how old is machine and quality of water
Your friend could have hard water cloggin a solenoid or leaving it stuck kinda open (or a grouphead) and only small amounts/no water gets through because it steams/drips away.
Also, if the grind is too fine and it is tamped too hard, (0r you use a really oily bean) group head clogs and water finds other places to escape or steam away. Usually through a relief valve that goes to drip pan.
Full cleaning fixes many of these problems.
Taking apart any machine and cleaning should be pretty easy. I''d start there and see if it doesn''t completely fix problem.
just locate the clog.
CLR is good to soak the copper in if you have to delime/descale it.
I also soak parts in ketchup or vinegar to remove scale if you don''t want to use a chemical. Lemon juice doesn''t work as well. I almost always use vinegar and salt as my abrasive.
I do this for a living and low output is mostly from clogs around the grouphead.
I''ve seen water scale lock open a solenoid valve on a really expensive machine. They were down 3 days or so until manufacturer could fedex me the part. If they had good water, they wouldn''t have lost so much revenue and would not have had to pay me.
My advice for everyone especially home users:
Only use reverse osmosis water in any espresso machine. No exceptions.
No, I don''t sell ro systems.
