Got into a fight with a used espresso machine and the grinder won

I was at a pop-up café in Austin last Saturday and my Baratza Vario just stopped mid-grind, jammed with some dark roast beans. Do you think it's better to clean and fix a machine when it breaks, or just buy a new one and avoid the headache?

3 comments

3 Comments

miles_hall7d ago

Not gonna lie, I tried fixing my own grinder once and ended up with a handful of tiny springs and a lot of regret. So I'm probably the guy who should just buy a new one.

parker_palmer448d ago

Read somewhere that the Baratza Vario is actually pretty easy to fix yourself. There's a known issue with the gear box stripping out on those, and you can get a replacement part for like 30 bucks online. Way cheaper than buying a whole new grinder. Plus, if you clean it out good and replace the burrs while you're in there, it'll probably run better than new. Totally worth the hour of tinkering in my book.

spencer_park268d ago

Is it just me or is that kind of how everything is these days? You used to have to throw away a whole toaster over a bad wire, now you can look up a fix and be back in business for pocket change. My buddy fixed his espresso machine with a YouTube video and a part from Amazon, saved like 400 bucks. It makes you wonder how many appliances we threw away that just needed a little patience and a screwdriver. So yeah, totally worth an hour of your time to keep something good going instead of feeding the landfill.