Hi,

I'm looking at buying a dismantled pre-millenium Professional. It looks generally in really good condition, except that it has a horrible, big dent in the boiler. For a number of reasons (looks, safety if it's been weakened) I'm not happy using a dented boiler, so am wondering about replacing it with a new boiler.

I have just sent a couple of emails to various suppliers in NZ as well as orphan, so am waiting to hear back. While I wait, I have a couple of questions (especially as I'm on a limited budget).

1. I gather that the flange nut on this machine will be fine-threaded, as it's a pre-millenium model, and that therefore a post-millenium boiler will not fit it. Is this correct?

2. If this is true, I think I can also buy a new flange nut to go with the new boiler, thus making the new boiler compatible with the old base?

3. Are there likely to be any other compatibility issues with an old machine and a new boiler? eg have any of the other fittings changed in a way that'll make them not fit? The new removable steam wand comes to mind.

4. If a new Professional boiler turns out to be unsuitable because of compatibility or cost (poor student here), will a smaller standard Europiccola boiler fit onto the Professional base? eg there's a second-hand copper-plated one at orphan - will that do the job or are the bases/other fittings incompatible with the smaller boiler?

Hope that makes sense, thanks in advance for any guidance

Brendon

Hi Brendon, i was looking at the same auction as a project.Unfortunately, by the time you pay for a new boiler $400 NZD plus new seals ($50 NZD)plus what ever parts the owner has lost in the year its been lying around in parts it doesn't seem such a bargain.If you could find a second hand boiler it may be worth it.In the past i've bought europiccolas for $250 and professionals for $500 second hand on trade-me.
I don't think a Europiccola boiler will fit as the hole in the boiler base will be too big, so it would involve bying a new base also.I always bought my spare parts from a UK supplier as i found the local agents slow and expensive.

Thanks for the reply

Yeah I plan on going and having a look at it before buying so I know what other parts I need...

I wish I'd known about them when you were buying yours! It looks like the going rate for a professional is now closer to NZ$700 - a (pre-millenium but good cond) europiccola went for NZ$706 the other day (the seller had paid $700 for it 3 years ago heh). So yeah if I can do the whole thing for 600ish it still seems worth it... just depends on what the current "in bits" one goes for really.

Anyone care to throw light on the other questions I had? Old/new and europiccola/professional boiler compatibility in particular.

Cheers

Yeah, i got lucky with a couple of low buy-nows, but there's no way i'd pay $706 for a europiccola.As much as i like them i think they're quite overpriced, new or second hand.

Re the boiler, i may be wrong, but i don't think the boiler changed in the millenium models, just the grouphead, switches and steam wand.There were some really older models which had different flanges/elements, but i think the one listed looks fairly recent model.The owner was asking about it last year, and i offered to fix it for parts cost only, but never heard back.Here's links to a couple of handy Pavoni sites.If you do go ahead with the re-build there's plenty of helpful people on here to help

http://www.pavoniexpress.com/

http://www.espressoservices.co.uk/la_pa...parts.html

There is a pavoni boiler on ebay germany right now I think.

So there is, thanks. edit: ah, it's for a Mignon which appears to be a Germany-only basic europiccola. So, no holes for a sight glass, for a start. Also my italian ain't so good but the parts list makes it look like the diameter of the Professional is definitely larger, as suspected. :/

Thanks for the heads up though

The Europiccola boiler will fit on the Pro base....the base is identical as is the heating element and the flange.....the boiler itself is larger diameter as is the bottom skirt of the boiler but the flange nut and heating element are all the same, as are the bases. You could check Francesco's site to date the last models with the fine thread flange but not all pre millenium machines have the fine thread and some have the bolt on element. but you can switch Pro and EP boilers and bases with no problem. The Pros are all pstat control even pre millenium so that is another consideration when trying to make one machine from 2 (or 3 or 4).

Okay, sweet. Well, I've now got the bits sitting in my room (yay!) and have been able to track down a second-hand Pro boiler for a few boxes of beers so should be able to make an affordable machine! Still need a few small parts, but yay!

expect to see some newbie questions in the coming weeks :p

mmmword wrote:Okay, sweet. Well, I've now got the bits sitting in my room (yay!) and have been able to track down a second-hand Pro boiler for a few boxes of beers so should be able to make an affordable machine! Still need a few small parts, but yay!

expect to see some newbie questions in the coming weeks :p

Good to hear, was surprised to see it go for that much, but with a bargain boiler that cheap it should still work out well.Plus its a great way to get to know how your machine works. I wish parts for my old lever machines cost a few boxes of beer!

P.S i bow to Dougs superior Pavoni knowledge - turns out the bases are the same for the Pro and Europiccola

Yeah it looked like i'd get it for a hundred less, but someone pushed it at the last minute :/. I wouldn't have gone anywhere near that high if it wasn't for the cheap boiler, but yeah since the going rate for a good cond Pro seems to be about 700 I think I should do okay on it... If I can get it together, that is :p. Gotta get this boiler off first.