Breville Barista Pro - Can I get away with only descaling, no backflushing?
-
Fettekatze
- Posts: 5
- Joined: 2 years ago
A couple months back my Barista Pro started tripping my circuit breaker, turns out there was a leak on the underside of this "1879" fitting along the seam in the middle of this part.
I temporarily bandaged the solution by applying superglue to the underside of the seam and wrapping it with duct tape, but when I did a backflush, it leaked again. It's apparent that this fitting is under the most pressure when the machine is doing a backflush.
I've since done a better bandage by running a soldering iron on the underside of the fitting, melting the seam, applying pressure to the seam with a ziptie, putting a paper towel wad underneath it, hotwiring the hopper-closed indicator (I don't use the built-in grinder anyways), and running the lid without screws so I can more easily access the paper towel to check for moisture.
All the while I had been in contact with Breville who stated this part is not for individual sale and I'd have to ship the machine back to replace the part. I'd rather not though as my bandage has been working for 100+ shots and I don't want to go through the hassle and downtime of sending the machine back especially if the replacement fitting is still unrevised and will just fail again.
Anyway, as long as I don't do a backflush, it should be fine. Can I just descale and skip backflushing completely? Seems like the descale process flushes out all the lines anyway. Whenever the machine is turned on it does a little mini-backflush for a couple seconds anyway, but this hasn't been enough to rupture my repair.
1879 fitting
Repair backside
Lid removed
Lid put back without screws
I temporarily bandaged the solution by applying superglue to the underside of the seam and wrapping it with duct tape, but when I did a backflush, it leaked again. It's apparent that this fitting is under the most pressure when the machine is doing a backflush.
I've since done a better bandage by running a soldering iron on the underside of the fitting, melting the seam, applying pressure to the seam with a ziptie, putting a paper towel wad underneath it, hotwiring the hopper-closed indicator (I don't use the built-in grinder anyways), and running the lid without screws so I can more easily access the paper towel to check for moisture.
All the while I had been in contact with Breville who stated this part is not for individual sale and I'd have to ship the machine back to replace the part. I'd rather not though as my bandage has been working for 100+ shots and I don't want to go through the hassle and downtime of sending the machine back especially if the replacement fitting is still unrevised and will just fail again.
Anyway, as long as I don't do a backflush, it should be fine. Can I just descale and skip backflushing completely? Seems like the descale process flushes out all the lines anyway. Whenever the machine is turned on it does a little mini-backflush for a couple seconds anyway, but this hasn't been enough to rupture my repair.
1879 fitting
Repair backside
Lid removed
Lid put back without screws
-
JRising
- Team HB
- Posts: 3735
- Joined: 5 years ago
It's your machine, you can do what you want.
You don't have to backflush it. Just use it to death and replace it if you want. Better yet, dismantle, clean and reassemble it monthly to avoid backflushing yet still get the coffee oils out of the head and brew valve.
As for descaling, how would that affect backflushing? You would be far better off using soft water and descaling as infrequently as possible.
I make no claims regarding the following elbow:
https://www.coffeepartswarehouse.com.au ... 652_264317
You don't have to backflush it. Just use it to death and replace it if you want. Better yet, dismantle, clean and reassemble it monthly to avoid backflushing yet still get the coffee oils out of the head and brew valve.
As for descaling, how would that affect backflushing? You would be far better off using soft water and descaling as infrequently as possible.
I make no claims regarding the following elbow:
https://www.coffeepartswarehouse.com.au ... 652_264317
-
Fettekatze (original poster)
- Posts: 5
- Joined: 2 years ago
Yup that's the elbow. It's pretty much the only internal part listed on that site, looks like there must be a reason for its availability.
