Hey guys, I'm only getting a max of 0.6 bar on my machine. There is very little resistance when pulling the lever up or down. Is this a problem with the piston maybe becoming loose? Or is it that I need to adjust the PSTAT so it goes to 1 bar?

the lever shouldnt be affected by your boiler pressure. Is this in the duration of a pull or dry movement. Your pressure is a little low, but it should work fine. If you like, adjust it up a little.

It's getting little resistance in the duration of the pull and dry movements. I'm pretty sure it's not the grind/dosage/tamp.

When did you last change your group seals?

so just to clarify
since you are talking about pressure
I'm assuming you have a professionale with the gauge and pressurestat
depending on the type/age of the pstat you can adjust it a little higher if you think you are lacking in steam went steaming
if you are not getting enough water when you pull then could be the second issue which can be the loose piston as well

also counter resistance once the chamber is full of water is only created by the fines of your grind

0.6 should be plenty of pressure to push through the grouphead anyway
I normally adjust them after a repair to .7 to.9
then of course scale issue can also affect the performance
LA water, we get a lot of machine in from down there and there is quite a lot of scale normally.

deejayc wrote:Or is it that I need to adjust the PSTAT so it goes to 1 bar?

A higher setting may help with steaming. The factory spec says 0.7 - 0.8 bar, but the thing should brew fine at 0.6 bar as long as the group is up to temp.

It's a new machine, right? I think your ease of pulling up and down is probably normal. With an empty PF it should go down easier than it goes up, but not by much - 0.6 bar will only feel like around 2 lbs of force at the lever.

Since you have a pro, you can consider setting the pStat way up to 1.0 bar if you think you need that for steaming, and use the off switch to keep it down lower for brewing, but I would advise against that until you get totally comfortable with the machine.

Total agreement with Stefano (I didnt see his when I posted mine)

I should add that one thing you should try when perfecting your steaming is a single-hole tip. Try that before fussing with the pStat.

Also, I don't think your piston is unscrewed, but is easy to check. You will probably want to pop the shower screen occasionally to clean it anyway, and you can do that and check your piston. On a brand new machine it's probably brass, but you never know. The plastic ones are way more prone to unscrewing.

P.S. Be careful to not scratch the finish of the lever fork when removing the e-clips - I suspect that the plating on the PPG lever is very thin and fragile.

Thanks guys. I just swapped the grouphead with my old pre-millennium group. I didn't like that the professional has a plastic lining inside the grouphead. Boiling water and cheap plastic isn't good with all those nasty chemicals leaching out. The machine's appearance looks weird now with gold, brass and a chrome grouphead but oh well. So I pulled a shot and the lever still pulls down a little too fast. The boiler turns off automatically once it reaches 0.6 and then it slowly dips to 0.5, then it turns back on and goes back up to 0.6, and it repeats.

Yes, the group handles on La Pavoni machines are thinly plated steel. That is also true on the "brass" models which, in recent times, are otherwise almost entirely brass and copper. The plating appears to be amazingly thin and fragile. There is an old thread, La Pavoni Europiccola Lever Insert & C-Clip problem that describes replacing the steel pins with brass rods and threading the ends. This avoids having the steel pins corrode, makes it easier to remove the handle without damaging the plating, reduces wear, and also improves appearance.

I have at times considered machining a new handle from brass. According to calculations I made, using standard physics formulae, a brass replacement having the dimensions of the original steel one would still be rigid enough.