Hello,
first I would like to apologize, if there already is topic like this -> i tried to search, but I found only very old threads, that i cannot reply to.
Month ago, i decided to bought a moka pot - Tescoma Monte Carlo - first couple brews were bitter, and steam was also escaping from my safety valve. Then i realized, that my coffe was too fine (Lavaza La Rossa pre-ground, 250g can). I tried different cofffe (Lavaza Crema e Gusto pre-ground, 250g can) with which I achieved relatively good results. When i turned heat higher, water came through coffee fast and taste was wattery, when i turned it at lowest, it was a bit bitter. Then i found perfect spot, and learned to stop the flame at right time, so the vapour didn't come through, so there wasn't any bitterness resulting in perfect coffee.. Nice dark, and bit transparent when i look through the light.

Then my father started drinking morning coffee with me, and we found out, that 2 cup moka isn't enough for two. I don't want a bucket of coffee, but those shots were too small, i wanted something just a little bit bigger.
I wanted to buy Bialetti Moka Express 3 cup size, this time aluminium. But my mom was faster than me and yesterday she gifted me GAT Splendida 3. First, I was "omg, this is Chinese one (no offense to China, but you know..). Then I made a little research and found that it is Made In Italy. "Oohh, OK " and i could start making first coffee.

And problems started. I made the first brew "water-only" to clean out aluminium. Water was spurting very widly from the top. I said "ok, it's water only so it passes through filter very easily, that is reason why it squirts".
I let it cool down and went for second, this time "real" brew. I filled filter with coffee stated earlier - Lavazza Crema e Gusto pre-ground and put it on stove. It was going very slowly, actually it wasn't going at all. After about 6-7 minutes not a single drip of coffee in top, but i could hear water boiling in center chimney. It was gurgling, steam was escaping -> definite sign of boiling. "Weird" I said, there shoudln't be water boiling in chimney. I added a little heat, and coffe started squirting again. But it wasn't continuous stream of coffee. It was literally spitting. SPIT-gurgle-gurgle-steam-gurgle-SPIT-gurgle-gurgle... I let it finish this way.. Oh my god, smell of burn't, scorched coffee smell in whole kitchen. The result coffee was very "dirty" -> very unhealthy brown color, no transparent, very creamy. Ok, i tossed it away, because i though the coloration was due to neweness and aluminium.. I made another one, this time i used higher flame, spitting and gurgling was wilder, but coffee again brown, and smell in kitchen. Also there were coffee grinds in bottom reservoair after.
This morning situatioun repeated. I used very low flame, and after 9 minutes nothing was happening. Gurgling and steam escaping from chimney, no coffee. As i added more flame, spitting again. Unhealthy brown coloured coffee and scorched smell.

Could you point me what am I doing wrong ?
-> i don't tamp, i make a "hill" from coffee in filter and round it with my finger
-> i use fresh tap water
-> sealing is not damaged. It's old one type - white rubber
-> there is no air / steam escaping from safety valve during proccess of preparation
-> coffee is spitting from middle chimney, there isn't nice continuous stream of coffe

I really don't know where could be the problem. When i set flame on low, it gurgles and boils in the chimney. When i add more, it is spitting disgusting, burnt, brown coffee.
Also my splendida has "mushroom head" screwed in top of chimney, but it's not like Bialeti brikka. It's just instead of "spoon" that people use to avoid squirting.

I am desperate, i really can't find out where the problem is.

Hello, I've recorded video of actual brew process.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ftY1qn9ckh0

Any ideas, what could be wrong ? I use Lavazza Crema e Gusto pre-ground. This coffee works perfect for my other moka pot.

It looks like the pot is in the strombolian phase right from the start. Why is hard to say without seeing the inside of the pot and how you prepared it. Is it possible you didn't add enough water?

Different machines work a little differently because of changes in sizes of parts, screen holes and so on. My initial take on this is the coffee is ground to fine for that moka pot. If it gives you problems you can't fix with coarser grind and budget is an issue why not return it and get a used larger Bialetti on eBay? Can you access eBay from Slovakia?

Today I tried super-coarse grind using some fancy decorative grinder, which was a "gift" with some random coffee, my mom bought couple years ago.
Boiling, spurting and headache from that smell again.

This moka or gasket is definitely faulty.
I will try to get new one, as this white gasket seems stiff.

Two year old coffee is so stale it cannot be properly brewed. It is so dry and decomposed it does not resist water under pressure, so the water will gush through it. And super coarse grind isn't the answer either. To give your moka pot a fair test, use only fresh beans (within a week and a half of roasting) and grind a bit coarser than you have done so far.

If the only coffee beans available to you are in bags sealed with nitrogen, try grinding them well before the "sell by" date and immediately after opening them (and then store them airtight in the freezer).

If you watch his video you can see it isn't gushing. It's sputtering a mixture of liquid and vapor almost like a percolator.

If the seal were faulty you'd see steam and/or liquid water escaping from the side of the moka pot. But you don't. The pot can leak in other ways though. For example, there could be a crack or a bad joint internally. One possibility worth checking is where the lower tube and basket join:



These two pieces are usually press fit together to form the air tight connection necessary. A leak here would prevent the lower chamber from achieving pressure and might produce the symptoms you're seeing. You could check it by holding the top of the basket firmly against your palm to form a seal and then blowing into the lower tube.

Your pot has a weird plastic thing on the top of it. Try loosening that or removing it, it may be blocking the flow. But be warned, it's there to prevent the liquid from shooting you in your face and burning you! It might be doing too good of a job though. Bialetti pots just have the holes coming out the sides of that tube so they don't need a cap.