Just got the following 'La Messoni' lever, which is actually a La Riviera Baby, which is actually a Zacconi Baby (nice pictures and exploding view here: http://www.francescoceccarelli.eu/Macch...16_eng.htm). Manual lever, outside is beautiful:


All handles and surface screws come off easily, without any force I can unscrew the portafilter handle even (which is usually horrible), so I expected it to be in good shape. Easy screws for me are a sign of maintainance.

Portafilter size is 49mm, the filters are designed in such a way that they dont fall out when knocking out the used coffee.

Now the issues.

'As good as new' the owner described it, and from the outside that might have seemed the case. However, the showerscreen is missing, and the o-ring needs replacing(, is it even there??).


Like this, it is impossible to use it as nothing would be keeping the coffee grinds from entering the system, and yeah, there seems to be quite some coffee in the boiler. I see it floating around the water level-meter, and when pulling a shot of water there's about 30 particles per 1oz. Water remains odourless and tasteless so I guess they've all lost their taste.

On this I've got the following questions

1) I guess I can get rid of these particles by good flushing?
2) Is it wise to descale the boiler with decal powder, or should I just go for (thinned) citric acid?
3) How do I exactly remove and/or clean the grouphead?
4) Does anybody know a Dutch or European shop selling the needed parts? If not I know orphanespresso is always willing to help and think along, but considering time and budget the closer the better I hope

Next issue..

There is some leaking and steaming happening from the area where the grouphead is fixed to the boiler:


I've done some searching on this and found a person with a similar problem, or is it more similar to this problem and do I need to worry?. If it is the Group to Boiler Seal that needs replacing, how do I exactly remove the grouphead? The Pavoni's and Elektra's have nice bolts, I dont see those on mine

So before I get the shower head, O-ring, a fitting tamper and become able to actually pull something... are there any other things you'd suggest me to replace? The steam handle and valve seem OK, no leaking and easily controllable good steam. Also, which direction should I turn the pstat to lower the pressure (clockwise or anticlockwise) and how much of a turn should I do (90°, 360°)?

Thanks for the time and replies, dont worry, you dont have to answer all my questions at once

I've found La Riviera Refurb, with a lot of good pictures, it will help a lot but would still appreciate your thoughts!

Unfortunately, to take off the grouphead you need to take apart the whole thing. The boiler is a three part assembly that held together by four bolts that are removed from the bottom. The grouphead is attached then to the center cylinder. Once apart, you can give it a good scrubbing to clean it. This machine is a bear to get back together as the bolts that hold it together are very long and hard to thread in. Be careful in the process not to tear the paper gaskets that connect the top and bottom sections.

For gaskets, there is a group to body gasket, two paper gaskets at the top and bottom, four small gaskets at each of the bolts and then the general group gaskets. You'll probably want to replace those as you may have trouble staying at pressure with a leak. Lack of pressure will cause grounds to flow back into the boiler.

Thanks for your reply. Do you believe the leaking comes from the group-to-boiler gasket? And for those paper gaskets, could you show me an example of these?

I'll open up my machine tonight.

This topic makes me scared though: Need gaskets and seals for an old Riviera lever machine

I suppose that with the following seals I should be on the right track:

Riviera BABY Manual Lever 2 Seal
Valve Lubricant & Sealant
Riviera Baby 3 Bolt Group to Boiler Seal
And a Group Dispersion Screen from somewhere

Is this showerscreen the correct one? http://www.orphanespresso.com/Riviera-G..._2637.html Or are the old riviera's 45mm?

Mikekarr gives good advice (he has one of these after all), but let me add this...we have both the same machine and most of the parts for it...yes one has to take the top and bottom off the machine to reach the bolts that hold the group on from the inside of the what is now a boiler cylinder. These paper boiler gaskets top and bottom have been replaced with o ring seals and the group to boiler is a silicone flat seal (yours just may need bolt tightening and no more as these silicone seals seem to last forever) We have not gotten around to making a separate category for the new Zacconi Baby or Riviera machines as there are not very many of them yet to be of a huge concern (except to YOU of course).
Portafilter gasket same as Cremina and the piston takes two w seals and the steam valve is the same as all Riviera. Your machine may be a Baby Big model, but both the Baby and Big use the same seals and gaskets.

Thanks for your response!

I did not want to wait so started opening already, which wasnt too hard, also here the screws came off easily. Although that reminds me of what you said "yours just may need bolt tightening and no more as these silicone seals seem to last forever", maybe these are also too loose.






I assume these are the o-ring seals on the bolts that keep the boiler together? Seem a bit broken now


Heating element with coffee:


I dont have the tools to reach these bolts yet, so will have to visit the hardware store first.


Good to hear that I can use the cremina portafilter gasket. Do you have any idea on the shower screen? I hope it's not the 75 USD custom cremina screen

And if my steampipe doesnt leak at 1.4 BAR, I assume it does not need replacement?

The shower screen should be like this:

I mailed Peter Bradley from 'Avicenna's Solution' about the parts and he responded within the hour that I can buy these from the zacconi workshop:

Dispersion screen 10euro
PF gasket 2.50 euro
Group to boiler 7.50 euro
piston seals 2 x 5 euro
Postage 7.50 euro

Click on the Zacconi logo on this page. You can pay by Pay Pal at the Zacconi site

So a mail is out towards zacconi, although I've read elsewhere that they can be somewhat slow in responding

The group-to-boiler seal shows a hole in the way it's wrapped up. I dont know if this is normal or if it is really this that allows the water to move all the way through it. Should it look like this?

Thightening those screws did not help, seems to be leaking and hissing even worse now

Will try removing those screws and take a look at the group-to-boiler seal when i have the spare time.

Anybody knows which type of o-rings I should get for the bolts that hold the boiler parts together?

http://www.oringen.eu/Engelse_Standard_...BS050.html


Or else I'll try to find a hardwarestore selling o-rings with one of the bolts