I found this approach much easier:

I saw your picture a while ago. Thank you for snapping it close enough that I could see the name on the gauge. That set me on the right track. I found the same gauge at Ace Hardware and the same 1/4" fitting. But I attached the gauge upside down to the steam nozzle since I don't have a 30mm socket yet to open up the machine. I had been trying to find the 25mm metric to NPT 1/4" adapter so I could pop the gauge on any old time without needing a wrench.

My Cremina is at .8 -- but now that I have had a chance to compare the Cremina to the Peppina, I'd like to try to reduce the temperature of the Cremina somewhat: when the Cremina's lever is fully raised, the water erupts furiously out of the spouts on an (empty) PF; raised to about 10 o'clock (looking from the right) the water pours out copiously but in a much gentler way. What would one expect to happen if the pressure were dropped down to .7 or .6 ? I don't remember seeing an explanation for why you keep yours at 1.0.

Regards
Timo

timo888 wrote:I saw your picture a while ago. Thank you for snapping it close enough that I could see the name on the gauge. That set me on the right track. I found the same gauge at Ace Hardware and the same 1/4" fitting. But I attached the gauge upside down to the steam nozzle since I don't have a 30mm socket yet to open up the machine. I had been trying to find the 25mm metric to NPT 1/4" adapter so I could pop the gauge on any old time without needing a wrench.

My Cremina is at .8 -- but now that I have had a chance to compare the Cremina to the Peppina, I'd like to try to reduce the temperature of the Cremina somewhat: when the Cremina's lever is fully raised, the water erupts furiously out of the spouts on an (empty) PF; raised to about 10 o'clock (looking from the right) the water pours out copiously but in a much gentler way. What would one expect to happen if the pressure were dropped down to .7 or .6 ? I don't remember seeing an explanation for why you keep yours at 1.0.

Regards
Timo

Come on now Tim,
You are way too resourcefull to not get that nut off with out a 30mm socket. Put some nice electrical tape on the contact surfaces of your crescent wrench ( adjustable end-wrench) ease it off and get inside!! You only are going to do it once. After that I just keep mine a tight- finger tight anyway. But I am with you on the steam wand spot.Thats easy -My old Cremina doesn't have the steam pipe on the side of the boiler like you modern owners, so the steam wand position is much easier for me- too bad Tim, you still can't adjust the pressurestat with out that nut removed... LOL .isn't this where I started harassing you??
Bye- see you in your La Peppina thread

I agree with Mo, time for the adjustable wrench. Probably just needs a nudge. You will only do it once. I find these machines very stable, so once adjusted you may not need to check pressure again for quite some time or until your next maintenance. I would not drop pressure down as low as you are stating. Pressure is directly related to temp as well as your steaming capability. I run mine about 1.1.

But why do you have yours set so high, Steve? What are the advantages of choosing the high end of the spec range? What didn't you like about the .8 setting?

On danno's report of the visit to the factory, these tips are relayed:

Markus also gave me some insight into the function of a Cremina. Lever machines run with very hot water, so it helps the group when pulling multiple shots to cool the portafilter by running it under cold water between shots. This way, the portafilter will absorb some of the group's heat if it has become saturated after pulling several shots. If you are pulling only a few shots in one session, heat saturation is not a problem.

Another tip is to pull shots with boiler pressure slightly reduced, between 0.7 and 0.8 bar. The Cremina maintains boiler pressure between 1.0 and 0.7 bar automatically. It might seem that high water pressure is better, but the work in extraction comes from the lever, not the boiler. Opening the steam wand to drop the pressure down a bit will help the Cremina work more as it was designed.

Regards
Timo

OK, let's open up this machine and experiment with the pressure-stat setting, to see how it might affect the brew temperature and steaming:



This Cremina was running at 1.1 not at .8 and this feels too hot to me. At 1.1, the espresso from the Cremina sometimes tastes a little cooked and it is hot on my lips.

I had little to compare it to until I'd started pulling shots from the Peppina, which is an excellent casual temperature benchmark ... if you'll permit the oxymoron.

At 1.1, observing with an empty portafilter : water flows copiously yet civilly out of the Cremina PF's spouts when the lever is raised to about 10 o'clock (looking from the right) but erupts furiously out of the spouts when the lever is raised all the way. Seething water overshoots the rim of a cappuccino cup set below below the PF. So I'm going to drop her back down to .8 and see what happens.

Here's the setup with the 1/4" male NPT threaded gauge in a straight through fitting attached to the steam wand connector:



There's still plenty of steam at .8 -- and the espresso is tasty.

Regards
Timo

Timo-

OK, what's with the headset wrench??

We may have uncovered a bike cult here as well; I'm a fixed offroader (onroad too, but mostly offroad) and Oly_Puller is a cyclist too...Rod

RCMann wrote:OK, what's with the headset wrench??

That monster wrench I picked up recently to show the locking nut on the Cremina who's the boss. But I do happen to have a Kona Bear ready to wake from its hibernation in the garage.
Regards
Timo

I noticed that you are using a pressure gauge that has range of 0-100 psi (up to 7-8 bars). I found a place on E-bay that has these with a range of 0-2 bars, very inexpensive . Here is a link to what I got:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI....K%3AMEWN%3AIT&rd=1

I also attached it at the steam wand attachment. The machine goes up to 1.0 bar than repowers when pressure drops to 0.8 bar, this is with no adjustment after 15 years of use. I am pretty sure it was not serviced, given the condition of the gaskets.

Avi Fischer wrote:I noticed that you are using a pressure gauge that has range of 0-100 psi (up to 7-8 bars). I found a place on E-bay that has these with a range of 0-2 bars, very inexpensive . Here is a link to what I got:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=8051976775&rd=1&sspagename=STRK%3AMEWN%3AIT&rd=1

Thanks for the link. I notice the gauge is rated for temperatures up to 60C. Have you had any temp-related issues? Where did you find an adapter for the 1/8" BSP taper thread?
Regards
Timo