Friends, can you believe it? It’s 2025 and we’re still talking about loadshedding. Boring? Yes. But with last week’s surprise outages, a necessity.

Whether you believe that loadshedding is truly over, or you’re a sceptic like me, it’s best to be prepared. Inconsistent power supplies can wreak havoc on coffee machines, resulting in expensive repairs and lost sales.

 

Here are some tips to help protect your La Marzocco at home, at the office, or in your café.

First things first: you’ll need to keep a close eye on your area’s loadshedding schedule. The Eskom Se Push app is free, with notification options of both a 55 minute heads up on loadshedding, as well as a 15 minute notification. I’m sure all of you are more than familiar.

The safest option every time is to unplug your equipment as soon as loadshedding hits, and to only plug it back in after the power is back on. If it’s an economically viable option for you to have a surge protector placed directly onto your DB Board, we would advise you do so.

Your machines switching off with loadshedding is not a problem. However, the surge of power back to the machine can be highly problematic. We call inconsistent power “dirty power”, and this interferes with the machines’ electrical signals. Furthermore, all machines have a component called a PC Board or Main Board inside them. Think of the PC Board as the brain of your coffee machine. A surge of power to the PC Board will result in the board (specifically, a safety fuse on the board) being blown. Without its brain functioning, the rest of your machine can’t operate. The same goes for the Pico and Swan grinders, Modbar, and Wally.

 

Now, let’s chat generators and invertors. They’re wonderful – but they usually kick in automatically after roughly 4 seconds, make and model-dependant. As we’ve read above, the switching off of the power isn’t the issue. The issue is being able to switch off or unplug your electronics in 4 seconds, before the generator or invertor starts.

Naturally, this is impossible. The next best solve we can suggest is that you switch off and unplug your machines and grinders 5 minutes before the power goes out, and only plug everything back in 5 minutes after the alternative power supply starts. The same

goes for when loadshedding is ending. Unplug everything you can, and only plug back in and switch machines on when the power has been stable for 5 minutes.

Café owners, I’ve not forgotten about you. If your machine is wired directly into an isolator, it can’t be unplugged. Using Eco Mode, Standby Mode or switching your machine off by pressing T2 and T3 at the same time will not save your PC Board. It needs to be turned off from 1 to 0 at the switch. If your machine is wired into a welding plug, it can usually be turned off at the welding socket, depending on the socket’s make.

For those of you with Home Machines purchased in South Africa from 2019 onwards, your machines will have surge protection plugs on them. That’s the GS3, the Linea Micra and both of the Linea Minis. If you purchased your machine before 2019 or for some reason do not have a surge protection plug fitted, I suggest grabbing one at your local hardware for R120 – R200. Please note that these plugs do not guarantee your machine’s protection, but they definitely help to mitigate risk.

 

While loadshedding remains a fact of life in 2025, taking proactive steps to protect your coffee equipment can save you from costly repairs and unexpected downtime. By monitoring power schedules, unplugging devices promptly, and using surge protection where possible, you’re not just reacting to outages—you’re preventing damage before it happens. Whether you’re running a café or enjoying your home brew, these simple precautions ensure that your machines stay in peak condition, keeping your coffee flowing even when the power doesn’t.