At Your Service
Protect Your Machine with a Plan of Action
by Chris Ryan

It takes about half an hour, costs about $75 and happens about four times a year. No, the action in question is not a pricey trip to Jiffy Lube or a painful dental cleaning, but rather preventive maintenance on an espresso machine to ensure that it functions properly. Technicians perform quarterly tune-ups to change gaskets and screens, check auto-fill circuitry and look for scale buildup, among other things. By paying for the scheduled maintenance, you can keep your espresso machine in good shape, thus reducing the likelihood that it will need expensive repairs down the road.

But preventive maintenance PM, as those in the business call it is just one facet of the job for technicians who service espresso equipment. Though any service person will encourage a coffeehouse to sign up for a PM program, many shop owners don't follow their advice, after which an array of problems can crop up. Whatever a machine's ailment, service people must use various methods to attack the problems and get the equipment up and running again.

Water, public enemy #1

Espresso machines come in loads of different variations: one group vs. two group, automatic vs. semi automatic vs. super automatic, and so on, to fit the varying needs of cafes. But there is one thing they all have in common: Water is their lifeblood. In each machine, water is forced through the coffee to produce shots of espresso.

Perhaps the most damaging form of the liquid is hard water, which has a mineral content usually consisting of high levels of metal ions such as calcium and magnesium. Hard water damage includes buildup of limescale, a chalky deposit that can accumulate inside an espresso machine. And because hardness varies from one water source to another, it has the potential to come out of any faucet at any time a good reason why water is the contributing issue on almost all repairs. A vast majority of our service calls are water-related problems, says Paul Giannotti, owner of Southern California service company A Tech Espresso and Coffee Service. We have calcium clogging the lines, calcium filling up the inside of a boiler and calcium clogging valves.

To treat water damage, technicians run tests on the water that is being used in a machine, then decide the best course of action. For hard water issues, a water softener is implemented, replacing the damaging calcium and magnesium ions with sodium ions, which do not harm the machine. A water softener conditions the water so that you're not introducing minerals that the filter does not catch, says Don Berquist, western area manager of Rancilio North America. Separately from softening, water also should go through filtration, which treats for taste and odor and also keeps debris from going into a machine. Coffee is 97 percent water, says Berquist. If the water tastes nasty, the coffee can't taste great.

Are you being served?

Though water is not responsible for every problem that espresso machines run into, technicians will say that it is behind most of them. But any issue that impedes the function of a coffeehouse's espresso machine can cause downtime a frightening proposition for a business that relies on that machine to make the drinks that sustain it. If it's a coffee shop, then the reason people go there is for the coffee-based drinks, says Giannotti. When you take that out of their menu, it has a dramatic impact on their daily business.

When a shop's machine does go on the fritz and a call is placed to a service company, the first step is for a technician to diagnose the problem over the phone. At Brasilia USA, its espresso machines are adorned with a sticker containing the phone number to dial for service. The goal is always to try to solve the problem over the phone and get the customer back up and running instantly, says Greg Listino, general manager of Brasilia USA. We have a procedure we go through based on what the gauges are reading and what's happening with the equipment, and we' ll walk the customer through it.

Service companies almost always offer free over-the-phone diagnostics, and in this process they will try to gather as much information as possible not only to cut down on the time they will have to spend at a location when the customer is being billed, but also to measure the complexity of the problem. Sometimes you can have a mechanic go out to service a problem that' s not really a problem, says Howard Davis, sales representative for Coffee Express Company in Plymouth, Mich. In fact, every technician seems to have an anecdote about reporting to a site to address an issue that easily could have been fixed by the machine's user.

For that reason, service technicians try to be very clear on the phone when diagnosing problems. In the average shop, many people use the same equipment, and controls can be adjusted without the knowledge of all users. Dom Chieco, general manager of Liemco LTD, an East Coast service company authorized to work on machines by Nuova Simonelli, La Marzocco and many more, makes sure to ask direct, sometimes simple questions to make sure nothing obvious is being overlooked. If you call up and say an espresso machine's got no water, although it seems redundant and idiotic, we're not trying to insult your intelligence by asking you, Is there any possibility that somebody shut the water off? Ultimately, Chieco says, the goal of the diagnostics are not to insult the shop owner but maybe to save that person money. Right there, if you say, Oh no, go turn the water on, you just saved 150 bucks, Chieco says.

