Hi,

I managed to screw up my machine the last time I tried to repair it, so I had to wait for a part, and I took it to a tech to have him set it up. Shortly after the machine came back, (I don't mean to imply the tech messed anything up) when pulling the first shot of the day, I got a good deal of resistance when flipping the lever to start the extraction.

That eventually went away, but now when I flip the lever, it takes about 10 secs to come up to pressure, and the meter reads around 11bar. Is this simply a matter of adjusting the pressure?

I am getting ok shots as is, but wondering if anyone else has had this issue.

Do you know the state of your water quality, in particular regarding scale?

Sounds like the brew lever cam needs to be lubricated if it's hard to operate. Water quality issues might be affecting brew pressure ramp up time.

badperson wrote:when pulling the first shot of the day, I got a good deal of resistance when flipping the lever to start the extraction.
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The above sounds like your expansion valve isn't (Or wasn't at that time) opening. Pressure inside the Heat Exchanger is going to climb as the HX goes from room temp to above boiling, without the expansion valve to limit to 12-15 bar or whatever, it gets so high that the pressure pushing your brew valve closed is frighteningly strong when you try to raise the lever and move the cam against it... I wonder if now it has fixed itself by breaking something and there's a constant leak from the heat exchanger out over the expansion valve that now doesn't hold in the 12-15 bar it should, or backward over the check valve and out the priming valve direction or somewhere, and that's why it seems to take so long to get any flow because you have to replace the Heat Exchanger water that flowed away at idle.
Are you noticing any other symptoms? Warm reservoir water? Dripping from the group head drain at idle or when heating?

If you find it's not the expansion valve, as JRising suggests (and he's a heck of a lot more knowledgeable than me in fixing machines), I would suggest removing the outer shell, then warming up the machine until your coffee boiler is at temperature and adjusting brew pressure. Put a blind basket in your pf handle and engage it on the group, then start the pump. When it ramps up to full pressure, use a flat head screwdriver and turn the adjustment screw in the pump counter clockwise until you have the pressure gauge reading about 1/2 bar higher than you want to extract...I.e., if you want to extract at 9 bar, adjust to pressure to 9.5 with the blind basket inserted.

I've actually removed and reinstalled the shell with the machine at full operating temp. You just need to be careful not to touch any electrical components or wires, or any of the hot pipes (steam and hot water close to the valves). Shell casing nuts on the DII are 10mm, I'd guess the DIV is the same.

Also, maybe before you do this, remove the shower screen and check it is clean. Some techs will put a little lube (Dow-111 or similar) on the group gasket and the inner sleeve of the screen, where it slides in the group. If they over do it, the screen can get clogged. You can clean it well with Bar Keeper's Friend or even put it in the dishwasher.

As mentioned, remove your group level and lube the cam...easy peasy...but if you need a guide/how to, Randy Glass has one on his espressomyespresso site.

Are you noticing any other symptoms? Warm reservoir water? Dripping from the group head drain at idle or when heating?

the drip tray does seem to be filling up a good deal faster, and the reservoir emptying faster.