# Lelit MaraX Portafilter after 3 months use



## Hellsent (Mar 28, 2021)

Is the inside of my portafilter meant to look like this after 3 months? I've been using Pully-caf for a deep soak every week as mentioned in the manual, as well as backflushing every week with pullycaf. I've never left coffee in the basket/portafilter for longer than normal to cause this kind of "bake in"?


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## DavecUK (Aug 6, 2013)

@Hellsent Sort of happens....I tend to use a white scrubby (very gently), or the sponge side and a bit of washing up liquid on mine...I remove the basket and clean my portafilters every few days. I use a small bottle brush for the spouts and the hole, again with washing up liquid.

The above is for when using spouted...I usually use a bottomless....which is much better with respect to remaining clean.


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## Hellsent (Mar 28, 2021)

Fair enough. Yeah I imagine having no bottom means the non-existent bottom doesn't get dirty 😜


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## Sbug (Mar 2, 2020)

Hellsent said:


> Is the inside of my portafilter meant to look like this after 3 months? I've been using Pully-caf for a deep soak every week as mentioned in the manual, as well as backflushing every week with pullycaf. I've never left coffee in the basket/portafilter for longer than normal to cause this kind of "bake in"?


 I'm no expert but backflushing with detergent/puly caf every week seems over the top to me on an e61? It's fairly aggressive on the valves/seals etc. and strips away the lubrication over time...

I do a quick water backflush every day or two, and probably only looking to do a detergent backflush every 6 weeks. I'll remove the shower screen more regularly and give that a good scrub clean.

I spoke to Bella Barista when I bought my Mara X and they certainly don't recommend backflushing with detergent that frequently....


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## Hellsent (Mar 28, 2021)

Sbug said:


> I'm no expert but backflushing with detergent/puly caf every week seems over the top to me on an e61? It's fairly aggressive on the seals etc.
> 
> I do a quick water backflush every day or two, and probably only looking to do a detergent backflush every 6 weeks. I'll remove the shower screen more regularly and give that a good scrub clean.
> 
> I spoke to Bella Barista when I bought my Mara X and they certainly don't recommend backflushing with detergent that frequently....


 I'm just following the manual ????‍♂ Considering I've seen quite a few threads/posts where Bella barista don't seem to know what to say regarding the MaraX I think I'm going to follow the manual as written by the manufacturer.


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## Sbug (Mar 2, 2020)

Hellsent said:


> I'm just following the manual ????‍♂ Considering I've seen quite a few threads/posts where Bella barista don't seem to know what to say regarding the MaraX I think I'm going to follow the manual as written by the manufacturer.


 Fair enough

I just think you'll be needing to re-lubricate the various components a lot more regularly or risk early wear.

If you backflush with water daily I'm not convinced there's a need to backflush with detergent every week - I've certainly seen little evidence online that it should be done that often.

But like I say I'm not an expert by any means and I hear what you say re the manual...


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## DavecUK (Aug 6, 2013)

@Hellsent I would recommend doing what @Sbug recommended regards cleaning.

Backflush with Puly or similar every 6 to 8 weeks, remove, lever, cam and relube with Molykote 111. Drop shower screen every 3 days or so and clean it, and behind it manually with washing up liquid..

Check out my morning coffee playlist.

https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLUPtpdtiNCunCHBHBXe8OyugyySg8V71X


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## Hellsent (Mar 28, 2021)

DavecUK said:


> @Hellsent I would recommend doing what @Sbug recommended regards cleaning.
> 
> Backflush with Puly or similar every 6 to 8 weeks, remove, lever, cam and relube with Molykote 111. Drop shower screen every 3 days or so and clean it, and behind it manually with washing up liquid..
> 
> ...


 Ok Thanks @DavecUK and @Sbug for the help. I'll adjust my cleaning schedule accordingly and get some Molykote 111 on order. Presumably there's nothing wrong with doing the steam wand cleaning with Puly Milk green cleaner every week? I'm doing roughly 4 milk drinks a day.


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## DavecUK (Aug 6, 2013)

@Hellsent with the milk wand, important to remove the tip every now and then and clean inside.


