Much like I have read others post. I too have just gotten an old La Pavoni Europiccola. It is from the late 70's. I fired it up and it produces plenty of steam and has no leaks. I noticed that when I lower the arm it has no resistance. I have been told that it could be that need to replace the gasket on the piston. Can someone please comfirm that this indeed the case? If so, how hard is to do? I was quoted $210 to change all the gaskets. Would I need to change all the gaskets if no other ones leak?

Carlos,

Welcome to HB!

A few questions/comments:
- If the machine gets up to operating temperature without water dripping from the grouphead, there's a good chance the seals are still good. If it leaks a little, you might want to drop the piston and re-lube.

- No resistance when you lower the arm...do you have coffee in the portafilter when this happens? If no coffee is in the portafilter the arm should go down quickly due to the pressure inside the boiler/group.

- No need to change gaskets if it's not leaking.

You might want to check out OrphanEspresso's (http://www.orphanespresso.com) videos and rebuild guides to see what all is involved with rebuilding your machine. Basically it is far easier than you might think. If you want to spend $200, just send it to Barb and Doug (Orphan Espresso) to have them completely refurb it. It'll be as good as new when you get it back.

Feel free to go to YouTube to see how shots are pulled on a Pavoni so you can compare their experience with yours. Many good videos out there.

Thank you very much for your response.
I'm in agreement with you. If the seals aren't leaking why change them. My machine is over 30 years old so I'm not sure if it is working properly or not.
I have tried it with coffee in the portafilter as well as without. I continue to experiment. Since I'm new to the lever espresso machine world I'm not exactly sure what to expect. Let me explain what I'm experiencing to see if you can enlighten me. When the machine gets to temperature (I have no gage so it's ready when steam is being release from the pressure valve) I lift the lever to the very top. The water starts to flow. As I lower the arm the water continues to flow until the arm is fully at the bottom position. In other words if I leave the arm half way I can empty the entire machine. I'm under the impression that as I lower the arm the water in the chamber is "pushed" out over the grounds. My lever acts more like a faucet valve than a pump. I have read that the amount of pressure one has to exert on the lever may vary depending on the compaction and fineness of grind. On my machine it hasn't made any difference. The only thing that changes as I lower the arm is how much water comes out.
I also tried lifting and lowering the arm when the machine is not hot. What happens is that as I lift the and lower the arm I can pump the water out of the chamber. It sucks as it goes up and then releases it as I lower it. It does not push the water out. It just drips out. I'm not sure if that is helpful or not in the diagnosis.
Is there any way to test to see if the piston is working properly? It may be just that my expectations of the machine have to change and that I just need more practice.
I went to OrphanEspresso's web site (http://www.orphanespresso.com) but could not find videos. Do I need to become a member to view them?

What you described is normal behavior. When you raise the lever water is pushed into the group head by steam pressure in the boiler...I dont know exactly what this pressure is but it's somewhere around 1 bar and no more than 1.5 bar. As long as the lever is up and there's pressure and water in the boiler it will keep pushing water through if there's no resistance to the water flow.

This is only enough pressure for pre-infusion it will not push water through a properly prepared bed of coffee, at least not more than a few drops at a time. When you have the coffee properly prepared and loaded into the machine it provides resistance to the flow of water, then you will have to push down on the lever to force the water through the coffee, this should generate something like 7-9 bar of pressure to properly extract espresso....much more than the boiler generates on it's own!

I have been reading up on it. Could it be a factor of the finess of the grind? Does the bean type make a difference in the pull?

yes you need to grind finely enough that the coffee will resist the flow of water at the boiler's pressure.

Carlos,

I agree; what you are seeing is normal. I think the problem you are encountering is perhaps pre-ground coffee/stale coffee/coffee not ground fine enough to generate enough back pressure to force you to "push" the water through the coffee puck.

When properly heated, if you lift the lever all the way up and hold it there, your machine will completely empty the boiler. As stated by entropyembrace, a properly prepared bed of coffee will not allow more than a few drops to fall, forcing you to push down the lever. Once that lever goes past the hole inside that allows water to pass from the boiler into the grouphead no more water will enter the chamber, so once the lever reaches the bottom of the stroke the flow of coffee will stop (within a few seconds).

What beans are you using?
What is the roast date on your beans?
What grinder are you using?
Are you usuing a 49mm tamper?

When the machine is hot...

If you lift the lever up about 3/4 of the way or higher (with no portafilter attached), water should come shooting out of the group head. If you lower the arm down, the flow should stop.

When you install a portafilter (with ground coffee), then when you lift the arm up to where the water flow starts, then you should feel (and hear) a "gush" sort of sensation as the water enters into the group head. You should also see the water level drop about 1/4 inch in the sight tube. As the group head fills up, you'll feel back pressure on the lever. Then (depending on your grind), you will push the lever down and feel either a lot or a little back pressure. If the grind is too fine, you can choke out the machine and you won't even be able to push the lever down. If the grind is too coarse, then water will start dripping out before you even push the lever down.

As far as installing new seals on the piston, $200 is nuts. It takes 10 minutes if you know what you are doing. Buy some seals from Orphan Espresso and you can probably do it yourself. To remove the piston, you just unscrew the two nuts at the top (leave the last one on a bit, then push the piston rod down, until it starts to come out of the group head). Then remove the nut and push it down the rest of the way. The piston assembly will pop out (along with the group head gasket and dispersion screen). You can clean up the piston and install new seals, etc.

When you re-install everything, put some olive oil on the gaskets and gently push the piston back into the cylinder. Just be very careful when you install the piston, because it's easy to pinch the lip of the seals if you aren't careful.

Here are some videos that might be helpful:





And this one shows how much water/steam should come out when you lift up the handle:



Ray

I want to express my gratitude to everyone that has so kindly responded to my postings.
Since my machine is so old I had assumed (and been told by a person in an online repair shop) that the gaskets would needed replacing.
I used coffee beans that I have had for about a month. I also used the same grind setting I had been using for my previous machine which has an electric pump. I changed it to a bit finer but after watching several videos I think I didn't go fine enough. I can't wait to go home tonight and try a much finer grind with fresh beans to see if that takes care of my "perceived" problem. It might just be, as often is the case, user error.
The videos included in the response were very helpful.
Now I'm hoping you can answer another question. The finish on my brass and copper machine is tarnished and the lacquer is missing in some areas. I have read different ways to bring back the finish. The same person that told me that I needed to change all the seals said to use steel wool. I think that would be too harsh. One post I read suggested using Mother's Mag Cleaner or Bartender's Keeper. Another post said not to use Brasso. Do you have any suggestions?

THANK YOU EVERYONE!

Bar Keeper's Friend and a sponge with a scouring pad should work fine. I would not use steel wool myself.

Ray