The unit is 3.5 years old. Bought it from amazon on boxing day for £400.

Have been doing capsule cleaning monthly and occasionally - maybe once a year run a sachet of kettle descaler through the water tank out through the group head, steam wand and hot water pourer.

I haven’t done the descale in a long time. And my monthly capsule cleaning was due and so I ran it, first time I ran it the machine was running a bit poorly, espress shots were long and slow. The espress would not do the 2 stage shot, It would only got to preinfusion level and not get to the espresso range - this was no a grind size issue, the machine was running shots for a very long time and the water was coming out veryly slowly with and without coffee grinds.

So stupidly I ran the capsule clean again - thinking “a clean will fix it” and I almost killed the machine. After the second capsule clean the machine became totally blocked. No water was coming out at all now - thinking it might be the filter, I then ran it filterless and still the same issue.

Was in a bit of a dilema, I thought I’d need to send it off for repair - possibly facing a £150-£250 repair bill. Which is a bit of a dilema because a new machine can be bought for £500. Do I risk a repair on a 3.5 year old machine and come into another issue a year down the line. Or do I buy brand new and have something completely perfect and with a manyfacturers warranty?

Very very fortunately. I walked away, had a cup of tea and pondered over my choices. Then a few hours later decided to test the machine.. Very very luckily the machine was no passing water - only a tiny bit - I siezed on this moment and put 50% vinegar dilution through the tank and ran the machine and right before my eyes within 1-2 shots the water was flowing as normal.

I think especially for people who have had this machine for a few years, descaling is a major priority. I came close to an expensive bill at a time when I couldnt afford it. I do not think a capsule clean is wise as it potentially pushes the gunk back into the machine.

What a relief that must have been. Good job! To minimize this I would suggest getting bottled soft water. Tesco’s Ashbeck English 5L does the job for me and pair it with a water softening filter as well for peace of mind.

I didn’t know about Ashbeck, I just looked up what the Ca & Mg content is (showing the water softness/harndess) and this is what came up. I also use a Lelit water softening filter for piece of mind. I did the math and a 70l one would last me about a year. I can bore you with my calculations if interested

dfk41

You can go deeep down the rabbit hole with espresso and do more and more things in pursuit of the perfect setup/shot. I know I could probably get a better espresso if I bought a £600 grinder, did needling and use those gauzes to diffuse the water better from the group head.. but what is the gain from all this. I just really want a decent tasting cappuchino and a caffeine fix. I just have a scale and bottomless portafilter to accurately measure my grinds - that’s it. I get a good espresso most of the time. I deliberately avoid overcomplicating things.

At the end of the day, using tapwater run through the brita and then the inbuilt filter is probably sufficent if done with 6 month vinegar treatment on the machine.

I dont like playing the this is better.. this is betterer, this is bettererer game because you get marginal gains and a lot more work.

i came across this a lot time ago - when trying to work out what antifreeze mix to use on my car. Someone said use RO water - it has absolutely nothing in it. Then someone else posted that because RO has absolutely nothing in it - it is not stable and will cause corrosion on metal.

everse Osmosis Corrosion (RO Corrosion) Water produced by reverse osmosis has a comparatively low pH and has little or no alkalinity. This means that the water lacks its hardness to function like a buffer. Therefore, this type of water can be highly corrosive to the distributing piping of metals.

source: https://www.corrosionpedia.com/definition/984/reverse-osmosis-corrosion-ro-corrosion