Well, due to a small leak out of the steam valve, the boiler on my Prestina lost enough water to expose the element, and it fried. It is so sad that a fifty year old piece of equipment has been rendered inoperative because of a little carelessness. I've called Allann Bros, and they do not have the element. Does anyone know of another element that will fit, or be made to fit, the Prestina?

In researching this, I noticed some of you have installed a thermofuse on your machines to prevent precisely this sort of thing. I could also use some help on how to do this.

Many thanks

I've gotten an element rebuilt in Hungary, and it wasn't at high cost. The Prestina's element may be fairly easy to rebuild because it's not all twisted together compared to the La Pavoni home lever element I had rebuilt. The person to ask is Gabor and his email address is:

resistenza dot 60 at gmail dot com

I expect that if you get a similarly powered element of similar shape you can see if the terminals fit through the holes in the front boiler plate. Perhaps contacting a place like espressoparts.com could get them to suggest a similar element. You might need to slightly re-drill the holes or drill new ones while sealing up the old ones, but that shouldn't be a difficult mod to do.

Added: A resettable thermal switch can be attached to the boiler, or a PID event can be set that shuts power if temperature is excessive. Either is a good idea if the machine is left unattended as when starting in the morning on a timer or leaving the room and having a leak occur.

Thank you Gary. I've contacted Gabor and am waiting for his reply.

One element at La Spaziale fits perfectly, I don't remember exactly the reference but you can probably get it at espressoparts. Will tell you more later if you need.

I'll be interested to know that part, Pascal. It's a good reference point.

Ref at Ascaso are SP.427 (220v) and SP.428 (110v). I didn't find at espressopart but they can probably provide with these references.

Thank you. That should help anyone who is looking.

Pascal, thank you so much! I will follow up on that.

Hello:

negrocorto wrote: ...some of you have installed a thermofuse on your machines to prevent precisely this sort of thing.
I could also use some help on how to do this.

Sure.

IMO it is absolutely essential to have this level of protection for your element, besides whatever else controls your boiler. (pressurestat/PID)

See this post here:
La Cimbali Junior - Replacement Heating Element Different

My Cimbali Jr. D/1 is on a timer and has a PID, the Sirai set high as a safety backup and a single pole resettable thermal cut-off. The ideal is a double pole resetable model, much more expensive but highly reliable.

A bad combination of Murphy's Law events can make for the perfect disaster but the little thingy will do it's job and save your precious element. Please don't ask how I know. =-/

Having a resettable thermal protection installed (instead of the OEM auto-reset) saved my Cimbali's element, probably more than once.

Cheers,

CIV

Update: Today I received the heating element that Pascal suggested, and it fits the Prestina almost perfectly; I will need to enlarge the holes on the boiler plate slightly, but the element itself does not need to be altered at all. The element is Mod #SP.428, which is for an Ascaso Professionale. The guys at 1st-Line got it for me.

Pascal, thanks again!