Hi guys,
Earlier this week, I ran the gauntlet of the Sydney traffic, to take a look at a Faema E98 espresso machine in Brookvale. It was the poverty pack version - with the vibration pump, manual boiler fill, and no volumetric controls. Apparently it had had limited use in a home, before being stored for 10 years, and was in quite good condition. The guys in the workshop were kind enough to pull the covers off to allow me to have a squiz, and fired it up to check all functions worked correctly. To all outward appearances, the machine looked new, and came with the original ancillaries, manuals and delivery documents. I was reasonably satisfied, and parted with my cold hard cash for an old-school HX machine that was built like a little brick outhouse, and looked like it would be at home in an '80s time warp.
Prior to the purchase, I read what I could find on these machines, looked at the parts diagrams, operating manuals, and pictures of the guts of the machine. I searched various forums, reading horror stories of abused machines full of scale, with split heat exchangers and corroded frames etc. A review, (of the La-Cimbali Junior rotary pump volumetric version), waxed lyrical about its construction and performance, while other users noted that as a commercial machine, it's best when run continuously and run hard, and is not ideal when used intermittently at home. One user noted that it could be a challenging and unforgiving machine, requiring a practiced technique and attention to detail to extract the best from it. Most noted it needed an almost religious flushing routine after long idle periods.
So, what do I have, a user-friendly coffee companion, or a hot-blooded hissing nemesis? I note that there are members of the forum who currently have, or have had these machines, and I would be thankful of your opinion of these machines, and your insight into their operation and tweaking. All comments, good or bad, will be gratefully received.
Cheers, Steve
Earlier this week, I ran the gauntlet of the Sydney traffic, to take a look at a Faema E98 espresso machine in Brookvale. It was the poverty pack version - with the vibration pump, manual boiler fill, and no volumetric controls. Apparently it had had limited use in a home, before being stored for 10 years, and was in quite good condition. The guys in the workshop were kind enough to pull the covers off to allow me to have a squiz, and fired it up to check all functions worked correctly. To all outward appearances, the machine looked new, and came with the original ancillaries, manuals and delivery documents. I was reasonably satisfied, and parted with my cold hard cash for an old-school HX machine that was built like a little brick outhouse, and looked like it would be at home in an '80s time warp.
Prior to the purchase, I read what I could find on these machines, looked at the parts diagrams, operating manuals, and pictures of the guts of the machine. I searched various forums, reading horror stories of abused machines full of scale, with split heat exchangers and corroded frames etc. A review, (of the La-Cimbali Junior rotary pump volumetric version), waxed lyrical about its construction and performance, while other users noted that as a commercial machine, it's best when run continuously and run hard, and is not ideal when used intermittently at home. One user noted that it could be a challenging and unforgiving machine, requiring a practiced technique and attention to detail to extract the best from it. Most noted it needed an almost religious flushing routine after long idle periods.
So, what do I have, a user-friendly coffee companion, or a hot-blooded hissing nemesis? I note that there are members of the forum who currently have, or have had these machines, and I would be thankful of your opinion of these machines, and your insight into their operation and tweaking. All comments, good or bad, will be gratefully received.
Cheers, Steve





(Not as bad my Mum's pressure-cooker, which distributed 2 litres of vegetable soup over the ceiling some years ago! She still has a nervous twitch every time it comes up to pressure. )
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