I just purchased a used la pavoni Europiccola (4 years old model).
I'm having problems producing good coffee (tried different grinder settings, different tamps etc) but little coffee was coming out. So I removed the portafilter and tried to see what happened if I raised the handle:
Water starts flowing out very slowly - is this right?
I have found tons of videos showing the machine pulling very nice shots, but only one showing a (pre millennium) machine without portafilter - and it showed a lot of steam being released through the filterless group head (this is not the same machine as mine)

I'm thinking if the water is not flowing in the right manner I stand no chance brewing coffee - so how should the water flow: below boil/boiling/steam? , speed/pressure?

Best regards

Asger

There is also the chance that the piston rod/piston has unscrewed and the piston isn't clearing the water inlet hole.

My machine had similar symptoms with no water coming out of the group. Does your machine build enough pressure? Are there any pressure leaks?
Here is a link to my earlier posting and some of the suggestions/solutions. Good Luck!

La Pavoni Europiccola Pre-M: No pressure or water in group at Level I and some at Level II

KnowGood wrote:There is also the chance that the piston rod/piston has unscrewed and the piston isn't clearing the water inlet hole.

That could well be the problem if you have a Millenium model that still has the nylon piston: they were prone to unscrewing.

Here is roughly what it should look like on the "I" setting when it's fully warmed up:



That's a video of my machine, running on the 200W element - fully heated.

If you check out my PID videos, you can also see some testing where I lift the handle. In fact, here's the link:



check the video at around 18:25 and you can see I lift the handle with the machine at a very low temperature (only around 200 degrees). This shows how mild the water flow is at a less than full temp/pressure setting. On the "I" setting, you should have quite a bit of pressure. In fact, if you check my other video (the temperature testing one), I use the PID controller to check the functioning of the machine in the "I" setting. The video(s) may help you figure out where your machine stands as far as temperature, etc.

Ray

michaelbenis wrote:That could well be the problem if you have a Millenium model that still has the nylon piston: they were prone to unscrewing.

My machine is an Europiccola from about 2006-2007. Would this have the nylon piston by default?
The machine is visually in good shape, with no pressure leaks - but I dont think that it has been serviced.
But water is not coming out steaming of the grouphead nor with a lot of pressure.

I should probably take this to a service check to have it working before I start climbing the learning curve WRT making shots.
I guess I should have the following done:
- internal clean?
- gaskets replaced?
- piston replaced?

Thanks for the folks

Asger