I love my Epoca - bought a battered tank version from ebay. It's not the prettiest, or the most subtle, but it's solid and consistent.

I followed mine up with swapping the vibe pump for an external rotary, mostly because the OPV was the non-adjustable one, and was also seized solid and stuck at 12bar. Later I added a delay relay to simulate preinfusion. I get a decent cup and it has good steam.

Enjoy it!

yes as I suspect there are o-ring between the heating element and the flange

Stopped in at "idrinkcoffee" today to pick up a new shower screen and group gasket. He gave me the gasket for the Silvia. Hoping it'll fit.

While talking with the salesman, I mentioned that the steam power was really low, even though I'm at 1.2 bar, and that the steam still runs a bit when the valve is shut off. He suggested descaling. When I told him I had and that the water came out looking like cola, he said the heating element is gone or going.

I hope he's wrong. After descaling, the water is clean and tastes good from both the group and hot water tap. Aside from the leak I mentioned earlier, everything seems fine. Pressure's good heat is good.

Should I pull apart the boiler and have a look?

Any suggestions about the steam pressure? Takes me about 30 sec. To steam 12oz of milk. Difficult to whirlpool. 3 hole tip.

Thanks

Remove the tip - do you get lots of steam?
If not, remove the wand. Lots of steam?
If not, rebuild the valve?

Beyond that, no idea. With that much head space and pressure, you should be getting good steam.

Thanks for this simple, yet very helpful advice. With the tip off, there's plenty of steam, and the valve turns on and off as it should.

I cleaned the tip a lot more thoroughly and it did help some. I'm still surprised at how wet the steam is, though.

I was spoiled last week. I got to spend two days training baristas at my friend's two coffee shops. One is a small bakery with a NS Appia, the other shop has a 2 grp. Aurelia. Both of these machines leave the Epoca way in the dust. Moreso than I'd thought or hoped.

I ordered a 4 hole tip to see if that solves anything.