Editorial Policy

Last updated 10 September 2026.

Most coffee-machine repair content on the web is a rewrite of other coffee-machine repair content. That is how a wrong part number spreads to twenty sites and how “descale it” becomes the answer to problems descaling cannot touch. This page sets out the rules we hold ourselves to instead, in enough detail that you can check whether we are keeping them.

Where facts come from

Error codes and warning lights come from the manufacturer, or they do not get published. Light patterns are the most commonly guessed-at thing in this category and the easiest to get dangerously wrong, because the same three flashes mean different things on machines from the same brand. If we cannot find a manufacturer’s own documentation for what a pattern means on a specific range, we say the pattern is undocumented rather than invent a meaning for it.

Where an answer is genuinely counter-intuitive we name the source in the text — for example that on a De’Longhi Dedica the flashing steam light is the descale alert, which sends a lot of people to clean a steam wand that was never the problem.

Part numbers

Verified against the manufacturer’s parts list before publishing. A wrong part number is not a typo in this category; it is a reader ordering the wrong thing, waiting for it, and finding it does not fit.

Where a part is sold under several numbers — superseded numbers, or the same component under an OEM code and a supplier code — we list the equivalents we have confirmed rather than picking one and hoping.

Fitment lists mean confirmed, not comprehensive

The model list on a part page is the set of machines we have checked. A model that is absent has not been checked. It does not mean the part is incompatible.

This distinction is the reason our fitment tables are shorter than the “fits 200+ models” claims you will see on listings, and we would rather be short and right. If your model is not on a list, tell us and we will check it.

Order of causes

A repair guide is published when we have performed the repair and can state the causes in order of how often they turn out to be the actual fault. Causes are never ordered by how expensive the part is.

In practice this means our guides open with the checks that cost nothing — reseating a reservoir, clearing a needle, proving the outlet, completing a descale cycle the machine stopped counting — because those are what the fault usually is. A site paid on parts has an obvious incentive to lead with the pump. We think leading with the paperclip is why anyone would come back.

Descaling, cleaning and backflushing are not the same job

We keep these separate throughout the site because conflating them is the most common way readers waste money. Descaler is an acid that dissolves mineral scale from the water circuit. Cleaning tablets are alkaline and dissolve coffee oils from the group head. Neither does the other’s job, and a machine overdue for both is not fixed by doing one twice.

What we will not do

• We do not guess a part number, an ASIN, or a light pattern. An absent answer is better than a confident wrong one.
• We do not pad a guide to hit a word count. If a fault has three causes, the guide has three.
• We do not recommend a repair we would not attempt. Where a fault involves a sealed boiler, a mains-voltage component, or a machine still under warranty, we say to stop and contact the manufacturer.
• We do not accept payment for coverage or for a verdict. See our affiliate disclosure for how the site is funded and what that does not buy.

Corrections

A reader reporting that a part did not fit takes priority over publishing anything new. That is a rule about scheduling, not a sentiment: fitment errors are the failure that costs readers real money, so they go to the front of the queue.

Corrections are dated on the page they affect. We do not quietly edit a page and leave the original date standing, because the date is how you judge whether the information is current.

Review and updates

Pages carry a verification date. Consumables and maintenance intervals get revisited when a manufacturer changes its guidance; fitment tables get extended as models are confirmed. A page that has not been touched in a while has not been abandoned — it means nothing has changed that we know of, and the date lets you weigh that for yourself.

Tell us we are wrong

If a part did not fit, a light meant something else on your machine, or a step did not work, that is the most useful message we can receive. It is also the only way a fitment table gets more complete. Reach us through the contact page, and include your model number from the rating label — the code on the label, not the name on the front of the machine.