I have been using a Breville 800ES coffee machine for a bit under 3 years, a few weeks ago I noticed water and steam coming out around the ball joint on the steam wand, I undid the nut and found it was just a flat rubber washer with a nylon ball cup, it looked like a nice solid fitting so I screwed it back up and it snapped off!
, it was a brass elbow with a 8mm thread screwed into the alloy thermoblock, I have fixed it, drilled out and tapped the thermoblock, rebuilt the elbow etc.
anyway I went an bought a new VBM Domabar, been using it fro 2 weeks, makes brilliant coffee
, had issues with its steam wand being more powerful than what I am used to and with small amounts of milk, but I made a new brass cone tip with 2 small holes and now I get nice microfoam.
ok back to the pressurised portafilter basket on the old machine, I decided to remove the base of the basket just to see what it looked like, well in a word YUK!, all the screen holes were blocked except 20 odd holes in a 15mm dia in the middle right above the single lower exit hole.
I have always kept the machine clean, removing the shower screen on regular intervals, flushing water through the PP after each use, friends have said I should be able to clean the basket by soaking it, sorry I cannot see how you could ever be sure it was clean, looks like the best thing is throw it away and buy a new one every 8-10 months or sooner depending on use, or just simply buy a proper filter basket
I am having trouble posted photos here so posted them on flickr
http://flickr.com/photos/54203117@N00/2712388712/
http://flickr.com/photos/54203117@N00/2712388258/
http://flickr.com/photos/54203117@N00/2712387752/
, it was a brass elbow with a 8mm thread screwed into the alloy thermoblock, I have fixed it, drilled out and tapped the thermoblock, rebuilt the elbow etc.anyway I went an bought a new VBM Domabar, been using it fro 2 weeks, makes brilliant coffee
, had issues with its steam wand being more powerful than what I am used to and with small amounts of milk, but I made a new brass cone tip with 2 small holes and now I get nice microfoam.ok back to the pressurised portafilter basket on the old machine, I decided to remove the base of the basket just to see what it looked like, well in a word YUK!, all the screen holes were blocked except 20 odd holes in a 15mm dia in the middle right above the single lower exit hole.
I have always kept the machine clean, removing the shower screen on regular intervals, flushing water through the PP after each use, friends have said I should be able to clean the basket by soaking it, sorry I cannot see how you could ever be sure it was clean, looks like the best thing is throw it away and buy a new one every 8-10 months or sooner depending on use, or just simply buy a proper filter basket
I am having trouble posted photos here so posted them on flickr
http://flickr.com/photos/54203117@N00/2712388712/
http://flickr.com/photos/54203117@N00/2712388258/
http://flickr.com/photos/54203117@N00/2712387752/

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