Hello folks

I would really do with someone's advice what to do to stop the shower spitting. Basically when the machine was out of the box, the shower did not spray but spit in 2-3 spots giving kind of 3 no of disturbed laminar flow streams rather than even spray through every hole. After that, suddenly it started spraying nicely through its every hole, now the problem turned back and instead of spraying it lets 2-3 streams in the middle and all other holes are not in use. There is no blocking in the holes as cleaned it recently, did even backflush and cleaned the machine well hoping that it will help (it was due anyway).

The machine is fairly new and not that hardly used, had even a break when moved house before Ive set everything back up. Unfortunately this ongoing problem comes back periodically and I cannot suss out what causing it. Could it be issue with OPV and reduced pressure? The puck is wetter when that happens.

Usually when operating correctly when I press brew switch with portafilter removed I can see nice even spraying, now as described above. I have also deliberately under filled basked leaving level of about 3-4 mm from the top edge and brew time was 13 sec with the flow looking like flush through, not even and continuous but proper spit. Quick and ugly.

Does anyone have clue?

Regards
Pat

When you say "shower spitting", I think you refer to the water as it flows from the dispersion screen, not from a bottomless portafilter. If so, then scrubbing the screen between espressos will help even out of flow, though it's a minor point if the espresso extraction is otherwise correct.

You may find this video helpful:
This is part of the Newbie Introduction to Espresso series.

Assuming no plugged holes, I wouldn't be concerned about the flow pattern through the shower screen when there is no coffee in place. On the other hand, 13 second brews is a major issue that is usually solved by a finer grind.