Saeco Brew Group accessories - UK?

[turbine]

I've had my Saeco Incanto Sirius for a month and am looking to buy a few maintenance accessories for it. But Gaggia UK only seem to sell the water filters and descaling tablets. The Saeco US website lists the brew group maintenance kit amongst other things. Does anyone know where I can get these in the UK?

I have tried emailing Gaggia UK but after several emails and a months wait I've had no reply. What I really need is the tube of grease that you get with the maintenance kit. I followed the cleaning instructions to the letter and dried the brew group before re-inserting. However, I dried it a bit too well and removed most of the grease too. Schoolboy error. I got fed up waiting for Gaggia and emailed Saeco USA. Unfortunatley they don't ship outside the US but their reply within 12 hours puts Gaggia's customer service to shame.

Apart from that, I'm very happy with it. I previously had a Krups (Jura) Orchestro Dialog and the Saeco is superior in every way. The removable brew group makes so much sense, it's no wonder the Orchesto coffee always tasted stale!

 

[Bean Tech]

For any seaco brew group to work well you must replace the big o-ring on the top of the piston, along with the little one on the arm(sometimes orange or red). As far as the lube is concerned, any food safe lubricant will do the trick, I usually buy it from radio shack or holiday house. Make sure to lube both o-rings and the shaft on the lower piston.

 

[turbine]

Thanks Bean Tech.

Saeco USA emailed me the maintenance instuctions and told me which grease they use. Can't thank them enough for their prompt responses.

However, Gaggia UK say that I shouldn't need to touch the brew group with grease for at least a year, possibly two. They said greasing the O-rings was complete nonsense and I should only grease the runners and nothing else. I was told I don't need any special grease, just use vaseline on it.

Not quite sure how Gaggia can just dismiss the official looking maintenance instructions from the maker of the machine, but I know whose advice I'll be following!

 

[turbine]

Ok, it's been a while but my quest continues.

After extensive Google searching and driving to local catering equipment suppliers, I cannot find anyone that sells this elusive 'food grade lubricant'. Have I hit a language barrier - is it called something different in the UK?

Now if I could just order Saeco's very own Brew group maintenance kit then I'd be using exactly what the manufacturer intended. But this kit only appears to be sold in the US, and US companies (including Saeco USA) are paranoid about shipping outside of the US so thats not an option. It's not even on eBay! Gaggia don't think that people need to worry about replacing o-rings or lube so they don't supply these items either.

Saeco use something called Lubri-Film, but again, it's a US product that you can't get here.

What do other non-US Saeco owners do? Should I forget I ever read Saeco's cleaning instuctions and not worry about it?

One last piece of advice if I may - when it comes to using descaling power, should I buy the Gaggia stuff or can I use the Krups descaling power that I've got left over as seen here? Thanks.

http://www.espressoplanet.com/detail.asp?PRODUCT_ID=Cleaning:054-00