Hey everyone,

Lever newbie here. I fell in love with the La Pavoni and bought a new supposedly 2014 La Pavoni Professional PLH. Love it so far! It's been a month already and my eyes have switched from "in love" to "critical observation". So my perfect Peacock seems to have bad posture! What I mean is.. the group head seems to be twisted or warped.

I'm linking some photos here... apologies for the potato quality, my kitchen is not optimally lit.

http://imgur.com/a/8Sybz#0

If you press left/right you can toggle some overlaid lines I drew to make it more apparent in the photos. It's quite visible if one is looking for it in real life.

My question is.. is this normal? I've noticed that the left spout almost always starts flowing first and attributed it to my inexperienced tamping technique. Could I have caused it by refilling the hot boiler with cold water?

Thankful for any input and opinions at all.

Edit: adding locally mirrored photos if imgur should lose my photos:

It looks like a manufacturing defect in either the boiler flange or the one on the group. You can probably tell easily which by looking at the two bolts that hold the group onto the boiler. Metal does not deform by pouring cold water into something at the boiling point of water. That is the normal thing to do when refilling, in fact. Perhaps the holes on one side or another of the flange were drilled incorrectly. This is several degrees off!

Many thanks for your assessment! I will acquire a tool to unmount the group to investigate closer. I don't want to use an adjustable wrench here and risk making the bolts round and scratching up the body. I will also see what the seller's opinion is. Hopefully they'll be able to replace it smoothly. I got a good price from Germany (I live in Sweden), so hopefully they didn't sell a failed quality control unit on purpose.

There is a certain amount of clearance between the group bolts and the corresponding holes that will allow some rotation out of plumb. That might be the only problem, misaligned during initial assembly. Those bolts only need to be snug, do not over tighten.

Seen that on many Pavonis , just loosen the two bolts using a 10 mm wrench
(check the wrench before use , look for burrs that might scratch the flange)
then twist it to your liking , and retighten the bolts


and get a one hole tip or make one yourself biggest improvement with the smallest investment

rpavlis wrote:It looks like a manufacturing defect in either the boiler flange or the one on the group. You can probably tell easily which by looking at the two bolts that hold the group onto the boiler. Metal does not deform by pouring cold water into something at the boiling point of water. That is the normal thing to do when refilling, in fact. Perhaps the holes on one side or another of the flange were drilled incorrectly. This is several degrees off!

Not a defect. I agree with the others, having serviced my LP's, found the groups off center, loosened the group bolts, aligned and retightened (not overtightened). This is an easy fix. If you're very particular put a level on the base and then on the group to make sure they're aligned.

firebug wrote:Could I have caused it by refilling the hot boiler with cold water?

As Robert said, that would not have caused it. However, you probably would benefit knowing a handy technique for doing a fast refill of a hot machine. Turn the machine off, fill your largest steaming pitcher with water and open the valve with the wand in the pitcher. By the time the pressure is gone you have a pitcher of hot water to add to your boiler, and the machine will be back to temp much more quickly than it would with just cold water.

Credit here to DanoM, who posted this idea about a year ago here: What's your favorite lever espresso machine?

Thanks for posting the question, Firebug. It prompted me to check if my group is level. It is not. Now I know why I only get coffee out the left spout. Relieved to know it's not caused by channeling.

DrGary, do the group head bolts work normally? Clockwise to tighten, counter-clockwise to loosen? Thanks.

Winston

wkmok1 wrote:DrGary, do the group head bolts work normally? Clockwise to tighten, counter-clockwise to loosen? Thanks.

Yes.

I checked mine. I discovered that the diameters of the bolt holes on the group flange are indeed great enough to get the group substantially out of line with the boiler. It requires a 10mm tool to remove the bolts. Be sure to tighten them again evenly, rather than each all at once.

While you are doing this, I suggest you also take a ruler and measure the length of the bolts. Some La Pavoni machines have bolts that are too short. La Pavoni specifications call for 14mm length, I believe, some are only 12mm. It is really best to have 16mm. My 12mm length ones had partly stripped when I discovered this problem. Fully stripping the threads in the boiler can lead to a difficult (if you do it yourself) or expensive (if you have a shop do it) repair.