Portafilter: In or Out?

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Niko

Portafilter: In or Out?

Post by Niko »

Do you keep your portafilter in or out of the group when you're not using the machine?

And for the people that have owned the S1 for some time now, how many times have you had to change your group gasket?
earache

Post by earache »

Always keep my portafilter in. My machine is on 24/7 and I like my portafilter hot. I don't snug it up tight so there's not a lot of contact with the gasket. My S1 is a little over a year old now and it's just starting to show signs that its gasket needs replacing.
Niko

Post by Niko »

Are you starting to get water squeezing down the sides during shots or is it really loose?
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chas
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Post by chas »

I initially took my first one out after a year even though I saw no tell tale leaking during a pull that would indicate the need. It came out easily enough and was still pliable. However, it did have a groove where the PF jams up against it. So I just flipped it over, reinstalled, and got another year out of it.

Others on this forum have claimed that theirs was hard and brittle after only 6 months so your mileage may vary.
Chas
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bbqnut

Post by bbqnut »

My experience with my Livia 90 was that if I left it on 24/7 and the PF in, the gasket was ready to go in about 3-4 months. When I started turning the machine off (and leaving the PF out), I got more like 6-9 months out of a gasket. Can't say which of the two it was, but there was a difference. And it was so brittle, one time I had to almost chip it out.

I have 3 spares for the S1. I figure any leaking, it comes out, and another $6 piece of rubber goes in. Or if I can feel it is going toward the brittle side it gets replaced. I did not spend $2K to have leaks and hard to remove gaskets. $6 every 4-6 months is just a small preventive cost.
Niko

Post by Niko »

Sounds like the average lifespan of an S1 gasket is about 9-12 months (some much longer) depending on usage. I try to leave my portafilter on even when it's not in use but I have too many people walking by the machine, I have a recurring nightmare that someone is going to get caught on my portafilter handle and snag the grouphead right off - I can care less about the person, it's the Spaz I'm worried about.
I also have 3 spare gaskets on hand, they seem to be like the Spaziale filter baskets - none are exactly the same. One seems a touch thicker than the other and so on, etc..
earache

Post by earache »

Yeah, I'm starting to see some water coming down the sides. Sure sign the gasket needs replacing.

On a related note, my old Livia needed 2 gasket replacements during the year I owned her.
Niko wrote:Are you starting to get water squeezing down the sides during shots or is it really loose?
Niko

Post by Niko »

earache wrote:Yeah, I'm starting to see some water coming down the sides. Sure sign the gasket needs replacing.
The water squeezing down the sides means nothing to a man pulling delicious shots.
I also had another machine that needed a gasket change badly, so bad that I finally changed it when the coffee started to get watered down.
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