Hi peeps,
A month ago I replaced the seal on my 2nd hand silvia because it had started leaking a bit around the portafilter. I also cleaned it up a fair bit and replaced the shower screen.
The result was a better pour and less leaking... but still some leaking.
I suspected that it was because I had been a little lazy and not bothered to completely remove some of the old hardened coffee oil gunk from the brass behind the old seal. I did a pretty good job, but thought that the little bits of gunk that wouldnt come off couldnt cause too much of a problem.
So when it kept leaking I thought Id get another new seal and try again, this time being hard core and cleaning it thoroughly... Id assumed that the bits of hardened gunk must have been creating an uneven surface allowing water to get out...
I even carefully scrapped away the gunk from the edges using a pointy metal tool (kind of like those horrible dental instruments), trying to avoid actually scratching the brass.
In the end it all looked good and clean and free from gunk ( I used a flat head screw driver with a cloth wrapped over the tip to do a final clean out).
But having put in the new seal and using it over the last day Im still getting leaking around the portafilter!!
And Ive made sure Ive pulled it on far enough (almost 4 Oclock!)...
Not sure what I can do, and Im getting sick of buying $10 seals...
Any advice? Can there be other issues that cause leaking around the portafilter? Should I bite the bullet and let a pro have a look? (I was trying to save the $70 bucks and learn something on the way...)
The only other thing to mention is that the leaking seemed to start when I bought a synesso double basket from Jet black espresso. But then it seemed to still leak even when I tried the old baskets.
Cheers,
Matt
A month ago I replaced the seal on my 2nd hand silvia because it had started leaking a bit around the portafilter. I also cleaned it up a fair bit and replaced the shower screen.
The result was a better pour and less leaking... but still some leaking.
I suspected that it was because I had been a little lazy and not bothered to completely remove some of the old hardened coffee oil gunk from the brass behind the old seal. I did a pretty good job, but thought that the little bits of gunk that wouldnt come off couldnt cause too much of a problem.
So when it kept leaking I thought Id get another new seal and try again, this time being hard core and cleaning it thoroughly... Id assumed that the bits of hardened gunk must have been creating an uneven surface allowing water to get out...
I even carefully scrapped away the gunk from the edges using a pointy metal tool (kind of like those horrible dental instruments), trying to avoid actually scratching the brass.
In the end it all looked good and clean and free from gunk ( I used a flat head screw driver with a cloth wrapped over the tip to do a final clean out).
But having put in the new seal and using it over the last day Im still getting leaking around the portafilter!!
And Ive made sure Ive pulled it on far enough (almost 4 Oclock!)...
Not sure what I can do, and Im getting sick of buying $10 seals...
Any advice? Can there be other issues that cause leaking around the portafilter? Should I bite the bullet and let a pro have a look? (I was trying to save the $70 bucks and learn something on the way...)
The only other thing to mention is that the leaking seemed to start when I bought a synesso double basket from Jet black espresso. But then it seemed to still leak even when I tried the old baskets.
Cheers,
Matt

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