
I have a Brasilia Portofino Del 2 from 2008 that is experiencing some serious issues, and I'm curious to know if anyone can tell me what the issue might be?
This machine is not plumbed in, it's using a water tank system. Basically what happened is that this machine is at my work, and no one knows how to take care of machines properly. So I just got hired 5 weeks ago and found out that this machine has not ever been backflushed as long as they've had it. They've had it at least 2 years. This is the second Portofino Del 2 machine they've purchased.
2 weeks ago the building maintenance guy replaced the pump and the pressure gauge (I have no idea what symptoms it had that caused this to be done) and it was pumping out a flood of about 4 gallons of water every 30 minutes in a big mess, and the pressure was too high the portafilters were flying off the groups.
So he removed that pump, put the old pump from their FIRST machine in, and now there's a hissing sound coming from the left group and there is hardly any water flow. Yet there is enough pressure to blow the portafilters off the groups randomly. Even coarse ground espresso takes too long to brew because there is barely any water flow to either group. Enough to pull shots that "pass" as espresso visually to people who don't know any better, but I won't drink it.
The left group is also clogged, it sprays out in 100 different directions from the screen. This was clogged before the pump issue.
They finally let me buy detergent and a group brush, so tomorrow I'm backflushing it to see if that helps the clog but the pressure is still an issue with the groups and the left group is hissing. The steam wands seem to be OK.
I uploaded a video of the pressure gauge flickering back and forth when the brew cycle is started:
(I've never seen a gauge do this before)
Brasilia Portofino Del 2 2008 Pressure Gauge - YouTube
And here is a video of the clogged group's water flow:
Brasilia Portofino Del 2 2008 Clog - YouTube
And here is a video of the right group's water flow:
Brasilia Portofino Del 2 2008 Group - YouTube
I've got them to consider having a qualified person come in. I have my fav repair company in mind, but I'd like to be able to see if I can pinpoint potential solutions before I call them.
Thanks for ANY help you can share!

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