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IMS basket sticks to IMS screen

If I leave my portafilter loosely locked in the group (barely enough not to fall out) for several hours and if I try to unlock and pull it out, the portafilter pulls down the shower screen with it. I discovered a workaround, which is to hit the end of the wooden handle with my palm to dislodge portafilter from the shower group gasket, but would prefer not to have to do this. The IMS basked & IMS screen were purchased from this website and are approximately 8-9 months old. Shower gasket is original, never changed.

Does this happen to anyone else? Should I try applying some grease to the group gasket?

Comments

  • Hi Igor

    My guess is you are not cleaning and rinsing the group after use, which will leave a coffee solution that sets to a kind of glue once the heat from the group evapourates the water away

    Let me know how you get on - I recommend the Espazzola group tool

    Kind regards

    Reiss
  • Thanks Reiss. I do have Espazzola but I admit not using it every day, more like 3-4 times a week. I suppose I’ll pay more attention to cleaning.
  • I clean the group with an Espazzola after pretty much every shot.
    Yet, some time back I had the very same problem with the screen and seal dropping when removing the portafilter.

    It happened when the machine was up to temperature and there was moisture between seal and basket.

    The group seal was not old but the solution for me was to fit a new seal.
  • Thanks Tony, I haven’t thought of that. Will give it a try and see if it makes any difference.

    BTW I cleaned it last night but this morning found it stuck again. Not a huge issue as I am the only one operating the machine.
  • hi igor

    off the top of my head your machine is virtually brand new igor

    assuming that the group seal is fully driven into the seal groove with only about 1mm hanging out the bottom of the seal groove, i suspect the portafilter may unfairly be getting the blame when the cause is more likely to be a shower screen that is partially clogged with silicone grease

    are you able to post a short video clip here (10 seconds) that shows how the water flows from the shower screen - it should pull into the centre and fall from the centre with no jetting?

    kind regards

    reiss.
  • ps - if you have greased the group gasket it will fall out every time you look at it and you've got a bit of a task getting the grease fully removed from both the seal and the seal groove.
  • assuming that the group seal is fully driven into the seal groove with only about 1mm hanging out the bottom of the seal groove, i suspect the portafilter may unfairly be getting the blame when the cause is more likely to be a shower screen that is partially clogged with silicone grease
    This was a separate issue awhile ago which I solved by literary burning the silicone grease off the shower screen (acetone couldn't do it). Now water flows evenly and the screen doesn't pop out when I flush water by pulling the lever. Maybe the seal had some grease on it as well and that's why it was sticking to the basket??? Hard to tell. Obviously I couldn't use the same method to burn grease off the shower seal. Yesterday I changed the shower screen seal and so far so good. If it starts acting up again, I'll record a video.
    ps - if you have greased the group gasket it will fall out every time you look at it and you've got a bit of a task getting the grease fully removed from both the seal and the seal groove.
    I did not use any grease.

    Thanks all!
  • Sorry to hijack but didn't think my issue warrented a new thread.

    I had a similar issue where the gasket and screen came out with the PF. I put them back in but now when I reattach the PF its feeling like it takes more effort to lock and I feel a slight resistance. Any thoughts? Is the gasket bad at this point and needs replacing?
  • hi jacob

    please dont overthink this issue as it could not be more simple

    you have a shower screen that is held onto the bottom of the group sleeve purely with the friction provided by the group seal acting as a wedge in the seal groove

    for a video that provides instruction on the correct fitment of the shower screen and group seal click this link: https://londiniumespresso.com/forum/permanent-file/743-video-changing-the-piston-and-portafilter-seals

    (you will need to be logged in as an owner to access this link)

    there will not be a need to replace anything

    kind regards

    reiss.
  • Just an update. It' s been 2-3 weeks since I changed the shower screen seal and so far no issues. My conclusion is that the seal had some Loxeal on it which caused the portafilter basket to stick to it.
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