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After the old forum software breaking in a way that we were unable to fix, we've migrated the site to a new platform.

Some elements aren't working as we'd hoped - some avatars didn't survive the transition, and we're still having issues with attachments that weren't added as inline images, but we're hoping to have that all sorted out soon.

Cleaning...

inertia8inertia8
edited January 1970 in Espresso Machines
I've had my Saeco Via Venezia for about 14 months or so now...  and to tell the truth... I haven't given it a full clean/in that time...

I clean it after each use, I take the froth enhancer off and clean its components, I run clean water through the group head and steam arm into a spare glass and give the group head a wipe with a rag...

when I look at the group head whilst it is in operation, it has a few jets shooting in a number of directions, other parts of it simply drip water...

Questions:

Is this normal operation for the group head?

If not, will a decalcification kit etc help?

Should I disassemble the group head or perhaps replace it?

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Comments

  • RemusRemus
    i'd just take it in for a service. especially for calcification. it won't cost you much and at least you know a professional is having a good look at it. i took my old machine in every 12-18mnths for a clean and poke around. thats prob why it lasted so long !
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  • ReschsmoothReschsmooth
    I had a Via Venezia for about 20 months (offloading it tomorrow to a friend). I descaled it using citric acid (about $2 from the supermarket). Just remember to run a lot of water through afterwards otherwise all yoru shots will be tasting like lemons.
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  • FreshCoffee2FreshCoffee2
    Good question. 2 things only. a) Occasionally run a descaling treatment through. It depends on where you live / water hardness /quality. Choose an arbitrary interval, and descale at that interval. Sticky tape a card to the side of the machine, and write the date every time you descale...simple. b) The high pressure spurts coming from the group shower indicate the shower is becomming blocked with coffee oil concentrate, which turns into a paste and blocks up the holes. Undo the grub screw, prise off the shower plate, place it straight into the gas flame of a gas cooktop or barbie ( or use the butane torch in your shed) OR, place it straight onto the electric ring on the stove. This burns the concentrated oily paste blocking up the holes, into charcoal. This produces an interesting lime green flame. After a few minutes of burning, use pliers to pick up & place the shower plate under some water & cool off. The shower is now magically clear. Wipe the area in the group that the shower plate is attached to, with a wet cloth and clean away the accumulated oily paste. Screw the plate back into position....DO NOT OVERTIGHTEN THE GRUB SCREW OR IT MAY NEVER COME OUT AGAIN. Check water flow from the group, the high pressure spurts will be gone, replaced by a lazy looking "soft" flow of water. Do the same with the coffee filter from time to time, as the holes in it block up with the same coffee oil concentrate paste. You cant hurt the shower or filter doing this, they are stainless steel and this is how we service both domestic and commercial shower screens. Print off this post, and stick it into the owners booklet of your machine!  ;D Regardz, FC.
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  • Honest_GazaHonest_Gaza
    FC...for your average garden variety home user, any suggestion on frequency of this ? Based on 2-4 cups a day average.
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  • Unknown
    On the subject of cleaning.. How should I clean my Fenice? I do unscrew the shower head and clean that weekly, and cloth up into the group head bit and clear out all the grounds, oily paste etc. Should i be backflushing? Also... short of getting out the ruler - does anyone know the basket size of the Fenice? The 58mm tamp i have is not big enough. Cheers, Amy
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  • TrussellTrussell
    FC - Sure that green flame isn't from the copper, and not the coffee? cos copper oxidises and burns green
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  • BeanCounterBeanCounter
    FC...for your average garden variety home user, any suggestion on frequency of this ? Based on 2-4 cups a day average.
    Honest Gaza, I'm not Fresh Coffee, but I'd aim for every month for that sort of cleaning. Regards, Gary
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  • FreshCoffee2FreshCoffee2
    a) Descaling solution...depends on localilty ("hardness index" of water)....the italians have very hard water and recommend descaling commercial set ups every 21 (days from memory). So if you live in a "good" (???) water area, then maybe say every couple of months (8 weeks) or so, or, somewhere in between. It's arbitrary. Pick a number, and stick to it so yeah, once a month is fine!  ;) b) You only need to clear your group shower when it starts to get blocked...which you can see from the way the water comes out of or "spurts out of" the shower. If it's not spurting in those really fine high pressure spurts, it probably does not need to be cleared. Anthology. Re: copper / green flame /  dont know if there is any copper in stainless steel or if there is any copper residue in the oily coffee paste...but I do know you can burn out the showers & filters like this time again over a prolongeed service life and you will not hurt them. The stainless steel just turns a dark grey colour. Amy. "Backflushing" with a blind filter is no use to you as the fenice does not have a group solenoid valve. You can only perform this operation on a machine with a group solenoid valve. The coffee filter provided with the fenice is not a standard commercial filter. The top (or mouth) of the the Fenice filter is around about 57mm diameter, whilst the standard commercial filter is around about 58mm. Regardz, FC.
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  • inertia8inertia8
    I had a quick look today... Now there's 4 hex-dome nuts around the group head on the VV, the actual shower plate has a philips head screw in the center of it... How much dis-assembly is required to get the showerplate off? I'm not sure if it's still in warranty or not, better check that before mucking around I suppose.
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  • ReschsmoothReschsmooth
    Interia8, to get the shower screen off is simply a function of removing the philips head screw and pulling the screen off. Be careful when tightening the screw back on - don't tighten it too much. P
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  • FreshCoffee2FreshCoffee2
    As Patrick described, undo the screw in the middle of the shower..that's the one. DO NO touch the dome heads around the group ring. Cleaning the shower will not (should not) affect warranty as it is a consequence of your use and does need to be done from time to time.....as long as you dont damage anything whicjh again, wont be a warranty problem...you will simply be charged to fix! Regardz, FC.
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  • inertia8inertia8
    Today I cleaned the shower plate as you described FC. Worked a treat, all the holes are now clear and there are no more high pressure streams! :) One thing, I thought i'd see just how the water comes out without the shower plate in place... I notice that it comes out in a solid stream that is angled to the left... I also noticed that after cleaning, I did a two cup pour using the pressurized PF (don't have grinder yet for my non pres'd PF), the cup on the left seemed to finish a fair bit faster than that on the right, as in the pour became a lighter colour faster than the right cup's stream. Resulting in the left cup having a white spot. I guess I'll just do singles from now on... ;)
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  • nunununu
    Could always put some shims under the left side of the machine to have it flow into the middle.  Is your benchtop level by any chance?
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