Anyone have any experience with these?

I retrofitted my Europiccola a few weeks back and the kit for sale on ebay has a nicer look and isn't much more expensive. I doubt La Pavoni or their US importers are too stoked on this as it makes buying the Professional a little less logical.

Matt - why not post the link so that reasonable responses can be added?

Searching on Europiccola pressure gauge found it.

Great look!

erics wrote:Matt - why not post the link so that reasonable responses can be added?

ebay links change really quickly so I figured it would be easier for you to search "europiccola" and "pressure" or "pressure gauge", etc.

some moderators don't like dead links on their forums but evidently Dan doesn't mind

is that reasonable enough?

is that reasonable enough?

Certainly.

Both links look like bargains.

MattJ wrote:...some moderators don't like dead links on their forums but evidently Dan doesn't mind

Actually I agree with you that dead links suck. It's better to post the search link (example) so future visitors can find what you're talking about. Some members repost one of the photos from a sale so others will know what they were talking about (e.g., a "rare find" espresso machine not readily found by searching Google images (example)).

thanks for posting that Dan; I see what you mean

I actually was going to upload the photo from the ebay sale to my photobucket and then post a link, but they've disabled cut n' paste from ebay ads

the orphan espresso part I'd never seen probably because it's for a pre-millennium and I have a post, but I agree it's snazzy

I'm pleased with my mod mostly because it helped me accomplish my end goal which was to accurately adjust the pressurestat

it's not the most handsome (the gauge has to be turned a certain direction to keep from hitting the boiler tank knob), but I was able to build it and have it functional an hour and a half after leaving the house to go buy parts which was awesome

I totaled up the receipts because a couple old threads said they thought it could be done for $6 to $10 - it cost me $25 so $35 for the ebay kit seems like a pretty good bargain for what I agree is a better look

here are a couple photos of mine completed

Not to be overly disputatious here, but I was reading the Q and A at the end of the ebay listing and from what I know about this, the female thread in the machine is a BPP thread, whether 11 or 12 depending on the year of the machine and the seller recommends wrapping this thread in teflon tape. From personal experience BPP fittings are to be sealed at either the end of the fitting, like a Serto fitting or at the collar of the nut with a usually teflon ring seal. Copper or aluminum on others. BPP does not use teflon tape wrapping but end or collar sealing surfaces. The use of teflon tape must be for some alignment principle but this is accomplished by finesse of the fitting more than the teflon wrapping. On an NPT thread the tape does have an effect as it helps determine the spot which the taper thread will seal. People have a tendency to overtighten this entire arrangement beyond sealing into the impossible to remove range but I prefer finesse to get the seal and then whatever it takes to align the fitting to the desired orientation.
There are indeed a few instances that it is advisable to get out the teflon tape, but a BPP thread is not one of them.

Doug, thanks for the adding those comments. I don't think they are controversial in the least but rather useful technical information. I worry we get so fixated on disallowing professionals from using these forums as free marketing that we sometimes lose valuable insight.

All the talk of leakage makes me feel lucky that my hardware store fix has been leak proof. I did use some gunky type of thread sealer on the linkage parts and into the gauge as I don't really care about them but the interface into the actual sight glass is dry.

Hopefully we can get some info from someone who has purchased this kit. My understanding is that La Pavoni has varied the build intentionally to thwart aftermarket gauges. My local hardware guy can be difficult to communicate with, but it seemed like we used part of a compression fitting for gas into standard water pipe thread for the gauge.

Doug, your conversion piece is very elegant. Congrats on offering a nice solution for the pre-millennium set.