Maintenance · 5 min read
Maintenance without the bother
What manufacturers really ask for, and how often
A machine does not start working badly all at once. Oils build up, limescale grows and the gasket hardens, little by little. The good news: manufacturers write down exactly what needs doing. The bad news: each one writes something different.
Every day
- After the last shot, run water through the group head and go over the gasket and the shower screen with a brush.
- Rinse the portafilter and the basket.
- Wipe and purge the steam wand after every milk drink.
- On E61 machines you can do a short backflush with water only every day. Rocket states this in its manual. Gaggia's manual describes only cleaning with a tablet.
Backflush with a cleaning agent
How often depends on the machine. Rocket and Lelit state once a week, ECM every 90 to 140 coffees, and Gaggia, for the Classic E24, once a month. Sage machines tell you themselves, with a light, when it is time for the cleaning programme with the disc and tablet.
The procedure according to Urnex: blind filter and cleaning agent, pump for 10 seconds, pause for 10 seconds, five times, then the same without the agent.
Every month
- Take off the group shower screen and clean it.
- Clean the grinder regularly, following the grinder's manual.
Limescale
The harder the water, the faster limescale forms. But descaling is not the same for every machine:
- Gaggia Classic E24: every two months, with Gaggia's own descaler.
- Sage and De'Longhi Dedica: when the machine tells you with a light.
- Rocket, ECM, Lelit (E61): Rocket's manual does not recommend descaling it yourself, and ECM and Lelit leave it to a service centre. Instead they ask for soft or filtered water.
La Marzocco states a total water hardness of 70 to 100 ppm for its machines. Before your first descale, read your machine's manual.
Roughly once a year
- Group gasket: sooner if the portafilter handle goes past six o'clock or it leaks at the sides.
- Group shower screen: together with the gasket.