# Help with Barista Express



## MarkT (Nov 21, 2015)

Hi all,

I am in need of technical help please. My Batista express is poorly.

When I try to get the espresso it starts off ok and about 5 seconds in the water spits out from the top of the portafilter. Has anyone experienced it and is it and easy fix to it before I start opening it up.

Many thanks in advance.

Mark


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## joey24dirt (Jan 28, 2017)

Group head gasket i would suspect. You can get them from sage for a few ££


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## Stanic (Dec 12, 2015)

as advised, gasket change..or/and make sure the gasket and its surroundings as well as the rim of the basket in the PF are clean


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## ajohn (Sep 23, 2017)

If it's covered in brown stuff you could make it last longer by brushing it over from time to time. Based on another make of machine where the seal was more or less ok but coffee residue had hardened and prevented it from working as it should. I now make sure I do brush the one on my BE now but you'll need to buy a brush that is suitable for the task. Searching for a grouphead brush should bring one up. They have an angled end so can be damped by running a little hot water out of the group head and then used to brush the entire area inside it over.

The seal on my BE has softened a bit but it's still fine with the portafilter handle at 90 degrees even though I could turn it further if i used the pressure that was needed when it was new.

John

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## ajohn (Sep 23, 2017)

Might be worth adding something else to that. I was having problems getting a basket out of another make of machine so bought a filter basker extraction tool off amazon. I use it all of the time now. Cheap and much quicker than a spoon or knife etc. I've found that it will get the sage shower screen out in seconds as well. It's sharp so needs some care for that. I stick a mirror on the drip tray so that I can see what I'm doing, some put the machine on it's side or upside down etc having emptied beans out and removed the water tank. Then carefully ease the extractor in between the seal and the shower screen and use it to lever that out. It will probably get the seal out easily as well.

You can probably get a portafilter brush from the same source.







It wouldn't surprise me if these arrived some time before your new seal does.

John

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## hammerme (Feb 5, 2018)

my seal went on mine, was pain getting from Sage took them over three weeks but was only couple of £. it is hard to remove old seal make sure you don't use sharp tool if you intend on reusing seal!


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