Maintenance by Dr.Pavoni |
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Daily
After drawing your espresso and milk frothing, flush clean water through the automatic frother and silicone tube by the same method as drawing your milk. If you use the regular steam arm, flush it out with a little steam and wipe away any leftover milk. You may have to turn the high heat switch on again to produce more steam to accomplish these actions. I draw about 3 ounces of water to flush out the silicone tube and the cappuccino auto aerator. This seems to be adequate until the weekly cleaning.
Put a container under the Group. Raise the
arm, and flush the Group out. Some of the grounds tend to get
thrown up toward the insert screen when the water enters the cup
filter when drawing a shot. Flushing out the Group will clean
the insert screen of any residual grounds. Take a wet paper
towel and wipe off the outside face of the inlet screen. Be
careful when doing this, the Group is still very hot.
Lift out the drip tray and rinse it out. Dry
out the cavity below and replace the drip tray. The cavity will rust
in a very short period of time if left neglected! A
replacement base runs about 1/4 of what a new machine costs, so
keep that drip cavity dry.
After the machine has cooled, wipe off
any dried milk, espresso, etc. Empty all water out of the
boiler. Weekly Take off the steam arm or the cappuccino auto
aerator. At this time, take out the small adjustment pin in the
top of the aerator and put it on a paper towel. If you don't, I
guarantee you will lose it, or worse the garage disposal will
eat it. Soak the components in some hot soapy water. This also
applies to the drip tray and silicone tube.
After the components have soaked for a bit,
take a long pipe cleaner
and run it through the silicone tube that
goes to the auto aerator. I go to a craft store and buy the pipe
cleaners. They tend to be longer than the ones you would buy at
a pipe store. If you do your daily maintenance, the tube shouldn't
be that dirty. Flush it with clean water, and place it aside to
dry. Wash and rinse the other components. One piece that is easy
to overlook in cleaning, is the cup filter holder. Coffee oils
build up inside. Use a Brillo®/SOS® pad to clean
the inside of the holder or you could use some Mr. Coffee
solution. Don't use a Brillo®/SOS® pad to clean any chrome
surfaces on the machine!
Take apart the cappuccino auto aerator, and
clean the inside. After a while, the inside tends to get a milky
buildup called milkstone. I've tried many things to get this
off, but it seems to get into the plastic, and doesn't want to
come out. I just use a Brillo®/SOS® pad or cleaning pad to get
it as clean as possible. Soaking the auto aerator in a bowl with
some of the Mr. Coffee descaling liquid will get a lot of it
out. There is a milkstone remover product that you can buy but I
don't recommend it. It's Phosphoric Acid which isn't that safe
to use plus you have to buy a gallon of it, which would last you
a lifetime. The inlet hole
in the cappuccino auto aerator where the milk
enters the chamber will eventually start to accumulate dried
milk. Even if you do your daily maintenance, the milk stills
tends to dry up in there. Take a small rigid wire, and clean out
the hole. I use a cake tester.
Use a small diameter wire that is smaller than
the hole. You don't want to enlarge the hole in the aerator. The
milk gets almost like glue, so it may take a little longer then
you would like to clean it. Pipe cleaners don't do any good on
this one! If you don't clean out this hole, it will eventually
affect the way the milk is drawn or not drawn. You'll know when
the only thing that comes out is STEAM!
Wet a paper towel and spread it out under the
Group. Use some Q-tips® and run them around the insert screen
and O-ring gasket. You'll be amazed at the quantity of coffee
grinds that accumulate up there. Wetting the Q-tip® helps. After
the majority of grinds are out, wet another paper towel. Double
or triple fold a corner, and jam it in the groove, and run it
around to get the remainder of the grinds.
Take a soapy paper towel or sponge and wipe
down the chrome surfaces of the machine. Don't use any abrasives
when cleaning the chrome. Dry it off with paper towels or a soft
cloth. Monthly Descale your machine. This is
an important procedure. It will prevent premature replacement of
the fuse in the machines that don't have a resettable fuse.
Monthly descaling may not be necessary if your area has soft
water. Once or twice a year may be sufficient. There are
different descalers that you can use to remove the mineral
buildup on the heating coils. The Pavoni manual recommends the "Urnex"
brand of descaler. I found that one hard to obtain locally. You
can purchase it on the Internet. I use the "Mr. Coffee" brand.
You could use white vinegar to dissolve the deposits. The ratio
of white vinegar to water would be about 50/50. The ratio is not
that important. If you have never descaled your machine you
could use almost straight white vinegar. If you use straight
vinegar, I would just cover the heating coils and add a little
boiling water, just to help loosen the scale. I wouldn't turn
the machine on if you are using straight vinegar. The important
thing to remember is, no matter what you use to descale the
machine, always flush the system out with fresh water after
descaling. Using distilled water for making your espresso is
also another way to go to almost eliminate descaling.
Note: There are two ways I
descale my machine. It depends on the circumstances on which one
I choose. If the fuse blows while the machine is on, mineral
deposits on the heating coil could have accumulated enough and
caused an overheating condition. Shame on me for not doing the
monthly maintenance! With the power off pour boiling
water and the descaling agent in the boiler to the top and let
sit for about an hour. I wouldn't take the chance of replacing
the fuse and descaling it with the power on. The deposits may
still not be dissolved enough and will probably blow the new
fuse. Meanwhile your guests are waiting for their cappuccino!
The other method is the
monthly maintenance. I mix the descaling agent as directed on
the package and pour it in the boiler. I fill the boiler about
an inch from the top. I do this so when you get to operating
pressure, the overflow tube also gets flushed . Cap the boiler
and turn it on just like you would as if you were preparing
espresso. Once you are producing steam, I place a container
under the Group and raise the handle to flush out the Group. I
don't put the cup filter holder on for descaling. Personally, I
really don't think you have to flush out the Group. It is
relatively self-cleaning because of the piston gaskets. They fit
so tight against the piston walls, it would be hard for deposits
to accumulate, but it doesn't hurt to do it. Flush with clean
water after the machine cools down. Note: There is another reason why descaling
your machine could be important. A visitor to the site picked up
on a apparent condition on one of my photographs of inside my
boiler. There was a bluish/green color
at the top of the boiler. This could be a
copper salt/copper acetate residue due to the copper boiler and
dissimilar metals inside the boiler. It could be toxic and I
state could be! No water analysis has been done on the condition.
The good and bad of it is that copper salt is water soluble so
water helps to dissolve it. If you look carefully at the
photograph you won't see any on the rest of the boiler. The bad
thing is your shot of espresso may have a minute amount
of it. I don't want anyone throwing out their Pavonis or selling
them! I'm keeping mine and will continue to make espresso. These
machines have been around for 40+ years and other espresso
machines also have copper boilers too. I think by now if there
was a serious problem it would have risen by now. So the main
thing is to descale your machine regularly and fill the boiler
to the top with the descaling agent. With this method I wouldn't
turn the machine on, just use boiling water and the descaling
agent. You could use a 3M® scouring pad to clean the top
inside part of the boiler where generally there is no water
contact with the boiler surface. I would not recommend using
steel wool. Don't use the scouring pad on the chrome surface of
the machine. You should completely empty your boiler after the
water has cooled so each time you use your machine you're
filling with fresh water. Don't reuse the previous boiler water.
I don't want to unduly scare anyone. Nothing has been definitely
proved on this but it is always best to be safe than sorry. It's
always best to use filtered water for your Pavoni too. It may be
healthier and your espresso may taste better.
Yearly
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© 2010 Francesco Ceccarelli. All rights reserved. |