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Ok, so basically 6 years ago I bought a Breville Venezia espresso coffee maker.

I am really happy with the machine, as it still works after 6 years of relatively frequent use. But recently out of the blue, my filter holder had an issue where the flow divider just burst free.

The next picture shows the parts I'm referring to:

Parts of filter holder

I tried fixing it back, it stuck for a couple of minutes and then burst out again. I tried fixing it hard, but as soon as I pushed the filter eject button, the whole structure burst out again. I tried looking for new ones, but as it often happens with coffee machines, the spare parts end up costing almost the same as the coffee machine.

I found some options on ebay, but the average price went around 60-70 USD for the filter holder, and for a machine that cost me about 250 USD, I am not sure if it's worth it.

Is it feasible to stick the flow divider with silicone or some kind of glue? I mean the filter has some clipping mechanisms, but I think they no longer hold, so would a permanent glue / fixing work for this? Is there some health risk related to the glue / silicone and the coffee? I mean the flow divider has small tubes that exit the whole metal structure and where the ejector button is, there's a small rubber isolation.

If I had the budget I would probably look for something more Pro level, but it's not an option at the moment and as I mentioned earlier, it works fine, except for this tiny issue.

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  • What size is your portafilter and what do you mean with burst out, if it's inside the brew head how it can't go anywhere?
    – technical_difficulty
    Sep 27, 2020 at 16:20
  • The black circular part and the rectangular dark gray part go to the bottom of the filter holder and are normally fixed, but I think from ageing it just lost the strength to stay fixed and the spring in the bottom button just pushed it out and keeps pushing it out if I try to fix it. I tried using the portafilter without the square part but there's a hole right in the middle and since the button is not jamming it the coffee goes straight through like a jet because of the pressure.
    – Mihail Minkov
    Sep 27, 2020 at 16:25
  • The portafilter is 54mm in inside diameter. I already checked options and because of the cost I think I might end up buying a naked (bottomless) filter as mentioned in comments to the answer below.
    – Mihail Minkov
    Sep 27, 2020 at 16:26
  • I don't think there's a need to buy a new portafilter unless you want to, you can still brew coffee without the black parts, the portafilter itself isn't broken. Although that might make cleaning a little more difficult. If you're feeling particularly adventurous you might try sawing off the bottom part of the portafilter, that way you have a DIY naked portafilter! Check out youtube.com/watch?v=wk3Olv-mrP4 and youtube.com/watch?v=kF-2wqG8DLQ
    – technical_difficulty
    Sep 27, 2020 at 16:33
  • The problem with that is that my filters are pressure filters, they have only one tiny hole and the coffee goes out of there pressurized. That's why this isn't an option with my current filter holder. Basically I need to fix it back and just fill the middle hole with something.
    – Mihail Minkov
    Sep 27, 2020 at 17:48

2 Answers 2

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I had been using an espresso maker for several years, but the group head on that is a lot less complicated.

If I understand the picture, the small part with spring sits on top of the grey clamp at the bottom of the group head, and the diverter sits on top of the spring, then the actual filter basket (pressurized?) is on top of this diverter? Sounds like this diverter can't get fasten to the group head anymore, so the spring pushes it out to burst as you said.

I don't quite understand the point of the spring. The group head on my old machine looks like this: https://images.saymedia-content.com/.image/t_share/MTc0NjIwODYwMDg5NTc1NDE0/review-of-the-oster-prima-latte-espresso-cappuccino-and-latte-maker.jpg

Maybe you can skip the spring part, and put this filter holder in just to make sure the two exit holes align well, then use the machine as usual? You may need to take things apart to clean after each use.. but sounds like that shouldn't be too hard?

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  • Yep, you got the idea, the flow divider won't stay put, the spring just kicks it out. I tried using only the flow divider but there's a hole exactly in the middle and that's where the filter's hole is, so the coffee just went out like a laser cutter :D ... so my Idea is maybe to fix the flow divider with some sort of silicon that won't be toxic or instead just fill the middle hole and leave just the flow divider. But I am not sure if this works.
    – Mihail Minkov
    Sep 10, 2020 at 18:28
  • My final option would be to buy one of these amazon.com/Bottomless-Portafilter-Breville-Stainless-Espresso/… I am just not 100% sure about the size, but from what I measured it should fit fine.
    – Mihail Minkov
    Sep 10, 2020 at 18:28
  • Be aware that there's a big difference between using a pressurized basket v.s. a non-pressurized basket (as seen in the link). Switching to non-pressurized will require your grind to be a lot more precise, which translates to better grinder/better coffee beans/$$. I never realized the pressurized filter will 'shoot out' from the single hole, that's why there's usually a circled area to catch it before diverting to the two exits. I guess if you really want to hack it, maybe replace the spring with something equal height to prop up the stopper?
    – Icyvapor
    Sep 10, 2020 at 21:05
  • So unless I invest in a good coffee grinder I should just try fixing this one? Any idea for glues / silicones and such?
    – Mihail Minkov
    Sep 11, 2020 at 0:13
  • Also, are you sure, it's supposed to be compatible with bigger models. Also there's this other option which is almost the same and it looks as if it works fine images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/…
    – Mihail Minkov
    Sep 11, 2020 at 0:47
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I ended up buying a generic portafilter which had the same measurements and shape and it worked fine. It cost me about 30 USD with shipping which was acceptable.

I also saw some posts related to the isolation silicone ring inside the shower, so I also changed that (unscrewing it was difficult) and the machine is like new.

As for the specifics:

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