About to replace gaskets for first time in a Europiccola... - Page 2

[pavman]

Life intervened. Now I'm back. The original grouphead insert is chipped around part of the perimeter. Would that really be enough to prevent any water from getting to the group when the lever is raised?

I've got a new insert and will do the surgery, but I'm afraid that may not be the problem. What do you think?

If it turned out that the piston gaskets were installed in the wrong direction, would that do it? Or, would that lead to further leaks?

(I really don't think they were, though).

[mayhew]

Sorry, remind me what the group head insert is?

I suspect the reversed piston gaskets would block the water, since they sit right over the inlet hole when the lever is raised.

They should be positioned such that the top one V's out towards the top, the bottom one so it V's out to the bottom.

[pavman]

I'll check the gaskets, but I think they were installed correctly.

The grouphead insert screws into the back of the grouphead and the siphon tube is in turn screwed into it. (A few posts back I attached a link to the part for the curious).

Again, I will replace it, but the damaged one doesn't seemed damaged enough to fully impede passage of water from the boiler to the group...

[mayhew]

That's the part I thought you were talking about. No, I don't think that's the problem. For the most part it just holds the siphon tube in place and seals the connection. Hard to see it impeding water flow w/o it being obvious.

[pavman]

Very embarrassed to post to this thread again, because I've still not finished successful refeathering. Not that I've been working on it all this time. But I'm back now and really want to get my piccola machina up and running again.

When replacing the gasket that sits under the spring clip, does the plastic sleeve that surrounds the piston assembly come out? (My friend did that part two months ago and now I can't remember).

If so, is it possible the plastic sleeve was reinserted incorrectly? I don't see any cracks, or anything wrong with it, but if it might have been reattached differently, could that stop all water from entering the group? If so, how is the plastic sleeve supposed to be aligned? Can't really tell from refeathering the peacock pics. Thanks.