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MAINTENANCE
The Coffee Clinic
Glenn James of maintenance company Coffix (www.coffix.com), responds to some
of your frequently asked questions and concerns about the day to day use and
smooth running of coffee machines by offering some practical advice and
guidance.
each night on your machine. Here’s the cream! You must
Most companies now can provide you disassemble the complete dispensing unit
Get the scones r
eady!
with a set of small pipe cleaning brushes each night so the milk you've used during
to get into most of the hard to reach areas the day doesn't curdle and result in an
Q
I own a Jura X9 bean to cup
making this job even easier now. As for engineer removing enough solidified milk
machine. We are lately having
the splattering milk, you more then likely to cover a few creamed teas. My personal
problems with the drink levels but
have a sticking air valve. These are advice would be to look into getting a set
mainly the milk outlet seems to splatter all
located on the right hand side of the of cleaning brushes. Please be careful
the time even though we soak the
dispensing nozzles in water overnight.
dispensing unit. It’s connected to a black though, as I've found lately that if you
Could you please advise us how to sort this
rubber elbow, you need to pull out the air have cleaned out the rear connector pipes
problem out?
valve and soak it in boiling water for 15 or too well (with a sharp needle or pin, say)
so minutes. these fur up inside the tunnels restricting
The way to check this isn't blocked is the flow of the milk causing your
A
Get the scones ready, here comes the
cream! This is by far our biggest call
to dismantle the two halves of the air spluttering problem as well.
out on bean to cup machines, and it's
valve and blow through the hard plastic There are also many milk line cleaners
totally preventable with an engineer or a
section. There is a tiny hole right near the on the market. My opinion is to stick to
knowledgeable sales rep’ (stick to the
top. This hole must be clear. Once you can the manufacturer’s own as these have
engineer, they’re easier to find), providing a
blow through it, re-assemble the valve been tested for the best results. I hope
step by step procedure for you to carry out and refit it to the rubber elbow. these suggestions help you out.
Q
My family own a small chain of coffee shops run by me, my mum and my dad. We each look after
a different outlet. As I am quite technically-minded, I have been wondering if it would
be worth my while going on a coffee machine maintenance course. Do you think
this would be a good investment? Would I learn anything useful, or would I still need to call
out a professional when things go wrong! Also, what sort of things should such a course
offer as a bare minimum?
A
Hip Hip Hooray! Hallelujah! It takes my company a long time to
convince our customers that doing a basic maintenance programme
can save you hundreds if not over a few years a thousand or so
pounds. It's great to see someone thinking about a machine’s reliability.
Coffix carry out these courses for their own customers but also welcome
anyone interested in looking after their machine correctly. A lot of what we teach
on our course is basic problems that occur in your standard café.
These include a complete cleaning procedure for your machine
and your grinder, basic fixes for your standard leaks or
blockages, resetting of your grinder dose and coarseness
setting of your drink levels.
We also show you how to carry out a group service on your
machine which includes changing the group head gaskets and shower plates.
One thing we do treat cautiously is showing you fixes that involve the
pressurised parts of the machine. These are when we usually advise a call to
your engineer to ask for expert help. They can then decide if it needs a call out.
Over all, our customers appreciate these courses as they gain an inside
knowledge of their machine but also at the same time find ways of reducing
unnecessary engineer call outs and prolonging the life of their machine. So yes
mate, GO FOR IT!
If you have a coffee machine-related question that you would like answered, then why not
email clare@jandmgroup.co.uk or write in with details of the name, location of your café
and question to Café Culture, Association House, 18c Moor Street, Chepstow, NP16 5DB
envelopebackand Café Culture magazine will endeavour to source an answer for you!
44 AUGUST 2008 CAFÉ CULTURE
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