In addition to working in the shop, my barista husband and I also volunteer at our church's cafe. It's small and not-for-profit, but we pride ourselves in serving the best coffee possible. We use a local roaster and do our best to train volunteers to serve consistently great shots and milk.

But on to the real question ... our machine leaks. I think it has to do with the seal between the portafilters and groupheads. We have a small, single broiler, double grouphead La Pavoni. I've heard that gaskets need to be changed every 500 pulls or so. We do about 75-100 pulls in a weekend. What do you guys think? Should we buy a bunch of gaskets to have on hand and changed them every two months or so? Or is the leaking not from the gaskets at all? Should we be pricing new portafilters (they are quite banged up)?

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How often to replace group gasket doesn't only depend on number of shots but majorly time and heat hardening the rubber gasket. If left on 24/7 will need to replace much more often than turning on a couple times a week. My Lineas on 24/7 hammered moderately heavy replace about every 4 months, at home on 16hrs day (timer) only pulling 3 to 8 shots a day depending on day of the week (Fiorenzato Bricoletta) 'bout 8 months interval.

Check your basket rims, if not perfectly smooth replace. Not the whole PF (portafileter), just the basket. Dented basket rim will make a good seal very difficult to impossible.

Also, make sure the PF is not being left in the group locked in hard. It should just be making light contract with the gasket when not actually pulling. Locking in hard prematurely compacts the rubber exacerbating the gradual gasket hardening.

Regardless should always have spare group gaskets and screens on hand.
Yeah .... about that locking in hard thing. As much as I hate it when people do this, it's the only way to keep the leaks at bay. Like I said, we're a not-for-profit church cafe. We don't have a lot of money to call in a machine technician or anything. It's basically DIY troubleshooting. However, the leak did start before everyone started locking in the portafilters too hard. Anywho......

miKe mcKoffee aka Mike McGinness said:
How often to replace group gasket doesn't only depend on number of shots but majorly time and heat hardening the rubber gasket. If left on 24/7 will need to replace much more often than turning on a couple times a week. My Lineas on 24/7 hammered moderately heavy replace about every 4 months, at home on 16hrs day (timer) only pulling 3 to 8 shots a day depending on day of the week (Fiorenzato Bricoletta) 'bout 8 months interval.

Check your basket rims, if not perfectly smooth replace. Not the whole PF (portafileter), just the basket. Dented basket rim will make a good seal very difficult to impossible.

Also, make sure the PF is not being left in the group locked in hard. It should just be making light contract with the gasket when not actually pulling. Locking in hard prematurely compacts the rubber exacerbating the gradual gasket hardening.

Regardless should always have spare group gaskets and screens on hand.
For clarification I was referring to not locking the PF in hard when machine at idle. Understand you currently need to lock in hard to keep leaks at bay.

PF gaskets are inexpensive (usually ~$5) and easy to replace. When the old gasket is hardened and brittle it can be a challenge to get it out. A pick set like this can make the job way easier. Be careful not to scratch up the gasket channel. After removing the old gasket clean the channel well insuring all remants of old gasket gone. When inserting the new gasket lube it first with Foodgrade lubricant, then push gasket up and in as far as you can. Finish seating gasket by locking in PF. I do this procedure without even turning off the machine. Obviously the group is HOT, so be careful:-) But you can also replace the gasket on a cooled down machine too of course.

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