The Flair 58

[JonnyRingvald]

This is the easiest espresso maker to maintain. No descaling, backflushing, or anything like that.

All it needs is a wipe down of the stem and brew cylinder o-rings and a very light coating of food-safe silicone (Flair recommends Dow-Corning 111 silicone compound grease) to reduce friction, improve sealing, and keep the rubber supple.

1. Remove the gauge/plunger stem (with this latest version of the 58, it’s just held in by the small pin with o-ring). View attachment 2007172. Loosen set screw that secures the brew head into the frame, then rotate quarter turn and lift brew head out of frame. View attachment 200718
Flair 58 frame with brew head removed:View attachment 200725
3. Pop brew piston out of the brew head cylinder bore, remove o-rings, wipe any residue from brew head cylinder bore and piston, apply light coat of 111 to o-rings, and re-install O-rings.View attachment 200721View attachment 200720
4. Pop piston back into bore, re-install brew head into frame, snug up the set screw, put stem/gauge assy back in, and you’re done!

Takes maybe 15 minutes, and that’s if you take your time doing it!
View attachment 200724

I imagine with modern materials/particular design that won't need to be done too often. Back in the day the manual Cremina lever I had would be fine for maybe up to 1 yr between piston seal cleaning/lubrication with DC111. Even with the parts wear, being ON and heating frequently for a few hrs daily that lubricant was still quite impressive with piston function under pressure.

 

[JonnyRingvald]

Water tastes good. Thanks!

That's the thing... if the taste is good to you out of the tap, in coffee, etc. then that's what counts. I personally don't get into the scientific madness of creating 'perfect' water. Main thing against RO/distilled is it should literally have nothing in it and can sometimes give (placebo) a bland taste and loss of texture. Also, some espresso machines need some minerals in the water to keep probes functioning properly, which is why it's mentioned in a negative sense on forums.

I have a background in water treatment and certified in state pool maintenance as well as having had a very involved home setup yrs ago for high iron content, low pH, etc. in well water. Having said that, I've been totally fine using tap water ran through a Pur filter that gives great overall balance and most important great taste and some texture. Granted some tap water in areas can be a bit on the rough side, but overall in areas I've lived I've found it to be quite fine for the most part. Current municipality supplied water is near flawless in pH, alkalinity, hardness and is only filtered to remove trace amounts of chlorine... I check it periodically with decent test strips as well as check the online issued test results on a yearly basis.