Hi everyone,

here's my first topic I have just bought an Elektra Microcasa a Leva S1C through marktplaats (sort of dutch ebay) for 200 euro's to replace my La Pavoni Europiccola.

I have to say what a difference (I know it's a matter of taste but mama mia

But I have the same problem as I had with the Pavoni (only had it for 1,5 month... (bought this one for 150 euro).

regarding the Pavoni:
When lifting the lever all the way up - espresso is being poured

regarding the Elektra:
When lifting the lever all the way down - espresso is being poured

Looking at all the movies on youtube this is the world up side down. maybe because I am living in Amsterdagm everything lookes upside down

Can anybody tell me what I am doing wrong. I have opened and cleaned both machines thourougly. But this does not change anything.

Just a short poll. the Pavoni looks almost new, the Elektra older, copper is being damaged a bit. As I said Ihave bought those for almost the same price, what is the one to keep in your opinion

grtz

Coeno

Hi there and welcome!

Let's start with the easy end: why is coffee coming out as soon as the lever is fully open and before the piston starts moving?

The answer is probably a combination of the following reasons:

1) Your coffee is pre-ground
2) Your coffee is not freshly-roasted
3) Your coffee beans are not ground fine enough (you really need do this yourself at home just before you use the coffee)
4) You are dosing too little into the portafilter

As for the difficult question, which to keep: There's only one person who can answer that, and that's you - once you have learnt how to use both machines to their full potential.....

The chances are that you will then end up keeping both

May the coffee gods smile on you, and do let us know how you are getting on. You will find lots of friendly voices chiming in here to help you drink some fantastic espresso this Christmas!

Cheers

Mike

HI Mike,

Thank you very much for the very fast reply, regarding the beans I am grounding them myself. I am not using a professional grinder but using 1, the only step lower I can do is 0,75.
Could this be the problem?


I have tried different beans and let them ground them in shop and using the beans directly but without success. Just to make sure it cannot be that rubbers are not lubricated enough or and other issues regarding the 2nd hand espresso machines.

And like you said, my wife and I will be spending a lot of the time in the kitchen during christmas....... She will be doing the looking and I will be making espresso, I can hardly wait.

Grtz Coeno

I don't see how the problem would be worn seals. Which grinder do you have exactly? Grind setting numbers are meaningless. Try your next finest grind setting. If coffee still comes out too quickly, you need a different grinder I suppose. Pre-ground coffee from the shop most likely won't cut it for you, but you can try it asking for a finer grind and see how it tastes to you. Your espresso should take about 25-35 seconds to come out after you release the lever. A little bit coming out before you release is okay though.

As far as "upside down": The machines are backwards because the pavoni uses your arm to press the piston. The Microcasa uses your arm to compress a spring which when released presses the piston. This is the difference between manual levers and spring levers.

the only way this can occur is if the water can get through the ground coffee too easily. The only causes of this as as already noted above- I list them in their order of importance:

coffee ground too coarse
coffee packed too lightly
coffee too dry/stale

grind finer- tamp harder- and roast your own beans

A good way to dial in a machine is to grind and pack too hard at first- and adjust backwards from there.

EDIT: there is one other possible cause: a faulty/worn group head seal. In this case water/pressure can escape around top of the basket. You would see it dripping down the side though...

Actually there is another cause: if the piston seals are worn then pressure can escape and the lever will rise. However you won't get much coffee in the cup... I am 98% sure your problem is related to the coffee.

It turns out you were all right,

errors
1. my first beans were to old, so to dry.
2. My tamper from the Pavoni was 50mm and doesn't fit in elektra 48mm so i tried to tamp with glasses etc but that didn't work to best.

So after trying etc I found something to tamp ok and it works, I even get a nice small layer of cream on top of the espresso. I really love this art machine. - Now I am looking for good format tamper and other accesoires. (and I am going to sell the Pavoni, this doesn't compare to the Elektra)

Thanks very much for replies, any advices, nice to knows etc regarding the Elektra are very welcome

Sorry forgot to ask:

there is no information on the bottom of the machine about year serial number etc.
So I have no idea how old etc this machine is, is there another way to get this information?