I have a Rancilio Silvia that used to be leak free and, given the right grind, would pull a good double shot of espresso in 25 seconds or so. It's now leaking around the edges, and I made sure the grind was the same, and the filter was clean. Also cleaned the gasket that forms the seal with the filter, which doesn't seem to be hard nor cracked at all. And I recently decalcified the machine. I remember this problem happened before when I was tightening the portafilter too much, but I haven't been doing that and now it's leaking water more and more. There's no significant water collecting above the coffee grinds, so I don't think it's ground too fine. What should I check next, or what sort of repair would I need?
HI
You need to change the group head gasket. They only last about 1 year and then should be changed. Get 2 because they usually fail on Friday and you have a party on Saturday.
The gaskets get hard from the heat and don't form to the filter any more so they leak.
When you get the new gasket.
Empty everything out of the machine (water tank, drip tray, etc.) Turn the machine upside down on a towel. This way you can see what your are doing.
Remove the filter screen and diffuser from the brew head. The black O-ring is your gasket. Carefully pry it out. Clean the opening good before you install the new gasket. Insert the gasket with the beveled side down (on the inside edge of the O-ring is the bevel). Once you have the gasket in place, use the portafilter to finish seating the gasket.
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