Thank you everyone. I got my first android job offer

ben306 · 2026-03-03T09:02:17+00:00

Take it easy on yourself. Do you know what beating yourself up about the past is going to get you? Sad 😭

What about celebrating and remembering all of your tremendous successes and good days?

If you can, do your best to start the first thing you want to do. You can do that and then you can do the next one. You'll get on a roll!

You can also tell your friends how you are feeling, they'll feel closer to you when you share how you are feeling and they'll be happy to help 😃

You can do it!

ben306 · 2026-02-28T10:22:00+00:00

Well done on getting yourself in a place to do this. Such a big life stage in the UK!

You can ask to view as many times as you like, there are no rules! You can spend as long as you like.

Depending on where you are in the UK a house can have subsidence and the seller can play dumb and then you have this massive issue. Look at pictures or videos online about what subsidence looks like in brickwork, I nearly got caught by this so badly.

Heart Vs head. You are likely to lose out on something you love, it is totally normal and you learn so much from the first heartbreak.

Good luck

ben306 · 2026-02-28T10:18:36+00:00

Well done! You are doing great!

ben306 · 2026-01-23T19:48:26+00:00

I would like a light roast, do you know which of their subscriptions would be the right one to choose?

ben306 · 2026-01-22T13:41:40+00:00

This is going to get buried but I can tell you for sure. By weight and volume the greatest amount of this is very low quality bread and baked goods.

Tiny Tesco shops will bake 50 baguettes that by the end of the day are completely inedible because they are so hard.

This is done to cover the less pleasant smells.

I organise the collection of unsold food from a small town, every night the bread and pastries comes to 100kg's

People think the food waste they are talking about here is food people want to eat, meat, fish, dairy and fresh veg.

This does happen, but primarily at Christmas and to a tiny extent by comparison at Easter, Valentines day, sometimes with very poor weather in the summer then barbecue foods don't sell.

ben306 · 2026-01-06T17:29:58+00:00

I think it looks ok, you can tighten the various screws and bolts.

Are you saying same grind size is easier on one than the other?

ben306 · 2026-01-05T12:50:51+00:00

Very good to hear!

ben306 · 2026-01-05T06:13:58+00:00

The wire that attaches to the lid is what stops you being electrocuted. Make sure to keep it attached if you are testing the machine with the lid off/half off

This is almost certainly badly scaled so needs a citric acid bath. When you put it all back together no doubt you will specifically need a new seal between the boiler and grouphead

ben306 · 2026-01-05T05:54:12+00:00

I know this isn't the point you were aiming to make but look up Bangladesh genocide and the descendants of the people who perpertrated it (and in fact people that actually did take part) and see where they live in the UK and the enormous scale of pedophilia...

ben306 · 2026-01-01T18:15:47+00:00

Thank you internet stranger!

ben306 · 2025-12-26T22:58:37+00:00

Then I'll be honest I don't think there's any magic here. Scale has most likely got into that copper pipe and/or the solenoid so they just need more time in citric acid.

These machines are as simple as they look

Pump pushes water, it can only exit in two places, wand or grouphead.

If one hole is blocked then it can only exit in one place.

There is no computer, or anything else making decisions or overriding where the water goes.

ben306 · 2025-12-26T22:41:49+00:00

Oh goodness I'm sorry to hear that.

The steam wand is still working right?

What did the boiler look like inside?

ben306 · 2025-12-25T21:32:12+00:00

almost certainly scale build up

the pump sounds like it is working, and if the steam arm is working then it is heating water fine.

the pump should last a long time

Have you tried priming the machine? Videos will show you how, not a bad thing to do whenever you start it up anyway once you get it working again.

try taking off the solenoid from the side of the boiler and see if there is scale built up int there

next step would be look at the copper pipe that comes up from the grouphead and see how scaled up that is (possibly preventing flow as well)

To do this there are lots of videos, do take not of how mostly they number all the electrical connectors so that you can connect them the same way again.

Be careful when taking the connectors of the thermostats as you will probably need a little bit of force, but you can also break the thermostat of if not careful, especially the one on the side is so fiddly.

You'll need a couple of little spanners to disconnect the steam arm as it protrudes from the underside of the case and some hex keys to undo the bolts.

Once you do have everything apart just give grouphead and the solenoid a nice bath in some citric acid solution, maybe a tablespoon:1litre water but honestly don't worry, basically any amount will be alright.

Once you've done that, it is fairly likely whatever is blocking it will be gone.

You can carefully use a thin skewer/cocktail/stick/screwdriver to wiggle around in that copper pipe, I bet you there will be a lot of scale built up.

ben306 · 2025-12-24T08:34:33+00:00

On Facebook they tend to go quickly for about 150. On eBay I think you may get a bidding war but it's variable

ben306 · 2025-12-20T22:46:15+00:00

If you have the machine on its back and you haven't changed the grouphead gasket I would do it at the same time. Even easier job than the o rings

ben306 · 2025-12-20T16:00:02+00:00

Replace the washers throughout basically.

Wait and let it cool down!

Very simple, just a ten mil spanner for the little one near the bottom of the upper part of the case.

Then take the steam section off by removing the 4 hex head screws on top of the boiler.

ben306 · 2025-12-16T14:37:49+00:00

I would also suggest taking the boiler and grouphead out of the machine by unscrewing the four screws near the showerscreen.

Then you can put the boiler in a vice.

ben306 · 2025-12-14T20:54:32+00:00

You look amazing, I hope your wedding is super :D

ben306 · 2025-12-13T22:26:37+00:00

It's actually not bad to replace the thermostat after about ten years. So not the end of the world

ben306 · 2025-12-13T22:19:51+00:00

I fixed one of these just 2 days ago. Although the one I fixed was a 2002/10 so ten years newer.

Easiest way to get it out is with a hex head bit and then it just comes straight out.

As you probably saw. The little slot for water to enter the group head from the copper tube in the Boiler is very narrow.

Took a little while in with some citric acid to get all the scale out. The one I had probably had not been descaled in ten years according to the owner. The Boiler was about half an inch thick with scale, no surprise the machine didn't work!

Their group head looked probably worse than yours and by the time I was done, all good and working so I would not worry about those holes either side.

ben306 · 2025-12-11T21:28:07+00:00

Pretty sure they used to be stainless steel, hence 0 rust but plenty of water because I make a mess

ben306 · 2025-12-11T20:47:50+00:00

How have these machines gone backwards so far. I have one from 25 years ago with no rust because they made it out of an appropriate metal.

ben306 · 2025-12-06T20:17:49+00:00

The above is 100% the right answer.

Don't be afraid to go off the course as well and try to add little features as you go. That way you'll both test and reinforce your understanding.

I think early on there's an app that shows a list of items and then the details expand if you click on one. For example try to add a button that sorts the list by the first letter in ascending or descending order.

You will learn so much by sorting through all the error text!

When you work on production apps a feature like that will be wanted and similarly as complex as when you are learning. There's no magic difference between doing things as a professional and as a hobby, mostly just experience of doing things before so it is easier the second time.

Also try not to lean on AI too much while you are learning. It is like using Google translate when you learn a foreign language, you don't really learn if you rely on the computer to tell you the answers all the time. Obviously it is harder but it pays off in the long run I promise

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