Ever since childhood, I have always been tinkering with electronics. I’ve taken apart so many toys and small appliances to understand how they operated and only a few of these remained in pieces. Others were combined together to make more interesting toys.
The ability and extent that I could tinker was one the major reasons why I bought the Sirena. This machine was designed by BMW DreamworksUSA with parts from Saeco. The machine had already spent about two years on the coffee market before I even bothered to take a peek on it.
The Sirena had mixed reviews but after watching a few teardown videos of the Sirena on YouTube, I was interested in playing with this machine. I love machines that I can tinker with and fix myself with easy to buy/replace parts. So, I walked into a Starbucks and there was the Sirena on sale for $300 from $599.00. For me, that was a steal of a deal.
I’ve had Sirena for a little over three years now and she still runs wonderfully. I don’t like the original parts used for foaming milk. I couldn’t get consistent microfoam from it. Eventually, every time I turned on the steam wand, the part would fly off! So, I threw it away and worked with the barebones wand, which actually produced microfoam more reliably.
I’ve taken her apart a few times to clean out the nylon tubing. I had noticed an odd flavor in the coffees that I was making. Even after a few citrus acid flushings, the sour flavour persisted.
Taking the machine apart, I found out that the nylon tubes were filled with a black who-knows-what. This black goop was slippery and foul smelling! So, I cleaned the tubes with a scrubber, although it probably would have been easier to replace the tubing.
Good as new, again.
This year, Sirena began leaking quite a bit of water and I traced the leak back to a faulty nylon tubing. The end of this tube had frayed so much that water was leaking out every time I pulled a shot.
It was an easy fix. Only the end of the tubing was broken, so I cut remove the hose clamp. Then, I cut off the end of the hose, slipped on a new hose clamp, and reattached the tube. After refitting the new hose clamp, I tested the machine and it run just like new again. The whole process took a leisure half hour and costed me less than $3.
If the machine ever broke down, I’d be about the replace the insides for about $150 with OEM parts. For a machine of this calibre, $150 is still a fantastic deal.
I love the continuous pump steam wand and the quick heat boiler. It doesn’t have the speed of a commercial machine, but it is much faster and reliable than other residential machines that I have worked with.
I love this machine and will continue to maintain it the best I can. <3