I have had a La Pavoni Europiccola for almost nine years. During that time I have pulled on average six full shots a day; four for breakfast and two in the afternoon (so two heat-ups/cool-downs a day). Also during that time I have paid for what amount to a second machine in various repairs costs. The last repair was a complete gasket and transformer (?) replacement by the estimable Thomas Cara of San Francisco. No slight towards Mr. Cara--he was great to work with--but I started seeing slight leaks only eight or nine months after the job. It is now a year and a half since that job was done and I am experiencing annoying seepages from various points: primarily the steamer wand and the piston group. I am determined not to sink any more money into this thing, much as I love it and the coffee it makes, but is this the best I can expect from it? I thought these things lasted for many years (And I don't mean by constantly repairing it every 10-12 months). Am I expecting to much from it? I really enjoy the physical experience of the lever-pulled shot but are all lever machines the same in this respect; gaskets constantly dying? I guess I'm willing to replace it with a more automatic unit (no pods!!!) but i don't know what out there is worth investing in. Any insights appreciated.

Yes, perhaps you are expecting too much from it. Gaskets are meant to wear out so that the metal parts don't. La Pavoni recommends the gaskets be changed every 2 years or less. All machines will have some level of gasket wear. But, as far as the leaks go, the Pavoni wand seal seems like it's not a real well engineered part. There is a hard plastic bead in it, and the gets harder over time - not very flexible even at the beginning, but it was their solution to sealing the steam wand. All manual levers require a bit more periodic maintenance than they often get - steam wand seals should be lubed occasional, as should the cylinder (cleaned & lubed on a regular basis), and that would extend the life of the parts. Sort of like a car - if you never change the oil, or replace the filter, it just won't last as long... Some makers have been using Teflon and Goretex in the seals to attempt to make them last longer, but I don't know if that really works, or if the longer life justifies the higher cost for them. The La Pavoni is a very user friendly machine as far as replacing the parts yourself - a few simple tools are needed, and a little time & patience, but once you've done it, the next time is much easier. Except for the REALLLY old Pavoni's there is pretty much still full parts support - more than can be said for many newer machines! If you like your Pavoni, and can make good espresso for yourself with it, I'd say keep it up! You can buy a LOT of seals for the price of a new machine!

Doug, as always, gave you a good response.

To that I would add that you might want to learn to do the work yourself. I had a horrible experience with a semi-local repair shop that spurred me to do my own work. It's really fairly simple and requires a minimum of tools. And there are a lot of very good resources on the web (including this site) to help you thru it. A seal kit costs $30 and perhaps an hour of your time. Spending that once every 6 months doesn't seem so bad to me.

Thanks, gentlemen. I am looking online now for a gasket set and ran across this, forgetting I had posted this question. The leak from the steam wand has gotten ridiculous; a puddle gathering on my counter by the time I'm done with breakfast. This will not stand. And I just can't decide on a new machine anyway. I love the physicality of the lever machine plus there are too many out there to choose from anyway. And then there's the prices! So, yes, I am fairly handy and I think I should be able to replace the gaskets myself. Thanks for the input.

alan b

Hey gents--I got my set of replacement gaskets/o-rings. Great, right? Well, yeah except how the heck to you disassemble that steamer set? All I was able to do was unscrew the steam tap nut. Nothing else wants to move and I don't want to force anything. I've got several exploded views of the parts of the machine and I can't for the life of me see what's keeping me from removing the steam tap shaft. Help!

You have to drive the little pin out of the knob with a small nail or an awl, whatever does not damage the knob or the pin. Once you remove the pin the knob pulls off and the whole thing is easily figured out from there, Assembly is the reverse.
The shaft itself screws out ccw just like you were opening the valve. You might have to tug on it once it is completely turned out.

mingusman wrote: I love the physicality of the lever machine plus there are too many out there to choose from anyway.

You must mean all espresso machines when you say there are too many, either that, or you are speaking tongue-in-cheek: there are only three domestic-class lever machine makers selling machines today, now that Gaggia has withdrawn the Achille: La Pavoni (manual) and Ponte Vecchio (spring) and Olympia (manual).

It is much easier to replace the piston seals on a manual lever than on a spring-lever, at least with the current Ponte Vecchio group design; an older SAMA precursor had a very convenient "lid" that allowed the piston to be extracted from the cylinder without the spring having to be relased: userpix/4133_img_2796.jpg

That older design made servicing the machine as simple as servicing a manual lever, resulting in a significantly lower cost-of-ownership than for the current model. If Ponte Vecchio would only reintroduce that older group design! Sales of their machines, which are growing in popularity, would increase further.

Timo,

I strongly agree with your comments about what could happen if Ponte Vecchio were to reintroduce the old two piece Sama group head design. But would like to add that they also need to reintroduce the old Sama quality!

Doing both would make a lot of espresso lovers happy and increase their sales even further. Of course this would mean an increase in cost. But if PV were to do it well the increase would be small. I would purchase a Lusso version in an instant.

Geoffrey