Hi everyone!

Recently my Achille began exhibiting a rather strange behaviour: while pulling a lever with an empty portafilter basket produces about right amount of water (i. e. about half a demitasse), trying to pull the shot itself is an exercise in futility: after first quarter (or half-, no matter really) pull, I have to make several more pulls to get any liquid to flow at all. I'd say it takes more than five pulls to make a single espresso, though I really couldn't be bothered to check - I don't think this machine should operate like some kind of coffee well pump.

Also, my puck seems to cling to the shower cap. I don't tamp that hard since I only have dumb non-matching plastic tamper right now , but it just doesn't seem right.

Perhaps there is, despite the check valves mentioned in the review, some suction created during the upstroke?.. Or may be there's some other reason, whatever it is? How should I go about troubleshooting this matter?

Hello Slaador,

I am sorry to hear of your problem. I had a similar difficulties with my Achille which is 10 months old. It leaked from the group head once warmed up and took several pumps to build up pressure enough to pass water through the puck. I returned mine for repair, and although nothing was found to be wrong it returned fixed! I guess that the problem was the valves in the piston either not being in place or lacking lubrication, since then it has been plain sailing.

You may want to take the piston section apart and have a look if you can't get it fixed professionally, I found an allen keys and a spanner was all that was need to get in there. Having said that, I'm a complete novice and I would imagine there are more experienced heads with better suggestions.

Regards the puck sticking to the filter screen, I occasionally have this problem too I assume that this happens when I have overfilled with coffee not leaving enough space for expansion of the grounds rather than a suction effect. Perhaps a little less coffee and a better tamper will help on that one?

On the tamper issue: I recently took my Pavoni and hand coffee grinder with me for a weekend excursion, but I left my tamper at home. I found a metal spoon and used that - worked in a circular motion and it came out surprisingly well. I'm of no use for the rest of your problem.

-phillip

Yeah, I guess I'll just go and have it repaired, seeing as it's been barely a month since I bought it. Thanks for your insight, Firepile! And yeah, you're most probably right about lubrication - after I brought it home and pulled several shots, some lubricant got squeezed out from where the lever connects to the group... I did think it's rather strange.


And thanks for the tamping advice, Phillip, I'm definitely gonna use it, since the only tampers we have here are Reg Barbers and I just can't justify spending that much money on a little piece of metal.

Thanks for your insight, Firepile!

And thank you.

One other thought: I have taken to tightening the two bolts on the pump handle pretty much every time I use it. They work loose, perhaps this could cause the piston to be misaligned and the valves to be less effective?

I think you should get used to pulling the top off the group with this machine. It will need it later in life I suspect. It's a brilliant machine, but my one certainly is riddled with problems, all of which can be kept on top of with regular maintenance.

The piston has a ball valve built in to it and there is another crude one at the inlet to the piston cylinder, as well as the piston seals, these balls must seal for the piston to draw water in to the top of the piston on the downstroke. An excess of grease could foul them.

Do you see any return flow to the reservoir on the upstroke?

It is worth noting that if you choke this machine and apply loads of pressure the water will find it's way around the piston and refill the upper part of the cylinder. How hard are you pulling on the lever/what happens if you grind really coarse?

Firepile,
while I'm almost sure that's not the cause, those bolts definitely are loosening. Blue threadlocker fluid should improve things, I guess.

lsjms,
thanks for the host of info! I'll take a look at those valves and test the pumping action. However, I think I've located the problem for now: yesterday I tried to pull the lever and it groaned like an old pump. So my next step is getting some wrenches and lube and, yes, taking off the group head. I'll report on how things are after that.

Hi, Slaador
You may want to try the following procedure. Lift the lever, dismantle it and spin the piston rode several times. Because one of the possible reasons for poor water delivery is uneven distribution of lubricant along the circumference of the piston. Another one, the rod has partially unscrewed from the piston, thus shortening the stroke. In this case, you will have to disassemble the head and tighten it.

Firepile wrote:And thank you.

One other thought: I have taken to tightening the two bolts on the pump handle pretty much every time I use it. They work loose, perhaps this could cause the piston to be misaligned and the valves to be less effective?

This statement makes me think the piston is unscrewing from the shaft like the plastic piston does on the newer La Pavs. Unless I'm not thinking of the same two nuts???