Hi,

Hoping someone can suggest some solutions as to why steam pressure on my post millenium europiccola may have dropped.

I have removed and cleaned the tip and water still seems to be coming out of the group at a reasonable pressure (still capable of producing really nice shots) but noticing the difference in that it takes longer to steam the milk.

It is only a year old and has seen normal use and cant detect any leaks from anywhere.

Any help offered would be much appreciated.

Cheers
Dave

Descale?

Hi Thanks for the reply,

Will certainly try this but limescale isnt too much of a prob with the water here. Could that much build up in one year?

Dave

In normal (non espresso usage), no.

But an espresso machine generates steam. Every wisp of steam coming from your machine is a bit of minerals left behind.

How much steaming do you do? Unless you are using distilled water (not desirable, btw) steaming will make scale.

Hi,

Thanks for reply. Steaming a couple of times a day so perhaps just paying the price for not keeping up with maintenance. IS there any harm in leaving the descaler in the machine for over an hour? Should the unit be switched on for this? I am using Dezcal.

Thanks

Well gave it a conservatively timed descale and that seems to have helped alot...surpised how off colour the water was...so much so that decided to clean out the group head while i am at this. I got as far as removing the the head from the boiler, and the piston screws but couldnt knock out the shower head. The head was still warm..could this be the reason, i was giving it a reasonable, but not excessive dunt and tried leaning on it but no budge. Do i just need a bit more elbow grease?

Dave

Dave,

You are going through a lot of trouble to remove the grouphead whereas you could have just rinsed out your boiler a few times and flushed the equivalent of three or four blank pulls with fresh water to remove any cleaning residue. That green color is normal, so next time you should not be alarmed. Just keep that in mind next time you descale.

For descaling, I run the machine up to temp with the solution in the boiler. I purge some through the steam wand and let it come back up to operating temperature, then I turn it off and let it sit. The time it sits is 1 - 3 hours, depending on how long it's been since the last descale.

Hi,

Very fair point i think re the grouphead, why do it the easy way when u can cause yourself more hassle is suppose

The flush & descale seemed to sort the steam issues which is great bt i still have the question of the screen not budging. Am also still getting a few old grounds (which must be coming from behind the screen) coming through so am keen to get in for a bit of a clean... I take it the post millenium screens pop out in the way described here Refeathering the Peacock - Pavoni head gasket replacement ? If thats the case i prob just need more pressure/bigger mallet?
Cheers
Dave

It is very easy to pop off the screen. Do the below when the machine has had time to cool down thoroughly.

undo the bolts on top of the piston
remove one clip from the pin that hooks the lever to the piston and pull the pin
push the piston down as far as you can by hand
lift the lever up above the top of the piston
insert the pin and align it with the top of the piston
press down, paying attention to the alignment of the pin in relation to the piston
you may want to put your hand under the grouphead so the piston doesn't slam down on your drip tray
Voila!