Not that I am in the market for one of these but I did note that this would be a commercial lever machine at a reasonable price (around $1800 new). The main reason for this post however is that I am curious. According to the specs, it can be plumbed in (no surprise here) or alternatively it comes with a 2.9 liter internal water reservoir (?). The latter is where I get a bit confused. How does this work? There is no pump so how does the boiler refill from the reservoir?

Br,
Teme

Sweet looking machine

It doesn't sound possible, unless they are adding an auxiliary pump (there's a line of 3 bar ulkas that are very cheap). Could it be they are just putting a screwtop on the boiler itself?

I'm taking a wild guess, but perhaps it's an HX.

The brew water could come from a reservoir or a line in that case, the boiler would need to be hand filled either way?

ciao

lino

I just checked their PDF. It's an HX-lever, and there's an optional vibe pump, which probably goes with the tank, to keep the boiler and cylinder filled. The machine looks worthy of consideration by home espresso nuts.

Do I understand this correctly?:

- the boiler (4 liters) is for steam only
- line pressure refill of the (steam) boiler in the plumbed in version and pump auto refill with the reservoir model
- brew water is drawn from the water reservoir (or optionally from the water line if plumbed in)
- the heat-exchanger (within the steam temp boiler) heats the brew water to above boiling so that it rises to the group when the lever is pushed down (as this is a spring lever)
- the group acts as a heatsink as with other lever machines but due to its apparently larger mass, there would be no overheating issues in home use

...interesting...

Br,
Teme

Teme wrote:Do I understand this correctly?:

- the boiler (4 liters) is for steam only
- line pressure refill of the (steam) boiler in the plumbed in version and pump auto refill with the reservoir model
- brew water is drawn from the water reservoir (or optionally from the water line if plumbed in)
- the heat-exchanger (within the steam temp boiler) heats the brew water to above boiling so that it rises to the group when the lever is pushed down (as this is a spring lever)
- the group acts as a heatsink as with other lever machines but due to its apparently larger mass, there would be no overheating issues in home use

...interesting...

Not sure about the above boiling in the HX. Line pressure on the direct connect model would work to refill the lever cylinder. If they use a pressure switch on the line to the HX, they can get the pump to refill it too.

But, no matter what the details, I doubt it would be in the running for temperature stability laurels. Current levers come in both direct boiler fill and HX variants; if the HX was totally superior, there would be no direct ones built anymore.

I Emailed Jim at 1st line. Asked for comment. he wrote back.......

Skip,

Unfortunately, I can not as I have too many things to get done due to not having enough staff....

Jim

So I tried

Still interested........

I still would like to know how the 1EL works.........the lever looks like it has a cam.......

another_jim wrote:I just checked their PDF. It's an HX-lever, and there's an optional vibe pump, which probably goes with the tank, to keep the boiler and cylinder filled. The machine looks worthy of consideration by home espresso nuts.

The PDF catalog had some basics, is there another I overlooked? Clicking on Technical Characteristic of the La Pavoni E1 produce page shows that it has a 50W vibration pump and auto-fill. I wonder if the HX would rely on the pump to refill, or would the piston draw water directly from the reservoir?

Pub 1EL
SemiAutomatic Lever Machine

Lever espresso coffee machine with chromed brass groups, with mechanical movement. Thanks to a special device which lets the hot water only into the group, keeps the brewing pressure always at the same level for a better exploitation of the coffee. Boiler single pressure gauge.

Any guesses about the "special device" they are alluding to (and why is it "exploiting" coffee)? Despite all the vagaries, it sounds like a fun machine to play with...

It may be as simple as a one way solenoid/valve.

It looks like a bad translation from Italian. Exploitation may just be a bad translation for 'enhances the coffee extraction'.