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## P1Fanatic (Mar 6, 2021)

When you guys talk about using Puly Caff I assume you mean the head cleaner powder?

https://www.bellabarista.co.uk/puly-head-cleaner-370g.html


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## Hellsent (Mar 28, 2021)

P1Fanatic said:


> When you guys talk about using Puly Caff I assume you mean the head cleaner powder?
> 
> https://www.bellabarista.co.uk/puly-head-cleaner-370g.html


 That's what I'm talking about yes. For backflushing and deep soaking basket and PF


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## Dorian (Sep 5, 2016)

Hellsent said:


> Is the inside of my portafilter meant to look like this after 3 months? I've been using Pully-caf for a deep soak every week as mentioned in the manual, as well as backflushing every week with pullycaf. I've never left coffee in the basket/portafilter for longer than normal to cause this kind of "bake in"?


 mine looks even worse after only 2 weeks 

it must be the material they have used... anyway, it is just a portafilter, so far I m happy with the machine


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## muffs (Apr 27, 2017)

Less that 2 months use, gone with bottomless portafilter so not an issue.


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## Doram (Oct 12, 2012)

@Hellsent @Dorian @muffs - How have you guys been cleaning the portafilter? Did you use an abrasive cleaner/scouring pad? I have used mine for a few months before moving to bottomless - cleaned after every shot with a normal dish sponge like this and washing up liquid and mine still looks new:


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## MediumRoastSteam (Jul 7, 2015)

@Doram - Do you ever soak it in Puly? coffee oils will build up on the spout path, and washing up liquid will not clean it.


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## Hellsent (Mar 28, 2021)

Doram said:


> @Hellsent @Dorian @muffs - How have you guys been cleaning the portafilter? Did you use an abrasive cleaner/scouring pad? I have used mine for a few months before moving to bottomless - cleaned after every shot with a normal dish sponge like this and washing up liquid and mine still looks new:
> 
> View attachment 58377


 No scourer for me, usually just pullycaf deep soak and occasionally a wipe with a normal sponge 🤷‍♂️


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## Doram (Oct 12, 2012)

MediumRoastSteam said:


> @Doram - Do you ever soak it in Puly? coffee oils will build up on the spout path, and washing up liquid will not clean it.


 When I used the spouted PF then yes, I would soak it in Puly (well Cafiza, which is what I have and I believe is the same or very similar) every now and again to get the oils in the hard-to-get places. Now that I use a bottomless I haven't bothered soaking the PF or the basket (which I also clean after each shot like you). I might drop the basket in some Cafiza for good measure when I clean something else just because I can and it might shift something I can't see because I don't look at it through an atomic microscope, but to be honest it seems unnecessary.


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## MediumRoastSteam (Jul 7, 2015)

Doram said:


> I might drop the basket in some Cafiza for good measure when I clean something else just because I can and it might shift something I can't see because I don't look at it through an atomic microscope, but to be honest it seems unnecessary.


 Same here Doram! 👍


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## Dorian (Sep 5, 2016)

@Doram, yup I wash it with water and I try to clean it scrubbing with my fingers every couple of shots...I m pulling around 8/10 shots a day.

Soaking in puly every week....to me, they changed material,my unit was produced in April 2021&#8230; but I can be wrong of course and perhaps I don t clean it enough...that s the result so far, I m 3 weeks in.


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## Doram (Oct 12, 2012)

Dorian said:


> @Doram, yup I wash it with water and I try to clean it scrubbing with my fingers every couple of shots...I m pulling around 8/10 shots a day.
> 
> Soaking in puly every week....to me, they changed material,my unit was produced in April 2021&#8230; but I can be wrong of course and perhaps I don t clean it enough...that s the result so far, I m 3 weeks in.


 This is weird. I am not sure if what I see in your picture is that the PF isn't clean (so you have shiny metal under some sort of deposit and can get back to it if you remove that deposit); or if you managed to rub some of the coating material off (cleaned too much, in which case you won't be able to go back to as new condition). My guess is the second option, but I don't know how this would be possible with just soaking in Puly and rubbing with fingers. Could there be anything acidic in the water that would cause that? I really don't know. If it is the first option, then maybe some coffee residue is baked in because it was left for long periods in a hot machine? If it was that, you should have been able to shift it with Puly and a washing up sponge, so I don't know what's going on there.

