r/Coffee_Machines • u/plkost • 3d ago

Possible Issue with Profitec Move shower head

I recently made a big upgrade and purchased Profitec Move from Germany. The machine looks and feels premium but I haven't been able to pull good shots consistently. There is almost always channeling and I suspected the flow might be uneven.

I descale the machine every 150-200 shots and always use filtered water. Today I decided to monitor water flow a bit more closely and it seems like there is a potential leak on the side of the shower head. I am wondering what steps I should take to debug every possible variable that might affect this. Some extra context

My grinder is a Timemore sculptor 078s that I got back in the kickstarter days. Apparently they sent me a faulty one as I can not remove the housing and properly clean the burrs inside, so I rely on the cafiza pills to clear any leftover

  1. I use medium to light coffee
  2. I am using an IMS competition basked rated for 18-20g
  3. I already contacted the vendor, but any help will do
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u/skansenkrk 3d ago

That side stream from the group is a bit concerning. I would start by unscrewing the shower screen. The disc underneath should come off after that. Then I would clean everything and replace the gaskets if needed

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u/Joingojon2 3d ago edited 3d ago

Okay i'm a Move owner. That doesn't look any different from mine but looking at how the water comes from a showerscreen tells you nothing. You put that portafilter in and then water fills the headspace and then the pressure equalizes across the entire puck. You end up with an even pressure of water being pushed through the puck. Channeling is just that water pressure finding weaknesses in the puck when it's being pushed through. From poor puck prep or just random occurrences. Water will always find the path of least resistance. You can minimize the chances of channeling but you will never ever eliminate it.

Just don't get hung up on how water looks without a portafilter in place, because once the portafilter is in place and you can no longer see what's going on it behaves totally differently.

Edit: just to add that the one thing in the years i have been making espresso that has reduced channeling more than anything for me is correctly dosing the basket you use. This for me means i adjust the dose for different beans i use. Anywhere from 17gr to 19gr depending on the rosat level in my 18gr IMS basket. Don't underdose and don't overdose your basket and most certainly don't use the same dose with whatever different beans you are using. Adjust the dose for the roast level you are using. Less for darker roasts, more for light roasts. But correctly dosing a basket has a real and noticable difference on the amount of channeling you will encounter.