Abused Aurelia
So I am helping reopen a cafe here in Pittsburgh in one of the corporate law firms. This is the shape of the one group head and screen. I couldn't get the screws out for the other two!
Just sent the email to get the espresso service company out here. I know this is from not doing daily routine cleanings. I have a second issue with the NS Aurelia 3 group. When the machine gets up to operating heat/pressure, it continuously releases steam into the drip tray. I believe it is coming from the plastic tube and not one of the copper *brass?* drains. Any thoughts on the second issue? Comments are open for the pics above. Thanks previous owners for not caring and never training your staff!
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Jason Raz on
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That screen was after a long soak and a lot of scrubbing. Forget adjusting the grind and tamping, just think how awful these shots must have been.
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Permalink Reply by Brady on
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Don't bother cleaning those screens. Trash them and put new ones on.
Regarding the steam in the tray... as a backup to the anti-vacuum valve, Simonelli programs them to kick open a steam valve (autosteam intake or cup warmer) at startup. This valve will close automatically after a preset amount of time - perhaps 10 minutes? The way to tell if this is what's happening is to look at the indicator lights on the LH side of the panel - you'll notice that an extra light is on. Push that button to stop the steaming.
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Thanks for the information about the anti-vacuum valve. My roaster/repair company replied with the same response. Happy to know that is one less issue. In the picture, what is the proper term for the center piece in the shot. What specific part of the group head is that? Hope I'm saying this all right, if not please correct me. I plan on being there when the service guy comes to work on the machine so I can get some more knowledge about the internals of a machine. Will be sure to snap photos and post. Think they will have to take apart each group head to change out that last bottom piece of the group head?
One more photo for the fun of it. Here is the cafe. The actual law firm/company owns all the equipment and then they lease it out. It has been there for two years. With both years having extremely bad espresso and coffee.
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Glad to hear that service is on the way.
To run through some of the anatomy of the Aurelia group:
The group (or shower) screen mounts directly to the brass diffusion disk - a thin brass disk with several holes. Both of these components are screwed to the group itself with the flat headed group screw.
The group is the large hunk of brass which has several surfaces and components mounted to it. One of those surfaces is the circular flat one in the middle of the center and lower pictures.
The group gasket is the round black gasket in the picture.
The group ring is the large heavy chrome-plated brass ring that surrounds this part of the group, and its held to the group with 4 socket-head cap screws. It can be removed to more easily access the group gasket, but if it is, there's a large thin o-ring underneath that should be replaced as well.
One big reason that the group screw must be re-installed carefully is that the female thread is tapped into the group itself. If this thread is stripped, the group may need to be replaced. Please reinstall group screws with caution!
Hope that helps.
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Thank you for the brief group-anatomy lesson, it helps greatly. Thinking he comes in on Thursday so I'll update then. The cafe is currently closed until the Sept 6th which gives some time to get things sqaured away. Making somewhat final decisions on flavors, sizes, and drinks today. Going to put a post in Retail regarding that subject.
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They came in Thursday night and gave it a brief overhaul. Replaced some screens, gaskets, a good scrubbing, and rebuilt a valve or two. I put the grinders back together after a good cleaning and dialed them in. Everything is up and running. Roaster is coming in for some training on Tuesday and started to get some of the syrup and chai samples in yesterday. New portafilters won't be in till end of the week so will be working with the doubles that we have for now.
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