# express problems



## ajbird (Jul 29, 2017)

Hi all..

1st post.. desperate times and all that.

I have been a happy owner of the Sage express for 2 1/2 year (yes just out of warranty) and sure enough it has started to play up.

I noticed lately that the amount of water coming out of the machine has been getting less and less and now to get a shot of coffee you need to press the 2 cup button 3 times. Needless to say it does not taste great. There is not enough water to make the pressure gauge move. You can get the pressure gauge to move by blocking the filter and forcing through lots of water and it will jump to the top of the dial.

The hot water tap also only dribbles water where it used to be a clean solid flow of hot water.

I have spoken to Sage and they are sure it is a descaling problem. I have now run 6 sachets of the sage descaler and 4 of the boots own make (I would be skint if I kept purchasing the Sage packets) I have left it over night as sage recommended.

However, it does not seem to be improving anything.

Anyone got any other suggestions?

cheers

Andy


----------



## MediumRoastSteam (Jul 7, 2015)

ajbird said:


> Hi all..
> 
> 1st post.. desperate times and all that.
> 
> ...


Hi Andy, welcome aboard.

I've never seen that machine before, but yes, by what you describe it does seem to be a scaling up issue.

If you don't mind, I need to ask a few questions in order to try and work that out:

What type of water do you feed your machine with? If from the tap, do you run it through a Britta type of filter? How hard is the water in your area? What was your descaling routine?

Let us know.


----------



## ajbird (Jul 29, 2017)

Tap

Unfiltered

Hard

I might have done it a few times...


----------



## MediumRoastSteam (Jul 7, 2015)

Define a few... You had the machine for over 2 1/2 years as you say. How many times and at which interval? Also what was the usage? How many coffees per day?


----------



## ajbird (Jul 29, 2017)

probably once a year .. and coffee once a day


----------



## MediumRoastSteam (Jul 7, 2015)

I'm afraid that may be that. It could be that because you allowed so much scale build up, some bits have dislodged and may have blocked the outlets. Think about what your kettle looks like if you leave it for 1 year.

Now, how to solve it: I'm not sure. You basically need to soak the boiler / pipes in order to clear it all out. Maybe someone else here could help you out, someone who knows that particular machine well. Alternatively, take it to a Sage service specialist and they may be able to help.

It is a well known fact that scale build-up is the number one espresso machine killer. The only way to keep an espresso machine going for a long time is to prevent scale build up (i.e.: using water with acceptable and low mineral content, such as Tesco Ashbeck, Waitrose Essentials or Volvic, or a mix of them). Do that and you would not need to descale your machine for a few years.

The other option is to use a Britta Filter. However, in very hard water area, it will last one or two weeks at most.

When I had my Gaggia Classic and fed water from a Britta Filter, I used to keep the water for one month and descale the machine every 2 or 3 months. It lasted me 3 years, and it is still going strong with a friend for the past 2 years.

Good luck, and sorry I am not able to help you further.


----------



## joey24dirt (Jan 28, 2017)

If it's out of warranty then there's no harm in getting stuck into it to try find the problem. As mentioned it's likely scale and if that's caused blockages it might never clear without other interventions. I had my duo temp to bits a little while back, I know they are different but I imagine the build process is similar. It came apart really easy starting with the top end so might be worth having a look.

If you're confident enough just dig in and see what you find. Take pictures along the way for reference just incase 

Good luck


----------



## ajbird (Jul 29, 2017)

thanks guys,

I will run through the rest of this descaller and if that does not work start taking things apart. I have had the back off a few times for visual inspection but cant see anything obvious.

I have set the machine up outside at present as the house stinks of descaling agents. I am stating to see flecks of lime scale in the steamer output so it is starting to shift something.


----------



## joey24dirt (Jan 28, 2017)

ajbird said:


> thanks guys,
> 
> I will run through the rest of this descaller and if that does not work start taking things apart. I have had the back off a few times for visual inspection but cant see anything obvious.
> 
> I have set the machine up outside at present as the house stinks of descaling agents. I am stating to see flecks of lime scale in the steamer output so it is starting to shift something.


Take some photos if you can and post them. I'm interested to have a look inside


----------



## ajbird (Jul 29, 2017)

I took off the nozzle of the steam wand.. a grey lump dripped out.. this could be messy.


----------



## ajbird (Jul 29, 2017)

OK my 3 hour epic battle is over!

despite the gunk in the steam wand I did not find any other signs of scale in the machine.

I have taken every hose off and checked for air flow and put everything back together. I suspect that the actual block was in the 1st inner filter.. but that is just a guess.. when I put it all together again everything worked as normal. Go figure.

Glad I took pictures as I needed to go back to them a few times.

Wand gunk









key suspect is this filter.. is the 1st item in the water chain









unscrew the 4 screws holding the pump









which allows you to unscrew the T pipe









unscrew the boiler to access pipes / hot water tap behind it.









I blew through each pipe to ensure water flow.. eg solanoid to boiler.. pull clip.. pull out pipe.. get washer and reverse to attach


----------



## ajbird (Jul 29, 2017)

The tap hose is secured slightly differently.. undo the single screw to pop the pipe.. which allows access to the two screws beneath and then pull the tap up through the hole.

















put it all back together (make sure you have used the same number of cable ties as you cut off) and hey presto









Now I just need to clean everything and try and look after the thing moving forward.


----------



## joey24dirt (Jan 28, 2017)

Haha yeah so you've learnt a regular descale is worthwhile  glad you've got sorted though. I'll have to check my DTP filter in the future.


----------



## Rakesh (Jun 3, 2017)

Using volvic or another good bottled water is always worth it, glad to see someone finally get one of these machines apart and actually fix it.


----------



## MatthewBw (Sep 9, 2015)

Great result, I descale mine every 6 - 8 weeks, the water is quite hard here. I can always tell when it needs doing before then as it will start to get a little less consistent. Once descaled with some puly its back to normal.

I had mine repaired under warranty because I was a newb and followed the white vinegar instructions in the manual to descale. The solenoid (I think) was replaced due to scale build up. The engineer said puly every 6-8 weeks and you will be good going forward. Fingers crossed no issues since.


----------



## Tim O (Feb 11, 2019)

Thread resurrection!

Just had my Barrista Express apart. Problem was lack of flow, from the steam wand, the hot water spout and the coffee housing. All three worked but with very poor flow. Dismantled the casing to find the inner filter was clogged with black 'stuff'. Spent 20minutes cleaning and flushing it, reassembled and job done. Everything works fine.

Very pleased with myself.


----------



## ajohn (Sep 23, 2017)

Try Durgol - there aim seems to be to clear blockages. I'd be inclined to run it mostly through the hot water outlet.

Edit. Too late and you've fixed it. Might not be a bad idea still though especially if you can slow the hot water outlet speed down.

John

-


----------

