Hey guys, has anyone modified a common PF like an E61 to fit (I'm thinking bottomless)? It looks to me like the outside edge of the tabs is a bit too wide, but not much filing should be needed for a good fit. And it would be a heck of a lot cheaper. I can get a whole lot of portafilters for the $80 retail price. I'll probably do this either way, but it would be cool to start with hearing about another's success :)
I do a clean water backflush about once a week and the soap clean when notified. I often pre-flush, so I figure I'm doing the soap clean twice as often as Breville recommends.
I make 4 shots a day, and I doubt more frequent cleaning is necessary.
I read somewhere here (or maybe saw it on a video) that if you hold the 1 (or 2) cup button down for a quick flush, or stop a shot before 7 seconds into it, neither will add to the counter. Specifically I think the reference was to the total before you need to descale, but this might also apply to the 'clean me' alert. When finished with a 'session' I do a couple back flushes with water as most others here do. Each time I hold down the 1 shot button for several seconds. I suspect doing flushes this way does work because I'd be getting a clean me message every 20 days if they were counted, and I do not.
There is something to be said about the convenience of hitting the one cup button and doing something else while it flushes.
There is a possibility I am remembering wrong, but I thought I'd mention it.
I read somewhere here (or maybe saw it on a video) that if you hold the 1 (or 2) cup button down for a quick flush, or stop a shot before 7 seconds into it, neither will add to the counter. Specifically I think the reference was to the total before you need to descale, but this might also apply to the 'clean me' alert. When finished with a 'session' I do a couple back flushes with water as most others here do. Each time I hold down the 1 shot button for several seconds. I suspect doing flushes this way does work because I'd be getting a clean me message every 20 days if they were counted, and I do not.
There is something to be said about the convenience of hitting the one cup button and doing something else while it flushes.
There is a possibility I am remembering wrong, but I thought I'd mention it.
Okay, so I know I've read it somewhere in these 142 pages, but what exactly is a clean water backflush? So far I've only had the 'Clean Me' request once. I do run a 1 cup through the grouphead (PF removed) before and after every shot, but is there something else I should be doing?
For future reference as well, is there a way to search just this thread for keywords? When I search a term I often get 300-400 hits...
What you are describing above is considered "flushing the grouphead/showe screen" since no PF is in place. A back-flush consists of a PF that has a blank inserted (to prevent water from passing through the PF. It circulates around the show/dispersion screens until the shot is stopped. At this point, the valve opens the release the pressure and the liquid (either clean brew boiler water or brew water mixed with cleaner-inf you added that prior to locking in the PF) gets suctioned back though the tubing that leads out the 3-way valve.
Flushing, as you have described, is OK for dislodging some clinging grounds on the shower screen or to bring the grouphead up to temp, but it is not as thorough of a cleaning as either the clean water or chemical back-flush.
Flushing, as you have described, is OK for dislodging some clinging grounds on the shower screen or to bring the grouphead up to temp, but it is not as thorough of a cleaning as either the clean water or chemical back-flush.
So this brings up a question - in the original packaging, the rubber insert had a pinhole in it. The newer shipments, there is no hole. When using a cleaning tablet, does it matter? Is the idea to use the cleaning tablet during a backflush only?
So I just got my BDB around October and I wanted to post in here to say thank you to everyone who has been posting regularly. Your advice and experiments have greatly helped me on my way to great espresso. Rising up from the murky depths of a daily $** run.
Micheal, I think the logic behind the pinhole is with the tablet in it would create enough pressure to backflush through the 3-way solenoid, and then as the tablet disintegrated it would flow through the portafilter cleaning your spouts as well.
I think breville got enough feedback about people just wanted blinds (and i'm guessing it saved money) that they got rid of that pinhole and let us keep our portafilters clean.
What you are describing above is considered "flushing the grouphead/showe screen" since no PF is in place. A back-flush consists of a PF that has a blank inserted (to prevent water from passing through the PF. It circulates around the show/dispersion screens until the shot is stopped. At this point, the valve opens the release the pressure and the liquid (either clean brew boiler water or brew water mixed with cleaner-inf you added that prior to locking in the PF) gets suctioned back though the tubing that leads out the 3-way valve.
Flushing, as you have described, is OK for dislodging some clinging grounds on the shower screen or to bring the grouphead up to temp, but it is not as thorough of a cleaning as either the clean water or chemical back-flush.
Micheal, I think the logic behind the pinhole is with the tablet in it would create enough pressure to backflush through the 3-way solenoid, and then as the tablet disintegrated it would flow through the portafilter cleaning your spouts as well.
Good to know we can be trusted to clean our own PFs. LOL My other thought was there might be something bad about fizzy stuff going only through the solenoid but I guess that's not something to worry about.
JMFishtown Said:
I think breville got enough feedback about people just wanted blinds (and i'm guessing it saved money) that they got rid of that pinhole and let us keep our portafilters clean.
I have to say that I'm impressed with not only the customer support (which in the US only is replace, not necessarily a bad thing) as well as the minor tweaks they make to the product based on reviews, feedback and I'm guessing, repair experience of the returned units. Now, if I could only memeber
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