Christmas present for myself. Same as the Zerowatt CA708, but named as Mini Espresso.

You can see it in action too:

That's very cute! And beautifully orange!

If you pump it less do you get much less shot volume?

Yes, without the little pumpig moves you get low shot volumes, similar to the PV Lusso, Riviera Espresso and other 45mm machines.

My new (old) cremina - drip tray was out being cleaned, but I haven't been able to put much more attention into it yet. Can't wait until I have the time & rest of the gear to play with it. Lighting's a little difficult in the kitchen, but it looks hardly used. Even came with all of it's original accessories! The sight glass took ~30 minutes to read anything at all, but it seems to be working fine now so I'm assuming there was just something blocking the water's path. I pulled one shot on it (stuck with preground for the moment, yech) and everything else seemed in order. The owner said he bought it in '92 or '93, although someone said the first two digits of the serial number were the year of manufacture, which would put it back to '85. Can anyone verify if that's true of the serial?

Hi Gabe,
Off topic: I grew up in Albuquerque, Manzano High, class of 87..

Back on topic, yes the first 2 digits of the serial number are the year on the '67 style, (This changed with the Millenium Edition, but that's not what you are asking about) so you are correct. He either didn't remember when he got it, or he got it some time after the original manufacture.

If something is blocking the water's path you may want to consider a descaling while you wait for the other gear. You also may want to shine a small light down into the boiler and take a look and see if there is any build up in there.

EDIT: Nice looking machine by the way.

Jon, thanks for the confirmation.
I grew up here in Abq. as well, but I won't say when I graduated, I'd feel out of place
I'm planning on descaling the boiler and such as soon as I get hold of some citric acid crystals, I spoke with Doug & Barb at Orphan Espresso and they also seemed to think the slow response of the sight glass could be caused by a blockage. I peeked inside the boiler with flashlight and yes, there's certainly some buildup - it seems the machine may have sat some time with water in the boiler. And yes, it's a great looking machine, really only a few chips in the paint to note. I got a spectacular deal, I'm frankly embarrassed.

You can get Citric Acid crystals at home beer brewing supply places, if you are in a hurry. Or, you can get it all over the place online of course.

So is this another one of those "I found this on the sidewalk with a sign that said free to a good home" stories??

Is there a specific solution or strength of acid I should use?
I didn't even realise it until now, but I have easy access to hundreds of pounds of the stuff, at least some of which is food grade. Barring that, I know of a home brew supply in town, and will drop by there tomorrow afternoon. And yes, pretty much one of those stories.

edit: found the FAQ on descaling that included the % solution. I'll descale tomorrow after work.

morgant wrote: The owner said he bought it in '92 or '93, although someone said the first two digits of the serial number were the year of manufacture, which would put it back to '85. Can anyone verify if that's true of the serial?
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Or, perhaps, the owner did buy it in '92 or '93, but simply wasn't the original owner...?

Do a search on citric acid descaling before you do anything. It's about 1 TB/liter I believe. But citric acid will take off chrome plating, so be careful what your soaking in citric acid. Also, short amount of time is needed, maybe 15 minutes after water is hot. Michael