Hello all. Ive been lurking and reading here for over a year now and have enjoyed learning before buying. Sadly the buying part so far has meen less satisfying that I had hoped!
Santa (wife) brought me this combo, and I have been using the machine without the grinder successfully for the last week (I negotiated use of the machine pre-Christmas but had to wait for the grinder!). At that time I had been using pre-ground supermarket coffee with the double-floor double shot basket, without any problems whatsoever. I would fill the basket, smooth it, tamp relatively firmly until I had approx. 3mm clearance for the shower screen.
Today though I have started witht he grinder and I cant get a coffee shot without water leaking out the group head.
I set the grinder to 10 (outside of Sunbeams espresso range, I know, but I had read that the 0480 commonly undergrinds), switched to the single floor basket, and the coffee came out of the grinder extremely lumpy. I applied the same tamp pressure as I did before, it didnt compress much further. First shot the pressure gauge went off the charts, a small amount of water came through the spout, more out of the collar. The puck when tapped out was solid.
I repeated with grind at 13, filling the coffee container, using a spoon to eliminate the lumps (which were fewer this time but still over half the coffee was in lumps). Filled the basket, leveled, tamped the same pressure. The coffee compressed to past the metal part of the tamper. Same extraction problem. The puck would not come out readily, I had to use a knife to scrape it out, it was like a paste. Part was still stick to the shower screen.
Finally tried grind at 18. Still lumpy coffee but less than 50% at an estimate. Tamped to a similar level, but used less force, probably around 6kg? This time it actually extracted a shot, but the pressure kept rising and in the latter half of extraction water flowed from around the group head.
In terms of grind fineness, at 10 the coffee feels like a fine powder. At 18 it feels finer than table salt, maybe the consistency of sand?
Bear in mind before today I had pulled about eight shots from this machine. I have been using the same model at work (with supermarket pre-ground coffee) for about a year now.
Where am I going wrong?
Thanks all for any help.
Santa (wife) brought me this combo, and I have been using the machine without the grinder successfully for the last week (I negotiated use of the machine pre-Christmas but had to wait for the grinder!). At that time I had been using pre-ground supermarket coffee with the double-floor double shot basket, without any problems whatsoever. I would fill the basket, smooth it, tamp relatively firmly until I had approx. 3mm clearance for the shower screen.
Today though I have started witht he grinder and I cant get a coffee shot without water leaking out the group head.
I set the grinder to 10 (outside of Sunbeams espresso range, I know, but I had read that the 0480 commonly undergrinds), switched to the single floor basket, and the coffee came out of the grinder extremely lumpy. I applied the same tamp pressure as I did before, it didnt compress much further. First shot the pressure gauge went off the charts, a small amount of water came through the spout, more out of the collar. The puck when tapped out was solid.
I repeated with grind at 13, filling the coffee container, using a spoon to eliminate the lumps (which were fewer this time but still over half the coffee was in lumps). Filled the basket, leveled, tamped the same pressure. The coffee compressed to past the metal part of the tamper. Same extraction problem. The puck would not come out readily, I had to use a knife to scrape it out, it was like a paste. Part was still stick to the shower screen.
Finally tried grind at 18. Still lumpy coffee but less than 50% at an estimate. Tamped to a similar level, but used less force, probably around 6kg? This time it actually extracted a shot, but the pressure kept rising and in the latter half of extraction water flowed from around the group head.
In terms of grind fineness, at 10 the coffee feels like a fine powder. At 18 it feels finer than table salt, maybe the consistency of sand?
Bear in mind before today I had pulled about eight shots from this machine. I have been using the same model at work (with supermarket pre-ground coffee) for about a year now.
Where am I going wrong?
Thanks all for any help.

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