Buying a used semi-automatic espresso machine - what red flags do I look for?

[Christof88]

bfc junior plus pulsante 2008


Hi everyone,
I was looking for some tips when I go to pick up my machine. This might go by a different name here in the states. His story about his own maintenance and the yearly professional job checks out but only the inside of the machine can tell me the whole story of course. Now I'm looking for pictures of well maintained and poor maintained insides so I can train my eye a bit to look for red flags. I've gotten a few tips on dutch fora (I'm from Belgium) but I'm not sure about the translation.
Any help is appreciated.

 

[namballe]

when operating, the manometer reading will give you a pretty good idea of the condition of machine. one is boiler pressure (1 bar), and the other is extraction pressure (9 bar).

 

[Christof88]

when operating, the manometer reading will give you a pretty good idea of the condition of machine. one is boiler pressure (1 bar), and the other is extraction pressure (9 bar).

No one gave me this tip so far. Thanks!

So both of the pressures will be lower than they should be if scale is built up in the boiler and the heat exchanger? Couldn't they just re-adjust this or is this impossible?

 

[namballe]

not just scale build up, the pump could be going bad too.

 

[Christof88]

not just scale build up, the pump could be going bad too.

Thanks for the info, great. I just looked up the price of a replacement pump and it's a little over €100 so I wouldn't want to fork that over immediately. Does it need to be preventively taken out when it's nearing the end of it's life or else it damages other components (or kills the whole machine) when it (the pump) dies completely or what's the deal?

 

[namballe]

Thanks for the info, great. I just looked up the price of a replacement pump and it's a little over €100 so I wouldn't want to fork that over immediately. Does it need to be preventively taken out when it's nearing the end of it's life or else it damages other components (or kills the whole machine) when it (the pump) dies completely or what's the deal?

if it's a rotary style pump, it will have carbon fiber vanes that eventually wear out, and the pump pressure slowly drops. will not damage other components. imo, whatever you get it will probably need to be serviced first thing. a good descaling will be inevitable. i bought a machine that the guy swore worked great, but he didn't have 220 to try it out. i paid $1000 dollars for it. got it home, and plugged in to 220, and wouldn't you know, huge scale build up. always test a machine before handing over cash. this is what i found in my boiler tank
.