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Permalink Reply by Brady on December 8, 2012 at 6:59am

Cimbalis are great espresso machines, but frankly they are not the easiest machine to perform thorough basic maintenance on. There are a couple of possible trouble spots that you should be careful of or avoid all-together. I don't recommend DIY maintenance on these machines, mostly because of the tricky steam valve (which should be rebuilt at every service).

Gaskets are straightforward enough if you just pick them out like other espresso machines. I wouldn't suggest removing the group rings for a more thorough cleaning. The stainless steel retaining screws can break on removal or easily strip or crossthread in the brass groups on reassembly. If either happens, you're looking at a full group replacement, so I don't recommend this as a DIY. Just pick them out and you'll be fine.

The steamwand pivots are pretty straightforward too, clean the ball and nut and replace the teflon bushing w/ o-ring.

The valve is trickier. You have to pull an internal snap ring, unscrew the valve, and replace the (probably shredded) green seal and o-ring. Clean the brass bit, lube with hi-temp valve NSF-approved grease, and reassemble (being sure to seat the snap ring properly).

In my mind, the value of regular service by a good tech is not just being sure that the work is done correctly. A tech will look with fresh eyes on the machine to make sure it's working properly. Often I'll find nascent problems that the users hadn't realized were issues yet, or things that everyone was just ignoring in hopes they went away on their own.

Quite a bit also depends on the attitude that your usual service company has about you doing your own maintenance. If this isn't something they are excited about you may well find them less inclined to provide emergency service in the future, and they may well charge more to correct repairs if you botch them.

If you proceed, good luck.

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