Does anybody use a cleaner like Cafizia to clean the brewhead on a lever machine like a Pavoni or Cremina? I'm not thinking of putting Cafizia in the boiler, but perhaps a teaspoon in the basket and flushing hot water through it to clean the dispersion screen, group, etc.

Worth while or bad idea?

This works on a pump machine with a 3-way valve because the cleaner goes up the grouphead when a blank disc is installed.

I typed up but removed a long explanation of how to use cleaner as you were asking. Although it can be done, it's not adviseable. If not done correctly you end up with cleaner in their boiler.

A much easier (and safer) thing to do is pull the screen off and soak it. And if your piston is dirty as well, just drop it and soak it. Be sure to rinse well and re-lube the piston and seals with Dow 111.

DO NOT put cleaner in the boiler!! I'm sure you knew this, which is why you mentioned it, so this comment is for others that may read this and get the wrong impression.

Cheers!

Just noticed this thread and cringed a bit. I've been using my LP EP6 for almost 2 years now and once each year I have added a small amount (1/2 tsp) of Espressoparts cleaner to the boiler and run it through with the lever up, then ran about 10 boilers of water through afterward. Each time, I've also taken the machine apart (except for the steam wand internals) and soaked and cleaned the piston and rod and screen, replacing all piston, rod, teflon sleeve gasket, and grouphead gaskets with new well lubed replacements.

The machine seems to be working well, but what sort of problems might I anticipate; having run cleaner through the boiler twice now?

Mike,

No need to cringe. The downside is, as you've probably found, the need to flush massive amounts of water through the machine to get rid of the cleaner. It's much simpler to just drop the piston and screen and soak them in cleaner. Besides, when you do this, it's a good time to re-lube the piston and seals anyway.

I put a blank PF in my lever group, with the piston removed, and poured some dissolved cafiza into the group, making sure not to go above the check valve to avoid backflushing into the boiler. I let it sit a while, then removed the PF, doing a PF wiggle to get the solution over the group gasket. I also cleaned the face of the piston with the solution, then rinsed everything well, relubed, reassembled, turned on and flushed some more.

I noticed recently that the espresso from my CMA lever had a bitter/funky edge to it that I just couldn't compensate for with temp/grind/coffee/dose, so I finally realized it's been a while since the last cleaning.

Mostly same routine as last time; this time ran a cafiza soaked rag inside the cylinder and around the group gasket area and rinsed well. There wasn't much gook in the cleaning solution, but the end result was amazing -- clean crisp sweet lever shots once again.

I guess 1.5 months is about the limit here, with the mostly weekend only shots at home (I used the HX machine at the office most work days)

So, what do people use to clean old lube out of these seals, assuming you don't want to replace them just yet? I think Doug mentioned the use of lacquer thinner but how do you clean that off before putting on new lube? Would machine detergent be able to clean it off? Thank you.

Lacquer thinner was to clean the gunk off the brass of the piston, not the seals if you want to keep using them. About the only thing for that is to wipe with a cloth to get off the old lube and debris...you can use a Q tip or a wood stick with cloth wrap to get into the cup side of the seal...but no solvent on a seal you want to reuse. When I maintain a commercial piston I just pull it out of the group, wipe it off with a cloth, relube, wipe the cylinder and relube, and the put it all back together.

Thanks, Doug, for another nugget of info. Glad I haven't have a chance to ruin a lever just yet. Seems like us newbies can get into trouble rather quickly.