As an old auto racer, I'm well schooled in proper monitoring, maintenance and renewal of vital organs in mechanical devices. So when I bought my Technika Profi IV in January 2017, I vowed to disassemble the group every year for inspection, cleaning, and light lube. And I "scheduled" replacement of the group innards at 5 year intervals. Lever motion felt a bit rougher over the last year than it used to be, but other than that things seemed normal. Still, it was time for surgery this spring - so I gathered the parts and finally put wrench to nuts last week.

First I removed the covers and inspected everything - and it looks brand new inside. There are no tiny signs of leakage or electrical failure. Hoses, wires, connectors etc are pristine and there are no telltale smells at all. With no sign of corrosion or frame damage, I buttoned her up and moved on to the group.

I replace my softener and filter cartridge every change of seasons, so I hadn't found any scale to date. Even so, I was amazed to see how beautifully clean the inside walls of the group and everything it contains were. The screen around the gigcleur was like new, and the only sign of use was the usual brownish surfaces of the brass parts inside. I'd been soaking and cleaning the parts annually, but I hadn't replaced anything yet. So I installed all new group valves, replaced all the gaskets & O-rings, lightly lubed the mating surfaces, and put her back together.

She feels like new again! The lever now lifts with the slightly firm, silky smoothness of its youth and I'm a happy man. I'm posting this to nudge the hesitant into doing the right thing. It's true that parts cost a fair amount more than they did when I last rebuilt my previous machine several years ago. But the cost of maintenance parts is a tiny fraction of the replacement cost of the machine and much less than the cost of negligent maintenance.

So if you're on the fence about machine maintenance, bite the bullet and do it! You won't regret it!

+1

Non-scaling water from day one is paramount!