# The Fracino Cherub



## fatboyslim

Wooooo new Fracino Forum! And First post in the new Fracino forum!

Feel free to ask any questions you might have about the Cherub here. I'm sure one of the numerous owners on the forum will be able to answer.


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## aphelion

Wooo..awesome!

Ok..fatboyslim, many of us are waiting for their new Cherubs in the coming weeks/months

So. first question on you..

Tell us about your machine?

Cheers


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## shrink

Excellent!


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## fatboyslim

aphelion said:


> Wooo..awesome!
> 
> Ok..fatboyslim, many of us are waiting for their new Cherubs in the coming weeks/months
> 
> So. first question on you..
> 
> Tell us about your machine?
> 
> Cheers


Ok when I have time, not at the moment, I will write a short review.


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## jimbow

Here is a thread I started when I was upgrading to the Cherub with some pros and cons:

http://coffeeforums.co.uk/showthread.php?t=4624

There are also some pictures in my profile/gallery if you are interested...


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## shrink

Quick question. I've seen it mentioned that the cherub has a vacuum breaker on the boiler. If that's the case, why do they recommend starting it up with the steam wand open?

Does anyone bother doing this. If you run it off a timer, is it safe to just leave it to warm up by itself?


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## jimbow

Good question - this confused me too when I first got my machine. The Cherub does indeed have a vacuum breaker on the boiler. The reason the manual suggests opening the steam valve whilst warming up is apparently in case the vacuum breaker fails and to make extra sure there is no vacuum created.

I start the machine on a timer switch and do not bother opening the steam valve whilst the machine is warming up. However, I do always open the valve briefly immediately prior to steaming just to be safe.


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## shrink

Its always good practice to purge the steam wand before steaming anyway. So this wouldn't really make any diff to me


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## shrink

any particular timer you can recommend for use with this machine? does it matter much as long as it can handle 13A?


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## jimbow

I will check the brand I use when I get home and let you know.

It will indeed need to support 13A and not all timer plug's do this.

There are two basic styles - analogue and digital. The analogue style has a disk that turns representing a 24 hour clock with little pins representing 15 minute segments around the outside. By pressing pins in one can control the segments during which the machine will be on.

The digital style are electronic and tend to include multiple timer programmes for different days of the week. This allows the machine to come on at different times during the week from the weekend (when you might fancy a lie-in







). One word of caution about the digital models: the timer programmes are stored in the plug's memory and it uses an internal battery to maintain the state within the memory. The plug recharges this battery from the electricity supply but only when the plug is sending power to the espresso machine I.e. only during one of the timer programmes or if you have overridden the timer programmes by switching it on. This means if you unplug it or switch it manually off for a week or so, you may lose all your configured timer programmes.

You may also want to fit a surge protector inline between your timer plug and your espresso machine.


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## shrink

next question.

does the cherub have an adjustable OPV? can brew pressure be varied or is it factory set.

anyone know what kinda pressure the cherub is pushing out of the brew head?


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## jimbow

Afraid I have not measured it although expect it will be around the usual 9 bar. The water debit is spot on (I think it was around 75ml in 10 seconds if I remember correctly). You probably can adjust the OPV - I have never checked though.


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## Edward

Help!!!

My beloved fracino cherub is no longer steaming.

Boiler pressure seems normal.

Hot water works.

When I open the steam wand though - nothing.

Oddly the water gushed through coffee at a grind and dose that normally leaves me damn close to 30 seconds.

I've always used Brita filtered water and I've descaled it twice so far with citric acid.

Any suggestions folks?

Ed


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## shrink

steam wand could be blocked? if the hot water works, i'd suggest its possibly a blockage as both come from the same boiler, and the water needs steam pressure to push it out.


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## Edward

I've tried steeping the wand in rinza. Maybe its not getting far enough up the wand. I'll try a bigger jug.


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## shrink

it may even be blocked at the valve... where the knob opens it up. does that part come away from the body?


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## Edward

Good news. A few minutes in a larger jug of rinza and I have steam!

Panic over.

Now that I've had a good scare. Should I be rescaling more regularly?

I usually steep the steam wand in rinza every day so that's not normally an issue milk wise. I'm wondering if I'm lucky to have gotten away without scale issues so far.

Ed


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## Edward

Descaling sorry!

Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk 2


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## Moz

Hi there.

Just a Facino Cherub over Christmas and used it for the first time today. Steam wand works ok and it makes a fine espresso. Cannot get any hot water out of the hot water dispenser though. Any ideas? Thanks in advance.

Moz


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## DavecUK

As its under warranty, best contact the retailer.


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## Union8

I had my cherub now since 2017 and has worked faultlessly, but recently I tried to descale the machine only for find that in following the procedure on this forum of emptying the boiler of the decal et solution only to find that the boiler does not refill once I turn it on. So I don't really want to open and fiddling with my machine I would appreciate a contact for somebody that can service and fix all the issues, now it's become a little desperate as I have been one month with proper coffee and drinking instant 😩 please help I am based in Essex thank all in advance


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## El carajillo

It will mean packing it up but Fracino in Birmingham will fully service it for you.


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## Union8

Thanks for that but I was hoping for somebody more local that I could bring the machine to


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