I lost my element at the weekend and of course being me I looked at every which way to replace it without going down the simple root of buying a stock replacement.

The issue started with the RCD tripping in the fuse board in the house after descaling the machine. I checked the resistance and it was fine for the 1Kw rating (50 ohms on 230v element). What I did not check initially was the insulation resistance (leakage between the element and effectively earth). That was below 0.5 Mohm at room temp. (not accurate on a multimeter but good enough). I tried to improve matters by running it on a none RCD circuit, it worked and the IR came up to 2-3 Mohms. But this morning it was tripping again. Finally found the problem, there was a tiny pin hole in the sheath and by descaling it must have holed it and contaminated the element/ammonium hydroxide and killed it's insulation properties and tripped the RCD as the current to earth was over 30mA. Quite a detective story.

Anyway I have stripped down the heater to the base plate and managed to cleanly remove the element sheath. I found a heating element out of a pump machine which appeared to be ideal (and I had one) but problem was the original holes are too close to the edge to get a nut onto the ferrule. I am now looking into re-manufacturing the element onto the base plates Just to get an idea, how many of you have failed elements (one element/2 element types in pressed steel, forged steel, 110v/230v. How many Pavoni's are out there sitting unloved and dead, with the screw on bases??. I have now asked a couple of manufacturers of elements. Has this been looked at before? Anyone doing this? Any comments?. Would anyone be interested in a re-manufactured part at a significantly lower price? Bulk buy?

Great detective story indeed! But too bad about the La Pav. Burned elements is the bane of the old machines of all types and that thread on double element for the vintage La Pav is one of the worst. For almost the price of a used machine one can try to work out a La Pavoni bolt on and a changed out fine thread brass collar. The bolt on steel base is at least semi affordable in relation to the cost of a parts machine. Some other elements such a Elektra will match the element holes (once drilled out) for the 800W element but npt the 300W, so high but no low, which is a problem. When the double high/low element goes this is when one realizes that they should have spent the extra money on a Pro model, since that single coil element is so much cheaper. If you can find someone to make the 300 and 800 for a direct drill and bolt job that would be a welcome path to La Pavoni resurrection indeed.
Perhap in the UK you have some manufacturers who do not mind the small jobs and will take you seriously. It seems in the States that many manufacturers would rather sit and stare at the phone waiting for that big order from GM rather than take a small time order sieriously. We have sent specs to a lot of companies and heard ZERO.

One manufacturer has declined already but the other is still interested. It more a question of volume and cost, than technical, as the elements are very simple to produce and form. The ferrule idea is out due to the proximity of the hole to the o ring channel in the pressed steel plate. Is the Elektra element attached by ferrules to the base? 300w on the none stat types could be produced but it is normally the 800w that goes? The issue now apart from getting the element is attaching them to the base plate. The best way is to attach into the original holes by welding or possibly silver soldering? How many units could you repair a year if you had a source for 110v 300w/800w? (pm me?). It is the potential qty which will be the most persuasive factor.

If any one has any failed units laying in the garage cut off the elements and send to me? I have few of each type but it's not enough to experiment on re-attachment. PM me for address, I'll pay postage.

I'm not giving in yet!