Hello,

I am a newbie here. I've had my Napolitana for several years, and loved it. Has always made great coffee, and only had one hiccup. A year or so ago, the pump stopped pumping, and I read about the reset button in the innards, pressed it and problem solved.

Until now.

Yesterday, the machine stopped pushing the water thru with sufficient pressure. Seemed like a quantum failure; ie, no indication of impending problem during prior use. I will note that I had used a new grinder, with apparently very fine setting. But the problem occurs even with coffee ground in the Napolitana, at the old setting.

The pump still seems to be operating, though laboring and not getting the coffee thru the shower screen (well, wait 5 minutes, you might get a cup. But that worries me that I'm burning up the pump). I pressed the reset button anyway (try what you know), but no effect. Well, first time I rebrewed after that, water did come thru showerscreen (with no basket attached), but still seemed anemic pressure-wise. Made one 5 minute cup of coffee, then decided I needed further investigation.

My next thought was to clean the showerscreen, and that's why I'm posting on this forum. For the life of me, I cannot figure out how to remove the screen. There's a sort of nut holding it in place, but there's no purchase area around it. I read on another site (coffee connosiuer) that Napolitana and Lelit PL042 were the same underneath, and THAT site said to whack it counterclockwise with a flat head screwdriver until screen began to loosen, then it would unscrew. But that just sounds wrong, and even little taps didn't loosen the screen).

So I come here looking for advice. Both with the overall failure (ie, insufficient water pressure) and removing the screen to clean it. I've attached a pic of the screen.

Thanks in advance for any help.

With the caveat I haven't worked on one of these, why not get a grip on the nut with the proper sized metric socket wrench and turn it out? If the wrench can't get in there would needle-nosed pliers do the trick?

Hmm. There is absolutely NO purchase on that "nut", no clearance whatsoever. I don't think it's actually holding the screen in place, since there's no way to loosen or tighten.
The advice to whack the screen actually showed whacking the edge of the screen, not attacking the center. The implication is that the screen itself "screws" in or out. But whacking it just screams "destroy".

The nut probably is holding the screen in place. If you look closely maybe you can tell us if there's a screw in the middle. What about needle-nosed pliers? Another option might be an oil filter wrench, like this, if it'll get a grip. I wonder what service techs use with this model of La Pavoni or Lelit machine? Have you contacted a dealer of those? Another alternative is to repetitively backflush using JoGlo or Pulycaff and a blind filter basket. If you do this for about 30 seconds at a time and let the pump rest it may clean your shower screen without removing it.

I can't tell from the picture (resolution) but maybe the hole in the centre of the bolt is a Allen (or Torx) key hole.

okmed wrote:I can' tell from the picture (resolution) but maybe the hole in the centre of the bolt is a Allen (or Torx) key hole.

Yes a better picture would help. It sorta looks like a hex-head screw but that hole looks like it might take an allen wrench or a torx. Your screen is held in place by the screw. They get frozen/stuck and can be a problem to remove sometimes even with the right tool. Remember to loosen counterclockwise from the point of view of looking at the screw. See here: shower screen retaining screws stuck/frozen and also this discussion at CoffeeSnobs related to that.

If you don't do detergent backflushing, that is possibly related to your clogging. You could try doing some repeated detergent (Cafiza, First Circle, Joe-Go, etc) backflushing with a blind PF. Run the pump no more than 30 secs, then let it rest a minute or two before running again and you shouldn't need to worry about pump overheating.

Just came across a Napolitana PA-1200 user manual * and see that detergent backfushing is not part of their routine maintenance. Makes sense because I don't think this machine has a conventional 3-way solenoid on the group. I don't think it would hurt though and might help clean the screen.

Note the manual's advice on blockage is to first make sure your basket isn't clogged. If it fails to deliver with no PF in place you make sure it's not a pump priming problem, then you "remove the screen by removing the screw" and clean the shower screen.

Your dilemma with the screw (a hex screw with no clearance for a socket?) is interesting. Hope some folks with direct experience on this machine have some advice on that.


* Manual is online thanks to HB sponsor, 1st Line Equipment.

Hello, I've worked on the Napolitana previously and to remove the shower screen the allen screw must be removed first. With the allen screw removed the shower screen can be easily removed. I would suggest soaking the screen in espresso machine detergent and brushing it to remove all of the coffee oils.

As for backflushing, the Napolitana does not have a 3-way solenoid valve. Espresso machine detergent can be ran through the water tank but the majority of your pressure loss would be due to a clogged shower screen or scale build up.

On that note, it is important to descale your machine regularly if you use hard water. Scale build up with coat all of the lines and boilers causing lower pressure and temperatures.

So, to help the OP, does anyone know what size Allen/hex wrench this bolt takes? Otherwise, he can get a cheap set with common sizes:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00I5T ... g469_i1_bs

This is a Euro machine, so probably safe to assume metric bolts, be sure to get a metric wrench!

If you're a bicyclist or have a bicyclist friend you may have access to something like this:


This one, for example, has every metric size from 1.5mm to 6mm.