Keeping the woes away

The relationship between a coffeehouse owner and a service company can be contentious, with technicians often only being summoned when there are problems to address and money to be spent. But technicians stress that they are there to help the customer. It's important to establish that relationship, says Berquist. Our relationships are all based on problems, and far too often, the customers get the opinion that it's just a bad relationship. But the service technicians, 98 percent of them are in it because they have a passion about machines. They want them to run. And they understand that if they don't get to your business, you may be in a situation where you're not making any money.

One way to encourage a pleasant relationship between shop owner and technician is for the aforementioned preventive maintenance program. Under a PM plan, the service company comes to the coffeehouse quarterly, ensuring that the two parties do not meet only under unpleasant circumstances, and more importantly, helping to make sure that the espresso machine stays in proper, working order. Berquist says that more than 75 percent of the time, service companies are fixing preventable issues that have worsened to the point of corrective; with a PM plan, the problems are halted in the preventive state.

A PM visit usually runs between $75 and $100, covering tasks like changing the undercup gaskets and the screens, checking the water temperature and making sure all of the machine's settings are correct. Giannotti says that a technician also should use that visit to ask the shop owner if any other issues have come up with the machine since the last PM visit occurred.

Chieco of Liemco LTD also encourages a PM program, but in his New York location, he often comes across people who are not receptive to the idea. A lot of people are not interested, he says. They feel like, This is highway robbery, why would we pay this? Listino of Brasilia USA, who also lives in the East, has run across similar feelings from shop owners about PM programs. It's very common to walk into an espresso bar here and get an espresso that wasn't extracted properly, he says. For the most part, people are far more educated and more concerned and care a lot more in the West.

Sure enough, while only the most progressive shop owners on the East Coast are enrolling in PMs, technicians on the West Coast say it's common to find customers willing to sign up for preventive maintenance. Terry Ziniewicz, owner of Olympia, Wash.'s Espresso Parts Northwest, says that constant tune-ups help ensure that a machine stays healthy and able to produce great shots. As this industry matures, we find that owners of the cafés and the coffeehouses are maturing as well, Ziniewicz says. And they know the benefit of taking care of the equipment now.

Who's right for you?

When it comes time to choose a service person for your machine, it isn't as easy as picking a name in the phone book. There are a few rules to follow to ensure you make the right choice:

Don't shop by rate or proximity. When selecting an espresso equipment service company, don't necessarily look for a low hourly rate or how quickly the service person can get there. Often, companies will boast about these qualities, but they will arrive at your shop before diagnosing the problem, meaning they are charging for something they are not fixing and that they will have to come back to actually address, essentially meaning you are charged double. Instead, a service company should do all the troubleshooting it can over the phone, so by the time a technician arrives at the shop, that person knows exactly what they are there to fix.

Your roaster is a great resource for service. Your roaster is a natural confidant for selecting a service person, preventing you from entering the selection process blind. It's always best to go to the coffee roaster and ask who they recommend because they' ve experienced problems or positives, says Berquist of Rancilio. They're the expert. That's probably going to be their best avenue.

Training is key. Most importantly, a service company should keep its staff extremely well trained and versed on all espresso equipment. It's imperative that a service company stay on top of not only the training but also the parts that are needed on the new equipment because that will avoid the downtime for people as well, says Giannotti of A Tech Espresso and Coffee Service. But it's not only knowing the new equipment, but also the idiosyncrasies on the older equipment, too. Berquist notes that there are currently not enough trained technicians to fill the needs of customers. He says this is a weak link in the coffee industry, and he is writing a book to be released this spring that will provide technicians and service company owners comprehensive training in the operation of their business.

Everything in working order

At the end of the day, a coffeehouse wants its espresso machines to be functioning properly and able to produce top-notch coffee drinks. Whether you use preventive maintenance or place a call for service when things go wrong, the job of the service company remains the same: to ensure that your machines run as best they can.

 

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