sorry I haven't replied. I've been trying to fix this machine and have run out of luck. I've contacted another seller that actually repairs (and sells the AD) and he will be taking it in next week. And he is someone I trust completely.

I agree with the sentiment about opening up the machine and being able to repair it yourself; the AD to me is clean but very crammed and makes all repairs a little more difficult as boilers need to be removed to get at different parts. I guess this is nothing new, but it is very cramped and is harder to maintain.

I also agree that with a machine at this level I shouldn't have to replace a boiler after 2 years, replace OPV valve, replace steam wand parts and other small items that I've been maintaining now on this particular machine. I've had the AD v2 for just over 5 years and the first 2 years was fantastic, but then everything started degrading since then. I don't believe that a +2000usd machine should have this many issues this fast. Perhaps I got a lemon, perhaps the v2's weren't as good (hence the reasoning for more updated versions), or perhaps I don't know.

What I do know is that for pulling an average of 20-30 shots a week on a prosumer machine shouldn't have these levels of maintenance issues after 5 years let alone after 2 years (as they started with mine).

I've never had a chance to take it back to the shop that I bought it from since I live in another country and who knows if that would have changed everything or not with this particular machine. I do know that if I buy another machine, I will be doing it locally just so I can have real help if needed.