michaelbenis wrote:Are the modern Zacconis any different? They look the same.

Do you want me to give them call?

Trajic wrote:Interesting and quite informative post. Maybe I'll give mine another chance. I honestly did not know that the button on the top of the base next to the water inlet was part of the water inlet. Seems self intuitive but it eluded me.

Trajic wrote:That is interesting- filling the boiler at the press of a button. I wonder it if it really worked as advertised. The theory seems sound but I can see it not working out so well in practice. I fill my machines manually with a pitcher of filtered water I keep at the ready. Hooking up a water fill valve and maintaining it seems like too much trouble for a home machine. I also like to take a peak in the boilers with a flashlight when I fill them but that's just me.

I remember my machine getting pretty hot which also surprised me. I was expecting it to run cooler than a Europiccola which turned out to not be the case.

Brett

I hope I can be of assistance. Concerning the broken leads which usually protrude from the element. I have never tackled that repair. I would be leery to perform a repair in that location. The heating elements are constructed via a porcelain and chrome wire mix. It is very easy to harm these when wrestling with dismantlement. I would be afraid that even if you did a excellent job of scarfing new material to your element you then discover that you have a crack or inop/burned out element. When I have repaired a Riviera with a inop. element I substitute a water heater element for the Zacconi element. The process to modify is as such and is actually very simple.

First you will need your old brass collar/element. Remove/cut off the element, leaving just the brass collar. You are going to bore a hole in the collar to the dimension of the outside circumference of your old element lead dimension to accept a copper water heater fitting which accepts a approx 8" 110v water heater element. I believe this is a 1.25" NPT thread adapter. Just head to a plumbing supply or big box store and find a small screw in water heater element and then find the copper fitting which accepts this. The boring of the hole into your old brass element collar is a simple process. A lathe is required or drill press with proper hole bit. Once the hole is bored the copper water heater fitting is brazed into the your newly bored brass collar element. This could sound complex but is actually very simple. Please use non chromium containing brazing rod. I have written Mr. Penny about this modification and the question arises concerning the length of the water heater element verses the original element? Yes the water heater element is longer but when coupled with the new fitting the protrusion from the base of the boiler supplies a added head space and allows the attachment of the base bottom cover. If you fill your boiler to a level just below the steam wand pickup opening you are still able to pull 3+ double shots in succession before exposing the top of the element. It sounds complex but does work very well. The added benefit is the large savings in cost and availability of elements for machine replacement. When shopping for the modification pieces pickup a cheapo water heater element wrench they are $5.00 or so. If you happen to run your machine dry and burn out the element the fix/replacement is a quick repair. Usually 10 minutes at most.

There is one modification to these machines which I'm looking to the future to perform. This is increasing the spring tension with a stronger spring. Rivieras do make a nice cup but I believe they could approach the creama production of top line pump machines with a stronger extraction spring. Please feel free to write or give me your cell number and we could talk things over.