Too Much Coffee

I'm looking for some suggestions for a machine to replace my 6 year old L'anna single group s/auto handfill. This machine is used in a domestic situation and has given me good service, it's getting tired now so I need to find a replacement.

I'm looking for another single group automatic HANDFILL machine with a decent sized tray for waste water. Not interested in 'bean to cup' or other 'whistles & bells', I prefer a well engineered machine that can be readily maintained in UK at reasonable cost. The L'anna has a 3 litre boiler big enough to cope with espressing and steaming simultaneously.

My machine is left on from 7am til 10pm daily, I guess it's not very eco friendly and costly to run like this. The warm up time is around 20 mins hence why I leave it on, but I only make around 8 cups cappuccino each day.

All advice/comments welcome. Thanks for reading this

John

Firstly, it seems rather a shame not to have someone rebuild L'Anna as it is a fine machine and there is nothing in or on it that should wear out irreparably or irreplacably. That, however, is a personal decision.

Putting that aside, I always recommend commercial machines. Virtually any commercial, one-group HX machine will serve very well in the home environment. Many have boilers about the same size as L'Anna, but much heavier, brass group heads and brass/copper fittings and pipes.
I have had a single-group CMA machine in daily use for 10 years and the only repairs I have had to make to it are group-head seals and a pump. Parts are available everywhere and the pump and seals set me back a total of about €60. Not bad for 10 years of service and it's still going strong.

Thanks for your comments Bruceb. I'm not aware of any other commercial quality 'hand fill' single group machines available in UK and was hoping someone might make some suggestions.

Main problem in my part of UK is getting it serviced. I've had an intermittent pump problem for past year, it was only serviced recently and unable to replicate/resolve the issue. I would agree that commercial machines are the best bet, just wondered if I would be better served by something more efficient. My L'Anna is in great condition (assuming pump problem resolved) so should be relatively easy to sell/part exchange

If you do take up the suggestion of rebuilding/refurbishing, you should contact JankSolid in this forum. If you look in the posts "Considering a different coffee machine" in Espresso here, you'll see the the refurbished La Scala Butterfly I bought from him. But what I want to say is that he really cares about rebuilding coffee machines, so perhaps he could do yours.

He is based in London, so I don't know if that's a problem or not.

OK thanks, I'll give it some thought but hope to do repairs myself until it gets unfixable

I would refurb too. Anna is for life

I agree with cakeboy - cant see any reason I'd want to upgrade

And at the same time, reading these various posts on what is considered to be a good "home" machine I feel smugly satisfied in my decision so many years ago to stick with used commercial machines.

bruceb wrote:And at the same time, reading these various posts on what is considered to be a good "home" machine I feel smugly satisfied in my decision so many years ago to stick with used commercial machines.

There is nothing quite like feeling smugly satisfied whilst drinking good coffee.

GreenBean wrote:There is nothing quite like feeling smugly satisfied whilst drinking good coffee.

Well, one thing leads to another.

BTW, I'm finishing up my "New Year's Blend" and it is still a joy to drink. The Sumatra has really opened up and especially in an espresso shot has a very pleasant cinnamon and alspice note. I'm going to roast another batch, but changing the Colombia CoE to a new Brazilian I just received (5 kg). I'll try the Brazilian as an SO, too. Now, down to the roaster!

Well Anna is a commercial machine - sort of. Mine was in a pub before it came to me and they are a good deal more 'industrial' than top end domestic units

It's nice to see so many positive comments on the L'Anna. Like the "L'Anna is for life" comment ... well I do hope so.

The current provlem is with intermittent 'stalling' of the pump. By 'stalling' I mean I can hear the rotary pump motor energise, but rather than make it's usual sound and dispense pumped hot water via the group head, it hums loudly and water trickles slowly from the group head. This may happen 2 or 3 times until the pump starts to operate normally again. It can operate normally for days, or it can be a pain and do this regularly. Each time it happens it's a shot for the knock-out drawer! It can't be restarted as the Hx cicuit seems to draw air in and needs purging before another attempt. Can you imagine how infuriating it is when it happens twice consecutively ... in the morning ... gasping for that first shot!!!

My gut feel is that the pump is running backwards when this happens .. and somehow drawing air back into the Hx circuit.

Any other suggestions as to tests or fixes would be greatly appreciated.

Give Scott a yell at Happy Donkey. It does sound like a pump issue.

I do have a similar issue with my pump but I think its nothing like as bad. Usually just quickly switching it off then back on - or waiting - seems to solve the problem but its like the pump doesnt quite seem to catch - as it were. Havn't lost any shots because of it - probably because it either gets sorted when I do the cooling flush or it behaves better when it has to work when the puck is in place.

For me its a minor issue at the moment.

From what I understand from here the Anna uses a lot of 'standard' parts - its also easy to get to pretty much everything inside the box. This makes her relatively easy to maintain and fix.

She is also capable of some serious work. When we were making the decision to buy her I remember reading a review from a barista in Australia who said they used one as a back up machine and also to take outside to events - where it would be working pretty much non stop. I wouldnt know any different personally (I only drink espresso) but the same reviewer also claimed that Anna produced the best steam of any machine she knew.

If I hadnt got Anna what I might be tempted by is something like the Fracino Cherub - in that its an E61HX at a affordable price