for this? Will your replacement fit the 820?
Thanks!
Daniel Peace - Antwort
breville barista coffee machine coffee grinder wont go on it feel there is no power
mario scalzo - Antwort
When I push the grinder inwards to achieve a double load , very little grinds appears. This is the same on the single setting.
Mike Judd - Antwort
My grinder started coming on by itself and usually grinds up everything in the hopper before it stops, if then. Model BCG800XL. Any thoughts why this is happening? Thanks
DCook - Antwort
Same issue as well
Aml -
Hi, On our Breville BDC650BSSUSC the coffee grind shute disk keeps rotating and will not stop, What could be the problem and how do i fix it?
Thanks
Levi Waldner - Antwort
Hi, i haven't changed the grind for quite a while, and I noticed the grind size knob on the right side is immobilized. Any clues? Thanks.
Dave - Antwort
Hi Ben, Thank you for this. I’m not at all handy but thought to give this a go, so I ordered the impeller and fixed the grinder. Its working so well now that I have a new problem, and hopefully someone has a solution. The ground coffee shoots out of the chute and goes all over the place, well outside the bounds of the removable bit that is supposed to catch the small amount that goes beyond the portafilter. It wastes really good quality coffee, and makes a huge mess all over the countertop. Any suggestions? Thanks, Scott
Scott S - Antwort
My grinder has started to grind on its own. It will start randomly through the day and even night… I have unplugged it to resolve the issue in the short term and am wondering if anyone knows how to fix this for the long term?
Aml - Antwort
I just purchased the breville grind n brew. The swing out door has opened 2 times this week and brewing stops. The basket is full of water. Do you know what is causing this? Should I exchange it or is it something I an doing. I
Alfreida Moon - Antwort
I have same problem..basket flies open. (This is my 4th coffee maker, and first time with this problem)…
Any answers?
Alexandra Smith - Antwort
My machine is frozen and says standby
Cynthia Rae Burdette - Antwort
My grind size keeps jumping up and down. The burr looks OK. Its a BCG820
Tan - Antwort