just purchased a la pavoni europiccola 8 cup 3 weeks ago, and the pressure release valve is leaking steam, making all sorts of noise. the green light (pressure) will not turn off, can't pull a shot due to no pressure. what is causing this?

The pressure relief valve is easy to disassemble, all you need is a 16mm tool of one sort or another. Be careful that you do not let the internal spring fly somewhere as you take it apart.

The there is a spring that pushes either a metal ball or a plastic mushroom against a valve seat. This is a case where plastic is better than metal. (That is very rarely the case in reality.) Perhaps deposits got into the valve or corrosion has occurred on the valve seat (or in the case of the ones with metal ball seals, the metal ball). You can resurface the valve seat with automotive valve lap compound should it be corroded. You can get replacement stainless steel balls at about any hardware store.

It is very easy to reassemble with the plastic mushroom ones. The metal ball and plastic mushroom are interchangable. It can be tricky to keep the metal ball in place when you are reassembling.

Do not attempt to change springs without really knowing what you are doing.

When this happened to me shortly after buying a new EP I realized the boiler cap wasn't tight enough even though I thought it was.