Hello everyone, I am new to the site. I have 2 espresso machines. La Pavoni Eurobar a Leva and La Pavoni Europiccola. They were both hand me downs. I got the Europiccola first, got it ''tunes up'' at the local Feama store and it has been working well ever since (going on 3 years now). I just recently got the Eurobar and despite the appearance (dirty inside, rough around the edges), it was producing great coffee. Recently, it has just stopped turning on. I've tested everything with a multi-meter and everything seems ok. I can't seem to find a wiring schematic anywhere so I am not even sure that the thing is wired correctly, although I have no reason not to think so as it has been working well up until now. So now I am at the point that I want to tackle a project. I'd like to clean the thing up, and try to get it as close to new as possible. I am looking for any sort of advice that can be thrown my way. If at the end of the day, enough people tell me just to bring it to the Feama store, cough up the green, and get it fixed there, so be it. However, I'd like to put the work, and love into this one myself. There is quite a bit of sentimental value with this machine as it has been in our house for as long as I can remember (although has collected dust for the last 10 years at least).

I've posted some pictures of the machine and again, any advice from the members of this forum is more than welcome.

Than you in advance,

Phil

Hi and welcome.

That's a nice machine you've got there. Do NOT take that into Faema to get it serviced. If it's anything like the service at Faema in Toronto, they'll likely turn you away, as they want to sell and not fix, but in the event they do accept it, rest assured they'll do the absolute minimum, and do it poorly, and charge you a hefty premium. Had someone recently bring me a La Pavoni that twice had gone to Faema, and it was leaking all over the place. It had an element seal placed over the old, crusted, dry rotted one. Had a Riviera that got the element replaced. Guess what? They simply reused the old seal. The horror stories don't end there, believe me. These are not terribly complex machines. If you're mechanically inclined and know something about electrics, tackle it yourself. Good luck.

This is a very rare La Pavoni and worth restoring with tender loving care. Here is the reference page on Francesco Ceccarelli's definative website.

Thank you all for the replies. Well, I have found the problem with the heater not coming on. There was a fuse (safety) under the heat jacket of the cable going from the mains to the heater. This was identified on the wiring schematics I had found, but couldn'T see it because of the heat jacket. When I used my multimeter on that cable I realised something was up.



When I removed that red heat jacket, I found the fuse, and a quick test told me that it was gone. I had originally thought that this piece was the problem, as it looked like a fuse to me, being burt and all. Anyway, that piece I later realised was just a marette and needs to be replaced anyway as it shattered in my hand when I tried to remove it. Trying to upload a picture of the fuse, but it doesn't want to go. I'll try in a follow up post.

Cheers!!

Here is a picture of the fuse. Can anyone identify it?

Those are easily obtained and are very inexpensive. You can get them at Stefano's Espressocare in the U.S. In Canada I'm not sure. I believe your machine originally should have had a re-settable button fuse in the well underneath the boiler. Look at Francesco's photos. Your machine shows scale and steam leaks underneath. Maybe the fuse went because of scaling and overheating.

Thanks! I just sent them an email about the part. I was not able to find it on their site, but imagine that they have something that will work in it's place.

drgary wrote:Those are easily obtained and are very inexpensive. You can get them at Stefano's Espressocare in the U.S. In Canada I'm not sure. I believe your machine originally should have had a re-settable button fuse in the well underneath the boiler. Look at Francesco's photos. Your machine shows scale and steam leaks underneath. Maybe the fuse went because of scaling and overheating.

Yes there is even more scale and minor rust as well that the photos do not show. When I get my workshop set up (2 months from now) I'll be tearing the machine down, cleaning all of the parts, replacing gaskets and putting it back together. The machine was left in the basement for years, and was probably never cleaned properly. I think most of the problems are probably gaskets that, after 30 years, have just given out. When the machine was working, I was even getting leaks from the group head where the piston goes up and down.

So I found the fuse. I actually found it at a company called Digikey http://www.digikey.com/product-detail/e ... ND/1014765 The fuse is not the same colour, but the specs are the same. I'll be installing it today.

@drgary, I looked at Francesco's photos, but unfortunately, the ones for my machine are no longer on his site (the thumbnails are, but not the enlarged versions). I will send him a quick email to ask him if he can repost them. He has already been quite helpful in identifying the fuse though.

Thanks everyone for all of the advice and comments. This site is a great resource. I will post more photos when I start the rebuild.

Cheers!!

Philip