Hi all,

Playing around with a Cremina, and am trying to determine is this is just a normal function of the machine, or if there is something else wrong.

Let the machine heat, bleed the false pressure, and let it heat up a few minutes more.

Problem is afterwards when lifting the lever, the water exiting the head is not just water, it is hissing/steaming similar to what I am seeing like an HX cooling flush.

I have been dropping the pressurestat adjustment lower and lower...just not sure if this is normal...I have watched a youtube video where some seem to hiss/sputter, and others not.

What should I be looking for?

tks...

Your piston shaft seal and piston seals are shot.

TUS172 wrote:Your piston shaft seal and piston seals are shot.

Just replaced all of them....brand new/lubricated with Dow seal lube etc.

Grant wrote:Problem is afterwards when lifting the lever, the water exiting the head is not just water, it is hissing/steaming similar to what I am seeing like an HX cooling flush.

I don't understand. It is water exiting a steam boiler, why wouldn't you expect some hissing and sputtering?

Grant wrote:Just replaced all of them....brand new/lubricated with Dow seal lube etc.

So is it while you are lifting the lever or at the top of the stroke? If it is at the top of the stroke then Dan is right... you should expect hot water and some steam. Did you used the steam wand to let off false pressure? Then you still have a build of of some steam in the tube to the grouphead. Even when you use the lever to let off excess pressure you will still have a bit of steam in the initial pull.

The hole that the hot water enters the chamber of the grouphead is less than .125" in diameter. The diameter of the tube that feeds the grouphead is larger than that. And also the grouphead chamber is large enough so that by the time the hot water actually hits the screen it has traveled the length of the grouphead from near the top to the screen... it is going to mix with air and exit the screen not as just hot water.

If it is during the stroke then you (or whomever did the work) may have clipped the seals while putting in the piston shaft and piston into the grouphead.

HB wrote:I don't understand. It is water exiting a steam boiler, why wouldn't you expect some hissing and sputtering?

Makes sense when you put it that way..

Perhaps "problem" was a bad choice of wording. Never having used a Cremina before, I guess I should be asking if this is "normal" for a Cremina. Watched a cremia video on youtube and the stream of water from the head seemed to be quiet, much like the stream after the flush on an HX. I was (perhaps incorrectly) assuming the Cremina, with a boiler set at a fairly optimal setting (.8 - .9 bar), would behave much the same way.

TUS172 wrote:So is it while you are lifting the lever or at the top of the stroke? If it is at the top of the stroke then Dan is right... you should expect hot water and some steam. Did you used the steam wand to let off false pressure? Then you still have a build of of some steam in the tube to the grouphead. Even when you use the lever to let off excess pressure you will still have a bit of steam in the initial pull.

The hole that the hot water enters the chamber of the grouphead is less than .125" in diameter. The diameter of the tube that feeds the grouphead is larger than that. And also the grouphead chamber is large enough so that by the time the hot water actually hits the screen it has traveled the length of the grouphead from near the top to the screen... it is going to mix with air and exit the screen not as just hot water.

If it is during the stroke then you (or whomever did the work) may have clipped the seals while putting in the piston shaft and piston into the grouphead.

No, just at the top of the stroke....other than that, the piston chamber seems completely sealed/no leakage etc.

Yes, I let out the false pressure, let the machine stabilize etc before trying a shot. Just trying to alleviate the ignorance I have with this machine....it is likely working as expected, but coming from a history of HX machines, just a little foreign at this point.

Grant wrote:Hi all,

Playing around with a Cremina, and am trying to determine is this is just a normal function of the machine, or if there is something else wrong.

Let the machine heat, bleed the false pressure, and let it heat up a few minutes more.

Problem is afterwards when lifting the lever, the water exiting the head is not just water, it is hissing/steaming similar to what I am seeing like an HX cooling flush.

I have been dropping the pressurestat adjustment lower and lower...just not sure if this is normal...I have watched a youtube video where some seem to hiss/sputter, and others not.

What should I be looking for?

tks...

It is very unclear, at least me, what you are talking about. Do you have coffee in the basket when you are doing this? Is the portafilter even on the machine? Where is the hissing steaming that you describe coming from, the spouts, the shower screen, the piston shaft? It is very difficult to help without any clue what it is you are asking.

Grant wrote:Never having used a Cremina before, I guess I should be asking if this is "normal" for a Cremina. Watched a cremia video on youtube and the stream of water from the head seemed to be quiet, much like the stream after the flush on an HX.

If you like, post a video and this other one you found on youtube for comparison. From what you've described so far, nothing sounds out of the ordinary. The grouphead has a dampening effect on the temperature, but it's much less when the water is allowed to exit the group unabated. The group will have much more dramatic heat sink capability during an extraction when the water is entering and exiting more slowly.

Keep in mind that the brew temperature on the Cremina drifts upward with every shot. Even sitting idle, the brew temperature will increase, eventually to the point that the group no longer acts as a heat sink. You can "cheat" by wrapping the grouphead with a cool wet cloth or locking in a cold portafilter, but it's designed for two or three espresso after its warmup period and then power off until the next session. It's a very pleasant routine, once you get the hang of it.

bobcraige wrote:It is very unclear, at least me, what you are talking about. Do you have coffee in the basket when you are doing this? Is the portafilter even on the machine? Where is the hissing steaming that you describe coming from, the spouts, the shower screen, the piston shaft? It is very difficult to help without any clue what it is you are asking.

Sorry....I thought I had been pretty clear in my first post....

Grant wrote:Problem is afterwards when lifting the lever, the water exiting the head is not just water, it is hissing/steaming similar to what I am seeing like an HX cooling flush.

To add, this is with the shower screen on, (portafiler NOT attached), coming from the shower screen is a mix of hissing/bubbling water....exactly what you see coming from an HX machine doing the cooling flush. Sorry...I really don't know how to explain it any clearer, but from the sounds of it, it seems "normal".

I just looked at a few more videos, and theirs do show a lot of action (steam/bubbling/hissing) from the spouts, so I think I am on the right track.

Sounds fine to me!