Away for 3 weeks

SCsydney

Hi all, need suggestions please, for my Lelit Bianca v3, I will be away for 3 weeks and trying to keep my machine as healthy as possible.

No one at home during this period of time, any suggestion to prep my machine before leaving?

Thanks very much!

Sen

MediumRoastSteam

SCsydney - what I do:

Drain the service boiler;
- turn machine, let the service boiler reach temperature;
- turn machine off;
- open the hot water tap until no more comes out;
Empty the water tank and wash it;
Empty the drip tray;

When you are back:

fill up water tank;
Turn machine on and let it get up to temperature;
Flush a good 700ml from the group head (to drain the stale water from the brew boiler);
Make a coffee, happy days.

SCsydney

MediumRoastSteam thanks very much!

Inspector

Genuine question, is this necessary for three weeks? Or is it just ‘would be better if you do it’ kind of thing. Last year we were away 3months and I haven’t done anything like that on our return just refreshed both boilers with fresh water.

MediumRoastSteam

Inspector - In essence there’s little difference from what you did and from the suggestion above, in the grand scheme of things.

The only real difference is that the procedure above will leave the service boiler empty whilst the machine is not being used.

CoyoteOldMan

Inspector I’d say it depends - to start with, on boiler material: copper is self-sterilising; brass far less so. I also think it’s a good opportunity to clean the machine and get low mineral content water in the boiler(s), particularly if steaming is used a lot. “Necessary” - probably not. Safer/better - probably yes.

Eiffel

While most people focus on the coffee machine, one shouldn’t forget to take care of the water source when away for a long time.

I typically drain my Osmio Zero as if I were shipping it (emptying the internal reservoir and the cartridges) and clean the water tank before going away, and run at least 4 litres of water through it once back. I guess it’s also possible make this coincide with filter replacement, but that is not always cost effective if one goes away relatively often.