# Descale



## NathanEmmerich (Jul 26, 2013)

Couple of things, but mainly I am after a general or Francino specific guide to descaling mains supply machines, anyone have something along those lines?

I have a maybe 8 years old Cherub that needs a good service. I moved to Australia with it and it is now awaiting a good servicing. I converted it to mains supply so I guess I can convert it back. Am I better to covert it back to do this? Anyone have a guide to general service for a Cherub or similar?

I decided to get a Classico recently. Going well so far, but it gets awful hot by comparison to the Cherub! It also occasionally drips from the group head or pressure outlet and has overflowed the drip tray. This seems to occur overnight. Indeed it seems to start some hours after use, when the machine is cold. Any ideas? Backflushing seemed to stop it for a while. I am going to try back flushing with cleaning powder. But I thought I would mention it here, see if anyone has a clue. It cannot be scale. I have an inline filter and it has not be in situ long enough.

Any help much appreciated!

Nathan


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## Caffeine fan (May 14, 2019)

Is it a new Classico - if so the retailer should sort this for you but guessing this isn't an option hence your post.

Might be worthwhile dismantling and cleaning the grouphead. Also, I noticed that my Classico was leaking from the nut on top of the group head recently, which ran down the side of the grouphead into the drip tray. Probably isn't the problem you have, given the amount of water you are talking about but maybe worth a look.


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## NathanEmmerich (Jul 26, 2013)

Thanks for the reply! Malvern eh, I've been up those hills a good few times!

I could chase the retailer, but they are in Queensland and it would be way more trouble than sorting it myself. I am now kind of thinking it might be the high water pressure. Shots do pour pretty quickly. <12 secs and it should be 17-19 I think. I might look into a restrictor of some kind.

I'll have a go at the group head too. Does everything drop out when you remover the nut on the front? There is no screw through the screen like with the Cherub.

Cheers

Nathan


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## Caffeine fan (May 14, 2019)

Yes I have a great view of the Malvern hills. I've not been to Queensland for a while but I do remember the Bundy & cokes!

If it's a new machine then you shouldn't need to play around with the grouphead I would think, unless something has been dislodged in transit.

My Classico isn't plumbed in as I am just using the water tank - they are advertised as manual fill only in the UK. In terms of extraction time then it does seem quick. A rough guide would be say, 18gms of ground coffee in the portafilter with 36gms of coffee in the cup, taking between 25- 30 seconds to extract. So not sure if your quick time is due to water pressure as it could just be that your beans aren't ground fine enough.

So you could try grinding your beans finer and or using a manual fill option if there is one, to rule out the water pressure query.


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