Anyone with espresso machine repair exp?

[widebody911]

Here at the office, we have a Jura Impressa x90 - it's one of the fully automated machines; you push a button and espresso comes out. It sprang a leak, and the consensus in the group was that since I appeared to be the most mechanically inclined, I should be the one to fix it.

I took off the back of the machine (not an easy feat with the special round screws) and found a serious leak in what appears to be the dongle that send the high-pressure water into the ground-up coffee. It uses these tiny (1/8" ?) plastic lines and a connector setup which appears to be similar to what is used on braided steel lines. Judging by the amount of mineral deposits, it looks like it's been leaking for a while.

Do any of you have any experience working on these, and/or know of resources for parts? Everything I found on a quick google search said to refer repair to a qualified shop.

[craigster59]

You might be able to "MacGyver" a repair with parts from:
www.ryanherco.com or McMaster Carr

[legion]

You're a Porsche guy.

Tell them that all expresso machines leak a little.

[911Rob]

Ha Ha, funny one Legion!

[legion]

Originally Posted by widebody911

It uses these tiny (1/8" ?) plastic lines and a connector setup which appears to be similar to what is used on braided steel lines.

1/4" NPT?

[dad911]

How about a pic?

[tabs]

Throw th efking piece of junk in the Trash or sell on e-bay and buy a Salvatore...no plastic lines only copper...

[widebody911]

In the 2nd pic, you can clearly see the water spraying out.

[legion]

Could you cut the tube short and place it over the fitting?

[Don Plumley]

Originally Posted by legion

You're a Porsche guy.

Tell them that all expresso machines leak a little.

That's classic!

Looks like a candidate for some JB Weld....

[djmcmath]

Hmm. I don't know that system, but espresso machine lines are often relatively high pressure (150psi). I don't usually see cute little plastic lines -- most of the high end machines I've looked at use copper tubing with normal plumbing-type fittings at the end.

For repair parts, my first stop was always Home Depot. Can I fabricate a component out of copper tubing that will fill the need? (I built most of an espresso machine that way once, actually.) Like I mentioned above, the parts are typically high pressure, so getting cute little plastic tubing bits was usually a Bad Idea. (Maybe the parts in your machine are higher pressure cute little plastic bits?) I once had some high pressure lines fabricated by a machine shop, by a guy who built hydraulic lines for a living. Failing that, there's a couple of sites that I found that had repair parts. Try:

Chris Coffee -- lots of interesting espresso machine stuff, though he caters mostly to commercial customers.
Espresso Parts -- Lots of stuff, poorly organized. Even if it's there, you may not find it.
Whole Latte Love -- They probably have one, as they have a full-fledged repair shop in house. It's liable to be more expensive there, though.
And if all else fails, try asking at Coffee Geek (forums). I've had some great technical discussions over there, though it's not nearly as lively as here.

How long is the tube? What kind of connections are they? Can you pull it off and take it to Home Depot to compare against others? Do you think it has any pressure requirements, or is it more likely to be just a low pressure line?

Dan

[JavaBrewer]

From those pictures are you sure we're not secretly debugging a Land Rover CD player?

[greglepore]

Dan got most of it. The fittings on espresso machines are almost always BSP,not NPT, but you can usually make BRASS NPT work with a little force and pipe dope. You can replace that press on fitting with either a standard barb,or better yet a press on John Guest fitting, stocked by Chris's Coffee, linked above.