I haven't pulled a shot from the Vetrano in almost 2 weeks now. It will probably be another 3-4 weeks until I do. Unfortunately I neglected to turn the automatic timer off so the machines been cycling on every day for several hours with no water flow.

Today I walked into the kitchen and noticed something strange sitting on the drip tray. At closer inspection I was surprised to see the shower screen and gasket. Now, with my Solis I routinely removed said assembly and cleaned it. To my shame however, with regular backflushes (water every time, detergent once a month) I've completely forgotten about cleaning the screen and gasket! I've never once done it. In fact, the lack of a screw (something the Solis had) made me completely forget this part pops off!

I'd post pictures but I don't want to scandalize anyone, it's really really bad. I'm surprised the machine was working.

I can only guess that it fell off because of a lack of moisture and daily doses of high heat.

UPDATE:

I cleaned this baby literally back to new, it took:

- 3 long soaks in OxyClean
- 1 long soak in OxyClean & CLR mixed
- 1 long soak in Cafiza

Whoa. Your wondering how dirty could it have been (your also thinking, "this guy has NO idea what he is doing"). Here you go (how many would be willing to post this picture?):



Unfortunately I presumed the flat side of the seal should go against the screen, wrong. Now the PF doesn't seat properly. I'll have to remove it again and correct this.

Maybe it got sick to its stomach and blew off that dirty shower screen. I do not have a Vetrano, but on all my machines I do a detergent backflush once a week. I take the shower screen off about every six months and clean it and the dispersion block above it. When you change the batteries in your smoke detectors every daylight savings change (you do change them right?) pop off the shower screen and give it a soak and brushing.

The E61 gasket/dispersion screen is a friction fit. Evidently the gasket dried/contracted enough to fall out. Or espresso gremlins are messing with your mind...

Updated OP.

The local espresso repair gurus swear by heating the thing up until it's glowing red-orange on the stove top (preferably gas). It carbonizes the chunks and oils (which'll smoke a tiny bit while that happens) and a quick scrub does away with the ash. The upside; it's easy and fast. The downside; it gets really hot, and remains that way even after the warning glow subsides ( ) and leaves the screen a dull grey colour. If you can avoid touching the thing til you've gotten it under some cool water, and you don't care what colour your dispersion screen is, there is no downside.

I was guilty of a similar sin- figuring that regular flushing and weekly backflushing of the group (3 x/yr w/ Cafiza, otherwise 2 x/wk w/o- roughly) would have kept it clean, but nooooo... Amazing what kinda of grunge can adhere on the group side. Using Cafiza alone required some elbow grease to rid coffee from the nooks/crannies, but I'll try the blacksmith technique next time- thanks, Chris!

Ray

I use a kitchen propane torch for more precise application of heat to the individual holes. It works like a champ, the grime turns to ash and is easily rinsed away.

cannonfodder wrote:I take the shower screen off about every six months and clean it and the dispersion block above it.

Is that all the cleaning it needs? I have noticed a lot less gunk on the inside of the screen once I stopped leaving the old puck int the pf (ala Schomer's recommendation). But I've still been cleaning it weekly.

For me it is. I never leave a puck in the group, that is just, yucky to do that. I do my elektra more often but the VBM only needs it a few times a year. I also do weekly detergent flushes with joeglo, flush the group after every shot and wipe the shower screen off with a bar towel.

I take shower screen off at the end of every day and clean everything. On GS/3 that is like 5 minute job and no tools required. I like keeping things clean.