I'm not really sure what my pressure gauge is set to. When it is heating up (light on), the light will go off at different pressures. Sometimes .9 or .8 or .825. I'm trying to set it at .8, but at what point is it giving me a true pressure? Is it when you first turn it on and the reading when the light goes out the first time? The model I have is the new Cremina.

Thanks.

Want to update this post. My first cycle heats to .85. Then subsequent cycles are: light comes on at .6 and then goes out at .79-.8. Only the first cycle is different.

Let the machine warmup for an hour. Now that's being real generous with time but it gives everything associated with your endeavor to be at temperature. You SHOULD see that the maximum reading on the gage changes from initial startup to after 60 minutes worth of cycling - not much change but . . ..

Are you bleeding off steam after it gets up to pressure; called "releasing false pressure"? See if that makes a difference.

I do bleed pressure in the steam wand, but not sure I really need to do this since I have a pressure release in the boiler cap. Some have said I don't need to do that, but the current manual says to do it before the first shot so I do.

I'm finding that the first cycle seems to be a little higher pressure than the subsequent cycles. But after the looking at it more closely, the other cycles have really been consistent. I think I maybe acted a little panicky when I started this thread and should have watched it more closely before I posted. I need to calm down a little. My apologies.

New Cremina bliss can be a bit overwhelming

You got that right!

I have a vacuum breaker in my 1986 Cremina cap and I find it necessary to bleed off the false pressure.

Yes, I still bleed the false pressure. But since I do this after the first cycle (which the pressure seems to always come out higher), that the bleeding is what brings the pressure down to what the subsequent cycles show. Since the manual says to bleed it, I bleed it. Don't want to go against the Olympia gods.

I don't need to bleed off false pressure on my 2009 Cremina, but they have been through several vacuum-breaker designs. I think mine has the third.

There's an easy test: If you are bleeding off false pressure the pressure gauge reading will drop very fast to almost 0. If there is no false (air rather than steam) pressure it will drop a few tenths of a bar and stabilise at around 0.6 bar.

The manual simply hasn't been updated.

When reading the pressure on these little gauges, it helps to keep your eye in line with the centre of the gauge, otherwise you may think you are getting inconsistent readouts on the gauge, whereas it simply looks that way because you keep eyeballing it from a different angle.

Cheers

Mike

Mike

Thanks for the great tip. I apparently I have no false pressure since it only dropped to around .6 when I turned on the steam. This is good to know.