Hi All,

Just a quick question with hopefully a quick and easy answer.

I've just put a new OEM rubber plug at the bottom of the steam valve and put a new OEM washer on the valve. In doing so I have assiduously followed these Orphan Espresso instructions http://www.orphanespresso.com/Olympia-C...548-1.html .

I've had my 1973 Cremina going on 4 years now and have done this twice before with no problems. This time, however, when I fire up the machine I get hardly any steam pressure. I get some, but not enough to steam milk.

I've openned up the valve and fiddled with it to check whether I inserted it all correctly but to no avail. I just can't work out why I can't get any steam pressure. Everything feels OK. The valve opens and closes smoothly.

Anyone with any ideas?

Robert

Sounds like the valve stem is not unscrewing far enough within the housing to allow steam to escape and come through the wand.
Maybe with the knob off use a wrench to unscrew the stem, while assembled in the housing, to eliminate the possibility of a bore out knob.
Also, I'd check to make sure the old and new o-ring & bottom stem washer are relatively the same size.
Last could be scale buildup in the assembly or a piece of the bottom stem washer or o-ring blocking the steam.
Assuming you did use lubricant?. That's all I got, good luck

Not having the machine in front of me I can only speculate here but....
Since you changed the bibb washer (the one on the end) the old one possibly had failed....since the machine pulls a vacuum when cool after use if there was some loose bit of washer there it could have gotten sucked back into the back part of the faucet (the 1973 will have small holes in the body of the faucet at the point where it fits into the rectangular steam boss at the top of the boiler) and these holes could become plugged or restricted somehow.
Let's say that the steam holes in the faucet body are clear then it could be that the end washer is too tall and therefore the valve is not opening far enough. Since you pointed out that the parts are OEM, meaning Olympia-Express sourced I would be a bit suspicious and lean toward this second possibility of a too tall bibb washer on the end. Basically when you get parts from Switzerland they send you the part that fits the current machine and not necessarily one that fits the older machine, IF that part has been changed over time. I have gotten the new steam valve from them but did not measure the height of that washer but it is within reason to compare your old part to the new replacement and see if they are the same height.
And a third guess, you may not have the retaining screw seated completely...you have to turn the screw until it stops at the bottom of the thread run otherwise it can be too tall and even work its way out.

3 steam valve rebuilds in 4 years? Sounds a bit like the clutch on my old Saab!

Thanks to both of you Heckie and Doug.

I will take the thing to pieces later today and report back, but at the moment I think it might be the first problem that Doug mentioned, a loose bit of washer. For the old bib washer had almost totally disintegrated and mabe a small fragment of the old one is blocking the steam.

As for the the old Saab joke, I had one, and certainly it was worse than my cremina, which in fact has only gone through 2 steam valves in 4 years. (The third change was unnecessary and was the result of another problem which I wrongly diagnosed to be the bib washer). But yes, Doug, it does remind me to buy a couple more bib washers from you when I place my next order for gaskets et al.

I'll be back with results soon.

Robert

OK, thanks to Doug's advice problem has been fixed. Left over parts of the old bib washer were lodged in the deepest parts of the steam valve

All is working well now, so chalk this up as another success to this fabulous forum. How one can own and run an old lever machine without it beats me.

Robert

To add to your last comment, Robert, what I think really helps is also when someone comes back - as you have done - and let's everyone know what worked.

That's great for all of us. So many thanks to you, too!

I shall be filing this away in one of my two remaining brain cells....

Cheers

Mike

Amen to that, thanks Robert!

I'm really impressed with the depth of knowledge here on the workings of the Cremina machine. I've had mine since 1990 and have probably made 6,000 to 8,000 cups of cappuccino with it without ever needing a repair. I use only distilled water which I think is a big part of the story. At this point I'm starting to get leaks that are affecting the quality of the espresso but unlike the rest of you who are posting here I'm not ready to take the machine apart and fix it myself. Does anyone know where to take the machine to get it fixed in New York? Thanks for your help.

Rudie's, they fixed a customer of mine's Cremina machine several years ago.

Rudie's L & R Espresso repair
New York, NY
(212) 245-4966

I'll call them and let you know what happens.