Hi!
I'm a total barista newbie and I just got my hands on an old (mid-eighties?) La Pavoni Professional. It looks really nice, but unfortunately it doesn't build up pressure. I know it has just been standing in a storage for at least ten years so my guess is that I have to change the gaskets.

I found the great guide to "Refeather the Peacock"
http://www.home-barista.com/forum...placement-t70.html
but I ran into some troubles at the point where I'm supposed to remove the plunger and the group head screen.
It's COMPLETELY stuck. I've tried to invert the group head and carefully press the plunger through, but it doesn't move at all. I've tried to gently tap on it with a rubber hammer, but still no success.



My questing is, how much force do you think I can use without breaking the whole thing?
I'm thinking about putting it in a vise (vice?), but I'm afraid I'll break the basket and the inflict som serious damage to the group head.

I would really need some good advice so I can start up my career as a home barista

Best regards,
Finn

I have a Europiccola that I rebuilt, very similar to yours.

If you have a brass piston, I would suggest you try unscrewing the piston post, then heat the whole group in a pot of hot soapy water to see if it will clean anything that is sticking and help expand the metal a little. Then while warm, scrape away the shower-screen gasket, replace the post, and use some force to push the piston through. Worst case: you have to buy a new screen and gaskets, which it sounds like you are doing anyway. Protect the grouphead and post from damage however, they're expensive.

If you have a plastic piston, I would be very careful pushing too hard. I guess try the process above, and prepare to buy a new piston if needed.

Let us know how it goes...

Bill

Nylon pistons will only be in later models.

Given the design of the machine I wouldn't worry too much about breaking anything. Do use a rubber mallet for your whacking and do put the group on something wooden so you don't dent anything.

I do like the idea of some very hot soapy water. You can really loosen up the seals that way. Don't be afraid to use water just off the boil, as that's what the machine would be producing anyway.

I would also remove the boiler tube before doing any of this. Brass can be very soft and that's an easy tube to break, speaking from experience.

Woho! After some heavy thinking I decided to go ahead and give the group head a really good spanking. I armed myself with a nice hammer and a piece of wood to put on top of the plunger and then I got to work. I put the head on a bench and gave it a few rather good shots. AHA! I could see the screen and gasket moving! I felt I was on the right path and continued working with the hammer. Just some more shots and the plunger was out!

I've taken the whole group head apart and changed the gaskets according to the guide. After breaking it apart everything else was a piece of cake

The whole thing is now re-assembled and my La Pavoni builds up pressure like never before. For a while i was afraid it would just continue past the 2 bar mark, but it stopped there. I tried to make two shots of espresso and they turned out ok. Guess I have to read more about how to make the perfect one...

Thanks a million for all the good advice!
See you around,

/finn - the barista rookie

The La Pavoni Professional I got used was also set near to 2 bars when I got it (meaning that the pressurestat, an electrical component at the base of the machine will cut the current when the pressure in the boiler reaches around 2 bars, this component has a screw in the middle that can be played with to adjust this threshold pressure). The pressure gauge is also likely to be one of the older ones advising higher pressures than the newer versions. In my case the pressure gauge stopped working after a couple of months of operating the machine, and I realized after buying a new one that I was accustomed to relatively very high pressures both for brewing and for steaming. My advice is to adjust the pressurestat as soon as possible for ultimate steaming (1.0 bar is really enough), and to manually turn the machine off upon brewing to facilitate avoiding burnt shots (Note however that you can pull good shots with 1.5 bars of pressure, that is, the temperature of the boiler water and the pressure are to a large extent of little relevance to the brew water temperature, the most important factor however is the thermal condition of the group... THIS is the most important factor, the water at the boiler is at temperatures higher than 100 degrees centigrade and is always ready to burn pucks).

I hope this helps lengthening the life of the pressure gauge you have. This is because the La Pavoni gauge is pretty, pretty expensive, and because the newer gauge is in my opinion uglier, and thicker than the older one (it's no longer wholly in chrome, brass or gold but has come to have a black plastic casing with only a chrome, brass or gold frontal circular frame).

Note: More than two bars is a very high pressure I believe for pulling shots, it corresponds to a higher temperature of the boiler water and thus, makes the heat-sinking job of the grouphead a more difficult one. It's difficult to avoid burnt shots when pulling at more than 2 bars of pressure. The point I believe is to use the least pressure enough to pump water to the group, 0.8 or 0.9 bars are enough in my case, turn the machine off, pull, turn it on again, fill the pitcher, it's 1.0 bar and you're ready to go.