Buying used espresso gear is usually a dangerous enterprise. Earlier than you make the soar, right here’s what to contemplate.
BY JON FERGUSON
BARISTA MAGAZINE ONLINE
Have you ever ever imagined what it could be like to mix “Automotive Discuss“ radio and “Expensive Abby“ to create a column that focuses on espresso gear service points? Our new “Tech Discuss On-line” collection may simply be your reply!
On this recurring column, gear skilled Jon Ferguson shall be offering responses to frequent questions on espresso tech and serving to troubleshoot points that baristas, café house owners, and different espresso professionals have about any and all espresso and brewing gear. In at present’s installment, he’ll be discussing what to remember earlier than buying a used espresso machine.
Acquired a query for Jon about café gear? Electronic mail techtalk@baristamagazine.com and let him know!
This Week’s Query: How a lot is a used two-group espresso machine worth—and is it price shopping for one?
Jon’s Response:
It is a nice query with many caveats. A transparent reply that I like to provide to these inquiring on used machines is to deal with it like shopping for a used automotive.
Solutions to the next questions will help decide the worth of a machine, but there’ll all the time be variables coming into play that may drastically change issues. (Nobody notably enjoys having their questions answered with extra questions, however that’s the title of this sport. I do know this can be a painful train, however bear with me.)
Inquiries to Ask:
- What’s the unique MSRP of the make, mannequin, and 12 months of the machine?
- Does the machine have service data? How full are they?
- Is the unit at present operational, and can you “take a look at drive” the machine?
- Are you skilled with the precise machine to have the ability to decide its full operational situation?
- Can you have the unit regarded over by an skilled espresso gear service technician who’s aware of the machine and capable of correctly diagnose the well being and situation of its inside parts?
If all the above solutions come again in a good method, and the machine has been completely inspected by an area service technician, you could be nearer to creating a greater vary for its worth—however this may also result in additional questions:
- How a lot will the machine price to keep up?
- Are all of the elements nonetheless out there for the machine (CPU boards, proprietary elements, and many others.)?
- Does the machine require any modifications to your counter house (electrical configurations, plumbing, counterspace space: width, depth, peak, weight, and many others.)? What could these extra prices entail?
When Issues Go Unsuitable
With out scaring anybody an excessive amount of, it’s necessary to notice that purchasing a used espresso machine with out asking your self the above questions can find yourself being fairly pricey.
In a single excessive case, a person introduced me an espresso machine to restore that he had purchased used. He had been advised it was “working”—however the vendor had saved it in his storage over the winter, inflicting the water inside the warmth exchanger to increase and bust. This triggered the water from the espresso brewing line to enter into the steam boiler consistently, overfilling the boiler and making your complete espresso machine non-operational.
The client had paid practically $3,500 for the machine—and to interchange this warmth exchanger would make the restore practically as costly as shopping for a brand new machine of the identical make and mannequin.
In Conclusion
The wanting it’s, figuring out the worth of a used espresso machine is far more sophisticated than trying up what the worth of a used automotive shall be, because the automotive trade has far more infrastructure, certifications, and laws in place than the used espresso machine market. To my information, there are not any basic Kelley Blue Ebook-type guides for used espresso machines. Even when there have been, I’d personally nonetheless need to kick the tires, within the proverbial sense. If I couldn’t try this, I’d extremely rethink my buying determination.
For comparability, I can’t bear in mind the final time I purchased a automotive with out seeing if I might begin it, or checking to see if the body was rusted out. If in case you have by no means purchased a used automotive, the identical primary rules typically apply to musical devices, bikes, bicycles, and so forth—but the implications may very well be extra urgent when dealing in industrial restaurant gear, the place not solely your individual security could also be in danger, however that of workers and prospects, too.
With that being mentioned, from somebody who has made loads of errors and some good selections in his life: Be affected person, be agency, and ask the vendor if you’ll be able to pay an area espresso gear service technician to completely examine the machine earlier than you commit to buying the unit.
Lastly, it’s all the time good to ask the native espresso gear service firm what machines they could have (new and used) on the market, too. They could have some nice ideas.
Be protected on the market.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Jon Ferguson has practically twenty years of expertise throughout numerous aspects of the espresso trade. He believes that with a deeper understanding of kit used all through your complete espresso provide chain, we will achieve a deeper respect for the labor and know-how required to remodel fruit seeds into the drinks all of us dearly love.
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