allon wrote:The bottomless portafilter from Orphan Espresso is pretty nice.

+1 I have one already. Cannot use it just yet!

You can order replacement handles for the old style P/F that you have. I ordered a pair from OE. Still waiting 'cause they had to order them from Italia.

Now that it is all together, could you post a picture of the group so that we can see the tubes coming from the internal boiler? Just curious to see it.

Here are some pictures of the internal boiler. The right side tube (looking from front of machine) runs to the group. The left side tube runs up from the lower hydraulics into the internal boiler/HX. In the lower hydraulics there are 1.) intake from water line, and 2.) a boiler "relief?" valve that runs to the drip tray? I am not able to confidently explain all of this.

The Astoria has been neglected because of holidays. I have not ordered the looms yet (I was holding out to find them locally) so the re-wiring is delayed by my procrastination.

Happy Boxing Day.

Oh, I see, the group is kept hot by being bolted to the boiler, but gets its water from the HX separately; I guess that long tube from the HX to the group will cool down at idle; when you do the HX flush, it'll heat some, but I suspect you still end up with cooler start of shot.

The "relief" valve is an OPV - prevents the HX from being over pressurized by the pump, which leads me to.....

where is the pump?

...the pump is not connected yet, but it will be external and mounted in a cabinet below the counter top. The water line will run from the Procon up to the male threads on the left side of the "bus" in the last picture above. I don't think there is room for an onboard motor and pump in this frame.

Cheers.

Oh! I see (as well). No thermosyphon at all! Just HX, Unless there is a thermosyphon mounted on the group inside the boiler where my dipper tube is.
I think that the reasonable size motor and rotary pump could be mounted behind and below the boiler. A vibe pump would fit just about anywhere. But I am not suggesting it. I assume that the motor and pump that came with the machine are much bigger and probably more silent than the motor and pump that you could use.

I think that the HX cooling flush will probably replace the feed tube content completely and warm up the tube very fast. Should there be a problem there, a little Ceramic Fiber Exhaust Header Heat Wrap would solve the thermal issue really fast without defacing the whole assembly. Just a thought.

JBT wrote:The Astoria has been neglected because of holidays.

I am still waiting for the parts that I need to continue the project...

I'll be interested to find out if the auto-fill solenoid on your machine is loud when activated/deactivated. I have a similar machine (Laurentis restore in here), and my auto-fill makes a loud CLACK. My 2 group Pasquini makes timid click by comparison.

Clack. Gurgle gurgle humm Clunk!

This Astoria has quiet solenoids. However, my Pavoni autofill solenoid makes a very loud clack when I turn the machine on. I can hear it across my house and it sometimes wakes me up. Similar to the above video, but louder...like someone hit the boiler with a ball peen hammer. However it does NOT make a loud clack when it autofills.

I know it is the autofill solenoid because I isolated the noise when I was replacing the previous owner's 220V solenoid with the correct 110V one. The 220V was always silent, if you get my meaning.

I do not know if it is harmful. I mark it up to the charm of an older espresso machine.

I put the Astoria on my coffee bar and plumbed it in. It heated up and I was able to make my wife's steamed soy chais. This was important. Next I did some wiring and got the auto fill working.

Then I had to go thru the brew switch and wiring harnesses with my multimeter. My dis-assembly diagram had an error in it, but in the end it made me learn how all the circuits work.

I will try to pull some shots in the morning. Fingers crossed for my homemade group-to-boiler mounting gasket.

Here are a few of the items on the to do list:

- The vacuum breaker is leaking, as it was when I got the machine, and I have been unable to fix it. It is not seating correctly, and wags back and forth, letting steam out.

- Disconnect one side of the heating element. (Are they both the same wattage?) My 1950's ranch does not like this machine. The Astoria is on a 20 amp line from the sub panel inside my house, but it dims lights on other circuits in that sub panel when the pressurestat kicks on. Long term I need to move this circuit to the larger panel outside my house. I would love to have a switch that turned off the second side after the initial warm up in the morning

- Straighten out the power line. Goofy.

- The water pressure side of the gauge is not working. I do not know why, nor do I know if it worked before. I will take the line off, clean it out, re-assemble and hope for the best.

- Find a portafilter that doesn't look like it's been run over by a truck and gnawed by a pack of wolves. Maybe my first OE item.

Happy New Year.

Good progress!

I'd just replace the vacuum breaker - only around $10.
On my machine, the two elements were different wayfarer - measure them with an ohmmeter - the higher resistance is the lower wattage (do math to compute wattage if you want - can't remember what mine were ATM)