Backflushing Quickmill Eliane.

[Kristi]

The Eliane is an E61, non-HX machine.

I am hearing backflush with water every time, but only rarely with something like Cafiza.

I do about 3 shots a day. I jiggle the blank and backflush with plain water a couple of times after each shot.

How often should I Cafiza? and how often should I decalcify the boiler.

The only other thing is the quarterly or 6 month screen/gasket thing - that's no biggie.

Damn I love this machine. Doesn't need a boiler PID but since I ordered one I'll put it on, but damn I love this machine! YUMMY!!!!!!!!!!!

Did I say YUMMY!!!!!!!!!!!?

tia
(notice how I come to this forum for seriously technical questions?!)
(also picked up some seriously good stainless cleaning tips here today.(vodka, Wenol, vodka, Zep, vodka,... ))
Kristi

[HB]

How often should I Cafiza? and how often should I decalcify the boiler.

Have you read Espresso Machine Cleaning - How, Why, and When? Your question was also posed in the article's feedback. Below are some excerpts:

Ask five home baristas about their cleaning regime and you'll get five slightly different answers. Four to six weeks is the longest interval I've heard reported; weekly doesn't seem excessive to me, though I have stretched out to as long as three weeks when the machine was lightly used (feeling guilty). I recommend something closer to weekly, or 30-50 shots, whichever comes first.

IMHO there is no such thing as "too frequent" cleaning.

Jim's Water FAQ (see the Resources page) explains the descaling schedule based on your water's hardness. Since your machine is so easy to descale (as was my Silvia), I would do it monthly and not give much thought to precise schedule calculations. By the way, I know the Eliane isn't an HX, but I'll note that the thread Water, Scaling and Descaling with HX machines? rounds out the discussion of descaling for those who might come upon this thread and wonder, "Well what about my HX espresso machine?"

[Kristi]

If you Cafiza an E61 too often, the lever squeaks. How do you get the lever to stop squeaking?

[skyryders90]

If you Cafiza an E61 too often, the lever squeaks. How do you get the lever to stop squeaking?

It always stops squeaking for me after a shot or two.

[Kristi]

Yeah, actually it stopped squeaking just as I was flushing it clean. Thanks, though

It apparently doesn't get gummed up anywhere near as fast as Silvia - I got very little coffee color out of it.
Kristi

[HB]

I got very little coffee color out of it.

The E61 dispersion screen doesn't trap coffee grinds like Silvia's screen, but coffee oils adhere to the exposed brass with tenacity. That's baked oils and water won't rinse it off. The brass under the dispersion screen will look a lot like the left portafilter after a few weeks:


Poorly maintained portafilter (left) compared to new portafilter (right)

[Kristi]

Mine was clean as a whistle - course I'd just cafiza'ed it. Same with the dispersion screw.

Loosened the pf to flush the gasket, and the gasket and screen very nicely backed out - slight pry with a little screwdriver on the basket and it plopped out.

Yeah, I'm used to lots of grounds up in the Silvia screen. None in the Eliane's screen. Nice.

My pf's are pretty much always clean, but then I cafiza them every few weeks, and green scrubby them if they need it. These 2 pf's (reg and naked) still have their chrome on them. HCl is easy, but that still leaves the nickel, and H2NO3 is hard to get ahold of. Eventually I'll grind it off.......

[cannonfodder]

How dirty can it get, look at this mess.

[krus]

Always pull a seasoning shot immediately after doing the backflush. That will prevent the lever from squeaking. I normally backflush every 1 - 2 weeks with Cafiza. Water backflush every 1-2 sessions depending on usage.