Group Gasket

chas · Post by **chas** » Fri Sep 03, 2004 7:40 am

Has anyone removed and replaced their group gasket yet in a non-destructive fashion.?

I used to pull the one out of Silvia and clean it fairly regularly. Then I graduated to a Tea and scratched my head for a while trying to figure out how to remove its gasket. (Silvia's was a cinch.) Then I googled alt.coffee and discovered the teaspoon prying technique which I eventually mastered.

However, the S1 gasket is jammed way up in a groove that seems nye on to impossible to get at. I did have one serendipidous occurence a couple of months back. I had backflushed the group with Cafiza. Perhaps I hadn't flushed it all out well enough. The next morning when I removed the PF, the gasket came out stuck tightly onto the top of the PF. I took advantage of the situation to run a sponge up into the groove and it appeared very clean. The fact that I had just backflushed helped, I'm sure.

Unless you (or I again) have similar luck, I think that puppy will require the old destructive screw and pliers removal technique when replacement time rolls around. Did everyone get one spare set of dispersion screens and a gasket with their S1?

Post by **BobG** » Sun Sep 05, 2004 12:57 am

Yes, I did get an extra set of screens and an extra gasket with my S1.

I have not tried to remove the gasket. Probably you could ask Roger over at Chris' Coffee if there are any tricks to doing this without ruining the gasket.

Bob

Post by **wgaggl** » Fri Sep 10, 2004 5:14 pm

Yes, I removed mine for cleaning purposes. It was easy to get out after removing the shower screens, and popped easily back in.

Post by **BobG** » Sat Sep 11, 2004 3:32 pm

Yes, I just removed mine to see if I can fix the leaking of water that started happening the first few seconds of the shot.

As mentioned above, it is fairly easy. Just pull your machine to the edge of the counter, remove the filters, then work the gasket loose with your fingers and then pull it out. Putting it back in is even easier than taking it out. I cleaned both the groove with a q-tip and washed off the gasket . I reinstalled the screens this time to the factory configuration and now I do not have the water coming over the top of the portafilter during the beginning of the shot as was happening before.

Bob

chas · Post by **chas** » Sat Sep 11, 2004 5:22 pm

I'd bet good money it was cleaning the gasket that fixed it since the screens completely captured inside the gasket

Post by **BobG** » Mon Sep 13, 2004 12:20 am

Yes, your good money was not wasted. Pulling the gasket and cleaning it, did indeed fix the leak that was happening. I also put the screens to the alternate config. and that does not leak either.

Bob