I have a Rancillo Classe 6 Lever that I finally fired up last Saturday. Never used a lever and so I wonder how much water should come out when I pull the lever down with no portafilter? It was a lot, more than I expected. All I had was year old(if I was lucky, possibly more like four) ground with my Spong set as fine as possible which isn't very fine. I'd guess the shot, gusher more likely, took about 3 seconds. I'll go back next time with fresh coffee and something that can actually grind for espresso.

Also if anyone has an idea what I should set the pressure to, I'm all ears. it was at about 1.5 bars which I'm guessing was way too high. Would 1.1 bars make more sense?

Ira

It is very machine-specific I suppose. Did a quick search and it seems the water is coming out from boiler for this machine.

If my experience with Cremina or La Pavoni is of any use - With no portafilter, the water will rush out like a dragon (due to flash boiling), as long as your boiler has water in it and the pressure differential is high (1-1.2bar). So, sounds completely normal and it should work better when you have coffee resistance.

it was at about 1.5 bars which I'm guessing was way too high. Would 1.1 bars make more sense?

YIKES !!! I would say 0.90 bar MAX but my experience is equivalent to yours.

1.5 would be ideal for steaming milk, are there two settings? Also, if the group is designed for 1.5 bar then that would be spot on. Don't make ANY decision based on 4 year anniversary ld coffee, and don't put it in your grinder or machine again please:) hurts just to think about

Most machines I've worked with, ideal boiler pressure is between .8 to 1.1 bar. Curiously, my Zacconi Riviera has a gauge that seems to indicate 1.8 bar as the ideal, with the pressurestat also set to 1.8 bar.

the vast majority of lever machines I have used work well between 1.1 and 1.2 BAR. The only one I used that works well at a lower pressure is the Microcimbali which operates around 0.08. 1.5 BAR would generally be too hot- and more power than is required for steaming. Amd in general a lot of water will come out of the group when the lever is raised/lowered (manual/spring).

One thing to remember: all lever work best when the group head has warmed up. Generally when it is quite hot to touch it makes the best coffee. This means either leaving the machine to warm up for a while- or flushing some water through the group to speed things up.

Lastly: my Spong grinders can grind very good for espresso? Spongs are good grinders...

Do a search for your machine and you will find a thread about classe 6 temperature. It has a good discussion about boiler pressure,temperature, and how ideal pressure is linked to coffee type to some degree. It also talks about how on this commercial machine the very heavy (16lb) group is intended to cool the water to the desired brew temp. It doesn't disagree with what has been shared in this thread, but it is more specific to your situation.

I would post a link, but at the moment I'm on an iPad with a browser that is awkward. Still it's easy to find.

Thanks so much. I found it and it indicated it should probably be around 1 bar so I'll lower it when I get back to the machine.

Ira

Dropped it to 1 bar, and used fresh coffee and a better grinder(Rocky) and now it's starting to make sense. The grinder was a problem, but at least it pulled stuff that looked and tasted like espresso. Not the best espresso I've ever had, but certainly better than some.

Today it got a new vacuum breaker and over pressure valve as both of those were leaking.

Is one lever pull a single and two for a double? If two, when is the second pull?

If anyone near Los Angeles want's to play with it next Thursday(Aug 6), I'm thinking of setting it up in Van Nuys for the day. It would be at an open house for a friends business so there would be a small number of customers to practice on. If you're interested, PM me.

Ira