Is it really necessary to change head seals and shower screens?
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Replacing the group head seals and shower screens on your espresso machine is a cheap, quick, maintenance task that protects your machine and improves the quality of your espresso. How?
Head seals:
Worn out, flattened or old head seals that have gone rock hard, will prevent your machine from sealing at a consistent pressure which is crucial for a good espresso shot, this will also effect how your portafilter is sealing and you will end up with water pouring out around the sides of the portafilter and not through your puck.
Here's a quick video about head seals
Dirty shower screens taste nasty. You know when you order a coffee and you sip it and it just tastes yuck? that's most likely a dirty shower screen. Old or dirty screens trap coffee oils and fine particles, leading to bitterness and rancid flavours. A damaged or blocked shower screen can also cause channeling and uneven extractions.
Want to see the difference a new/clean shower screen makes? watch this video:
So should you change your head seals and shower screens regularly?
Yes.
These parts should be viewed as consumable parts. If you want to provide tasty, consistent shots then it is necessary to replace shower screens and head seals regularly.
How often should you replace them?
The volume of coffees you make will somewhat determine how fast these wear out but it is a good idea to factor in replacing both the head seals and shower screens at 6 month intervals. I would never recommend going more than 12 months without replacing head seals as these will harden with heat over time and start to perish (and make your technician very grumpy)
One last thing to mention:
Even if they aren't due to be replaced, don't forget to pull your shower screens out regularly and clean them.
At the Heat & Anger coffee cart, we want to make sure that our customers always get great tasting coffee so part of our daily cleaning routine for our machine includes backflushing the group heads and removing the shower screens and cleaning them. We also make sure to teach any baristas that we are training to do the same. A little effort goes a long way when it comes to producing great tasting espresso shots!