As for the theory that Lelit has changed the material - I would seriously doubt it, but who knows? All I can say is that I got mine last September, I simply washed the PF after each shot and it looks as pictured above.


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## DavecUK (Aug 6, 2013)

Hellsent said:


> Is the inside of my portafilter meant to look like this after 3 months? I've never left coffee in the basket/portafilter for longer than normal to cause this kind of "bake in"?


 How long is "normal"?

I just use washing up liquid and spinge, I don't soak overnight in Puly. I think that might not be great.

Stop backflushing every week with pulycaf, unless you are removing the lever, cam, drying and lubricating every week.

P.S over the years PFs go much much worse than that...it won't hurt you, imagine what they are like in a high st chain.


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## MediumRoastSteam (Jul 7, 2015)

Hopefully no one is soaking their stuff in Puly overnight! It says 15 minutes in the instructions!


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## DavecUK (Aug 6, 2013)

@MediumRoastSteam he said the weekend...I sincerely hope that was just a turn of phrase.


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## MediumRoastSteam (Jul 7, 2015)

Ok&#8230; regardless whether he said "the weekend" or "every week"&#8230; 😉👍😊

Out of curiosity, is the inside a different treatment/material than the outside? I don't understand how those things are manufactured, but how come the outside doesn't wear off and the inside does?


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## DavecUK (Aug 6, 2013)

MediumRoastSteam said:


> Ok&#8230; regardless whether he said "the weekend" or "every week"&#8230; 😉👍😊
> 
> Out of curiosity, is the inside a different treatment/material than the outside? I don't understand how those things are manufactured, but how come the outside doesn't wear off and the inside does?


 I don't know if it's worn off, but it's all the same...chromed.


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## Hellsent (Mar 28, 2021)

DavecUK said:


> How long is "normal"?
> 
> I just use washing up liquid and spinge, I don't soak overnight in Puly. I think that might not be great.
> 
> ...


 You've already answered me @DavecUK ? I don't do Pully caf every week anymore and never more than 15 mins.

The "normal" length of time I meant for the coffee in the basket was enough time to steam some milk after a shot of espresso, then emptying the PF.


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## Sbug (Mar 2, 2020)

Dorian said:


> @Doram, yup I wash it with water and I try to clean it scrubbing with my fingers every couple of shots...I m pulling around 8/10 shots a day.
> 
> Soaking in puly every week....to me, they changed material,my unit was produced in April 2021&#8230; but I can be wrong of course and perhaps I don t clean it enough...that s the result so far, I m 3 weeks in.
> 
> View attachment 58463


 My recommendation would be to spend some dollar and get a bottomless portafilter.

I got my Mara X a couple of months ago and the spouted portafilter it came with already had some odd patches of whiteish coating which wouldn't shift with cleaning or puly - so I suspect it's something to do with the material or how it's produced. Either way it didn't really bother me.

Finally got round to getting a bottomless portafilter again (I had always used one with my old Gaggia classic) - quite surprised at how much difference it has made to the quality/taste of my espresso from the Mara - I'd definitely suggest going that route if you can...


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## prezes (Apr 17, 2018)

This is how my looks like after 2 months of use. I tend to clean it with soap and sponge or Puly on alternate basis. The only thing I noticed is the whitish patch appeared at the outside after soaking in Puly. Therefore I tend to soak it for 2 minutes and use sponge to clean it .


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## DavecUK (Aug 6, 2013)

I personally don't soak my PF in Puly, I seems a tad to aggressive for that.


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## Rob1 (Apr 9, 2015)

Could be the water. I soak things in Puly and haven't seen any negative effects, I've forgotten and left them overnight sometimes and they're fine. I have noticed moisture gets trapped in spouted portafilters when left in the group to heat up (as they should be) and the marks I have on mine seem to be in the places I've noticed puddles of water collecting on the rare occasions I've left the spouted in the group, especially when the machine is cooling down.


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