I read conflicting views on how often to backflush an E61 and also read the cleaning FAQ. I'm unboxing my new HX E61 tomorrow. I'll be making 1-2 shots a day and want to know whether I should backflush without espresso machine detergent daily or weekly. With detergent seems like a general consensus of 4-8 weeks. I'll brush the screen daily (necessary?) and portafilter to be soaked in detergent weekly. Also bought a Pallo Steamy Wanda and will clean the steam wand weekly or biweekly.

Water backflush daily after every session. I don't think there is much (any?) disagreement about that. Detergent backflushing is where people tend to disagree.

I've read some "experts" say that it's not important since it's just flushing the drain, but I do every session, and here's why: There are three valves in the E61 group, the brew valve, preinfuson valve, and drain valve. Of the three, the drain valve must seat properly in order to maintain pressure during a shot. In order to have proper preinfusion the preinfusion valve must also seat properly along with the drain valve. These are the only two valves that have coffee pushed through them during the drain process, and coffee remnants are about the only thing that can cause the valves to not seat properly. These are the same two valves that are flushed when doing a backflush, so it seems to be the ones you'd want to keep clean. Scaling is probably the only way to foul the brew valve, along with other components upstream of it, which is why we pay attention to our water. IMHO and YMMV and all that, but it just makes sense.

It does make a lot of sense, thanks a lot for the very helpful explanation. Never seen this before! I'll be backflushing daily then. It's a pretty expensive machine and something I've wanted for a long time so want to take the best care of it. I will also only use bottled water as that is the only portable water in my country, so no need to worry about scaling.

Same here - I backflush with clean water once I finish pulling, and with detergent about every weekend or before leaving the machine without use for more than few days.

That said, I'm getting a sneaking feeling that I can easily double the millage between detergent usage as it dries the crap out the internals - my fairly recent machine is already due for a lube job.

The more coffee you make, the less you need to backflush. Oil dissolves oil. So every shot will dissolve oils from the previous. The longer the oils sit in the group, the more rancid they will become. Also keep in mind that every shot has oils in it from earlier shots. Water does not dissolve oil so a water backflush does little. As to 'it only cleans the drain', after a couple weeks of use put some detergent in your blind portafilter. Do a couple flushes then leave it to soak for a half hour. Then remove the portafilter. The black water in the blind basket tells me you are cleaning more than the vent tube and 3-way valve.

My machine runs 25/7 and gets 3 or so shots a day. I backflush every week to two when I forget to do it Saturday morning.

cannonfodder wrote:The more coffee you make, the less you need to backflush. Oil dissolves oil. So every shot will dissolve oils from the previous. The longer the oils sit in the group, the more rancid they will become. Also keep in mind that every shot has oils in it from earlier shots. Water does not dissolve oil so a water backflush does little.

To a certain degree - this is true. Though a PF that hasn't been soaked in detergent and washed properly would tell a different story. Oils may dissolve oils, but oils which are given a chance to get comfortable and dry - will just deposit a layer upon layer of nasty sludge. That's where flushing with clean water makes a a lot of sense. It's like dirty dishes - you wash 'em right after usage - it's a 5 secs job border-lining being a rinse. But if you leave these sit for a few hours (nevermind - days) - then you're in for a real wash, with detergent, soaking and lots of scraping.

The shower screen should be dropped every 1-2days and thoroughly cleaned along with the dispersion plate. Portafilters and basket split an cleaned daily. If spouted, small bottle brush as well in hole & spouts.

Water backflush as often as you want... chemical backflush no more often than monthly (domestic use) and you must lube an e61 lever operated group after any chemical backflush.

DaveC wrote: Portafilters and basket split an cleaned daily. If spouted, small bottle brush as well in hole & spouts.

If anything, using a naked PF - saves this step. Then - of course - it messes up the machine, but on every single occasion I was really getting mad and about to dump the naked PF in favor of a regular one to save the mess - I was realizing that now I'll be stuck taking the filter out after every usage... not happening! Hence my daily filter still lives in the naked PF and every so often I'm giving all machine's parts covered in coffee squirts a nice wiping.

It's why I pretty much always use a Naked.