Dear community, thanks for inviting me for doing my first post!

I have a problem with my recently acquired Caravel v1.1. Its heating elements are positioned at such high level, that I cannot anymore put the boiler into my caravel. I have attached two pictures that demonstrate the issue





As a workaround, in order to be able to put the boiler in, I have to loosen the two screws below the ceramic insulation element, such that the heating element isn't fixed. Here's the view from the bottom:



Doing that, with some force I can manage to put the boiler in, but it causes considerable high forces onto the heat elements, and I have already seen the heating elements wear out (there are light silver spots on it) and hear the ceramic insulation element crack a little when I'm pulling my espressos. Also, the heating pipes will be between the boiler surface and the bowl edges, instead of resting inside the bowl like I see in many pictures of other Caravels. What you can also see in the last picture, is that the ceramic element already touches the body of the Caravel and already burst off a bit.

Can someone please help me with fixing this? I don't know what screw to tighten or loosen in order for the heating elements to go to sufficient low altitude such that the 9 bars are not passed on to the ceramic element and heating elements? Thanks a lot and sorry for my poor english.

Can I suggest you do not use the machine until you have fixed the problem as you risk damaging various parts. The element is sitting too high for some reason and that needs to be fixed. It is not right and we have to find the correct reason for this. Can you take a photo of the heating pipes (element) from the top.

Possibility the original element has been replaced with an after market element and it's two end poles are too long preventing the element from sitting at the correct height. I suggest you remove the element and take a photo to show us.

Thanks for confirming that this is not in normal condition. Certainly I won't use this anymore until it's fixed. When I received it, I had no idea about this state of affairs, but because I didn't have a proper power cable I did some shots without using the heating element. Then I replaced the old power cord with a modern cord that has a ground-wire (EU "Schuko"). While doing that I did wonder about those two loose screws and thought I shall fix them. Afterwards I noticed that I cannot anymore put the boiler in, and then I noticed that it's all "screwed up". My guess is that someone else back in the years had similar problems and when applying too much force on the pipes, they burst the ceramic insulation.

Here are two pictures from top

Ok, this is an after market element. It is also missing a V piece under the element which actually maintains the height. There are others who know where you can source an after market element which will fit.

Seacoffee wrote:Possibility the original element has been replaced with an after market element and it's two end poles are too long preventing the element from sitting at the correct height. I suggest you remove the element and take a photo to show us.

What I find weird, is that the ceramic block touches the Caravel body at the bottom and bursted off. That seems to not fit together. Does that mean the whole ceramic block is also an aftermarket element? If I'm getting another heating element, I imagine the ceramic block would still be in its current weird position, but it should not be hanging that low from what I can see from other pictures.

Seacoffee wrote:Ok, this is an after market element. It is also missing a V piece under the element which actually maintains the height. There are others who know where you can source an after market element which will fit.

Can I use the heating element from http://www.brooks-usedespressomachines. ... .3-version ? It looks the same, so I'm not sure whether it's any different. But it's for versions 1.0 through 1.3

I do not believe the ceramic block is after market. Given the pressure put on it and if it was also loose then I may not take much to crack it.

You will also see the element does not fit the shape very well either. I suggest you contact Brooks and see what he has to say. Can you show a photo of the whole machine, the emblem, light and top. This can confirm the model. Actually I can see it is a Caravel not the Vam series.

The element may in fact be a Brooks element. It may also be possible to cut say 5 mm from each end. This will drop the height but still have enough thread to connect the wires. Again check with Brooks. What have you got to lose, the element is not usable as it is.

These are pictures of my machine, that I received before aquiring it: . From what I can deduce by comparison with here: http://www.francescoceccarelli.eu/m_arrarex_eng.htm it's the v1.1 . It also has a hole in the piston, which I learned is only present in the caravels, not in the VAMs. I greased the piston and replaced all the seals on it, as I aquired a new set of brooks seals together with the machine.

Yes, it is the model i thought. The V piece is missing and it is an after market element which does not fit properly. So the answer is to either find the correct size element or possibly trim the existing element.

Try just taking off 4 mm of the end, I think that should be enough and should not compromise the element.

Thanks for your valuable advice. I have consulted brooks to hear his opinion and may be trying to trim the heating element. That should solve the problem with the element being too high up.

Afterwards I need to solve the problem with the ceramic thingy scratching on the metal casing of the Caravel, to prevent it from crushing further. From looking at the top, the bowl below the heating element that holds the ceramic thingy seems to be fixed using springs onto the casing, and I would need to push the bowl higher up so that the ceramic thingy doesn't touch the casing anymore. The two screws at the right in my last picture above (the ones at the "V" and "M" of the VAM branding) seem to control the height of the bowl, but I can't for the life of me figure out how to loosen or tighten them, since these screw heads are completely flat.