Sometimes, things just work out right - I just got a truly awesome deal of Craigslist for a machine that I didn't know I wanted. I was randomly surfing Craigslist last week, and found a fellow here in the Bay Area selling an Andreja Premium for $450. Had a round of emails with him, got him to deliver it to me here in Berkeley for an extra $50... it is sitting on my kitchen table right now, drying out (the water tank didn't get drained fully), but wow, am I thrilled. All the accessories, and an extra 58mm tamper.

I call this a good deal.

Enjoy your new machine, it's a steal at this price!

Congrats, man. Just make sure to take good care of the vacuum breaker valve. Not trying to put a damper on your moment, just something you'd want to take care of before it becomes a problem. You'll love the new machine.

I thought you might have been the guy/girl that stole my deal of the year last week. There was a person just down the road from me that was selling a single group La San Marco AND mazzer super jolly AND filtration system for $300. I contacted him three hours after he posted, but it was gone. I wonder if that person is lurking here..

phillip

oh.. have fun with your new find

Now that would have been truly epic. I'm quite happy with getting my $1700 machine + a tamper for $500. Now to sell the Bezzera...

Well, nothing is ever perfect - the andreja needs a new grouphead gasket bad... and there was much evil inside the dispersion screen - about 3mm of caked-in coffee (which the machine still pulled around and the output was pretty respectable). Got that out, scrubbed the inside of the head with the screen and gasket removed and backflushed the machine until the water went clear. Took two loads of Cafiza, but it pulls clean now and the shot I just pulled to season the group looked more than respectable.

If that's the worst of it, I'd say you did pretty well

... damaged gasket? ... gunk in shower screen? You're right, the gods are not pleased. To avoid their further displeasure, you will have to pack up the machine and send it on to me immediately.

Since it sounds like the owner did not maintain it very well, you may want to give it a descale or two. A bit of preventative maintenance goes a long way toward a trouble free machine. I do a weekly backflush and bi-annual descale on all of my machines. In the past 6 years, I have never replaced a single part (other than two group gaskets) or had any failure on any of my machines and one of them has been running 24/7 for several years.

Might just do that today or tomorrow - I'm not doing anything for Thanksgiving (other than taking a day or two off from the research that has had me working 15-16hr days the last few days). It's got to be easier to descale than the bezzera was...

On a related note, is there anywhere in the Bay Area where I can pick up E61 gaskets? I can always mail-order them, but that seems kind of lame for just a few gaskets...