Hello Coffee Wizards,

I have a new Pavoni in my collection and I thought I would share it with you all.
It appears to be a Pavoni PUB unit from the 80's (anyone know any different?)
It was owned by Glaxo Research Group according to the asset identity sticker on the rear of the case.

It was barely used or very well cleaned by someone but not maintained...
Self tapping screw, a chisel and a dremmel were required to remove the group seal... It was like granite!

All the specs I have found for the Pavoni PUB show a 6.5 litre boiler and an external pump... but this little (lightweight) only holds 1.5 litres in its lovely stainless boiler.... all plumped in with autofill.

In the picture below you can clearly see the boiler is about the same size as the pump:


In the last week I have done 1.5Kg of beans... It took me a while to match the grind to the pump... and then when I did, I was not happy with the extraction... so I went to a finer grind and screwed the pump return screw in until I was happy.... It measures 12 BAR at the group head.... 22 seconds for a 60ml shot of pure heaven

The steamer has 3 holes at the bottom and 1 in the side and makes amazing microfoam:


I could not be more pleased with this machine...

If anyone has any info on this kind of Pavoni PUB I would very happy...

Wow. Been a long time since I've seen one of those in such nice shape. And I've never seen one w/ an internal pump. Or such a small boiler for that matter.

Does this use the "basket type" dispersion screen with the built in PF spacer? I haven't seen those available for a long time.

Hm. might be difficult to find an element if it ever burns out.....

Only info I have is from memory, no specs. What is it you want to know?

That's a semi automatic machine versus the automatics with flowmeters. If you have not cracked the boiler open yet, you really should to make sure that it is free of debris and scale, and it would also give you an opportunity to give the whole internals a freshening. The boiler capacity should indeed be 6L. You are correct in that they are awesome little machines. I loved my Pub S but moved on to levers eventually. If you are brewing at 12 bar then I would think that your gauge is out of calibration, you should be at about 9 bar. But while you are at it, I would also suggest that you change out the membrane for the pressurestat as well. If you grouphead gasket was granite then that membrane may not be in the best condition either. It's a simple machine to work on, just take lots of pictures for reference. Enjoy.

Hi Norm,
The dispersion screen is a standard flat one with a screw in the middle like other commercial machines.
Not sure what you mean about a spacer for the pf. The pf's are standard full size Pavoni Commercial, interchangeable with my 2 Group Pavobi BAR.

I suppose what I really want to know, given the machines performance, small foot print and manageable weight, is why more machines don't have such small boilers...

And a scan of a sales brochure and spec would be nice

I can only assume that the machine sat unused in an over-equiped kitchen where no one knew how to use it

Hi Steve,
I haven't had a poke inside the boiler.... I'll wait until I have a week off... not work... coffee
There is no way you could squeeze 6 litres of anything liquid into that boiler
I fitted a pressure gauge to the pf, the machine has no pump pressure gauge... so the 12BAR can't be that far out, its a new gauge I used for measuring Hydrogen on my home power system...

I don't know anything about pressurestat membranes... but now you mention it... I'll google it ASAP...

As for Levers.... I love them... Just teetering on the brink of purchasing a Gaggia Visacrem... The missus has already left so there are no 'sobering' influences in the building....

Thanks for the Membrane Hint

Sorry, no sales brochures. I just installed and fix them.

Under commercial use, the steam and water valve drives frequently need new O rings and lubrication. Sight glass seals, I would think need attention, and the "spalletta" (shoulder) of the group head shield are fragile and should not be leaned on. (the red plastic sides of the uppper front housing).

No water pressure gauge? Another unusual feature.
I would definatly be concerned about the availability of a replacement element. And as far as the Gaggia leva, from what I've heard, at least the older ones used asbestos for the main piston seals. Something to be concerned about....

Why didn't they make more? I would guess precisely because of the small boiler size. All of the one groups w/ internal pumps that I've seen are housed in a two group chassis and indeed have the larger boiler.

I was thinking of getting the shoulders remade in stainless and putting the original plastic safely in the attic...

I'm capable of not leaning on it... but I hope to use it at festivals this summer and would prefer a bullet proof machine... I'm not too worried about the element... I'd like to do a propane/lpg conversion...

Do propane power boiler machines have heat shields inside?

Any threads on doing a gas conversion?

I have had a sneaky drip from the hot water tap.... stripped it twice... replaced it and no drips, a few days later more drips.... stripped... no drips... so far

I have had a few Aprillias and an Alfa Romeo, I know how much love these Italian Machines require...

So... is it a 'special' oddball then?

I just noticed rust on the pressostat cover. Any steam leaks you're going to want to take care of pronto.
Replacing the rubber seal on the water valve is only a temporary and partial fix if you don't also recut the notch out of the valve seat. For myself I had to make a special tool to do this. A replacment valve is possible but the new valves I've seen are slightly different than the one I would expect to see in that vintage of a machine.

Noticing now that you're "over there" you may have an easier time finding an element for the thing but I can't imagine how you're going to fit a propane burner under that skinny little boiler. Or for that matter, whether it could keep up with even a moderate demand an "event" implies.

Just finished converting a two group astoria leva to propane.....

Ah, they still sell Alfas over there.... We keep hearing they're coming to the states. Always next year.

Hi Norm,
Have you any pictures of your leva gas conversion?

There is rust on everything here (re pressostat... its england

Even fibreglass goes rusty here

Not many Alfas here, warranty plus a third and they die???
A bit like all those broken bean to cup machines on devilbay....

Have a brilliant weekend and thanks for the advice,

Oliver

Oliver,

Sorry, no photos. not equipt at this time. Interesting job though. Customer has only access to 110 v at the "farmers market". Has two, propane powered two group leva machines and a constant line of customers.
One machine is almost dead and needs replacing.

Seems impossible to find propane parts over here, although there are some propane machines and so used parts.
A San Marco burner was cut up, rewelded and shaped to fit the Astoria frame. A supplimental 110v 1300w heating element was added along with a domestic liquid level control. So this machine is actually gas AND electric, each controlled by separate pressostats. Quick disconnects added to the gas and water lines and I'm workng on a "out of water" alarm system now.

Also adding a liquid level control to the second "working" machine.
Not done yet but kept me busy for several weeks.