Hi folks. I'm new to HB and this is my first post. Just got delivery on an Izzo Alex Leva. Machine is a work of art and I can't wait to use it. I've been reading the included manual, trying to prepare/educate myself on using the Leva while waiting for an electrician to help me get in my 20amp line. So, to keep this brief - can anyone help me find something useful to read to find out how to set/change the PID controller? I've never used one before and the page in the manual covering the PID is totally useless to me. I would be happy to include a picture of that page, but I can't figure out how to do that. Thanks for any assistance. JohnW

Welcome to HB John!

I've had a Leva for a few years now. It's an excellent machine. The easiest advice is to dial in the PID to the temp that gives you the steaming performance you like, then, secondary to that, if you like darker classic Italian style roasted espresso blends, aim for the lower side of this temp. If you're and acid head, wanting brighter snappier shots, aim higher. It's not much more complicated than that.

The Leva, and many large commercial levers like it are all about learning how to dance with it, not how to program it to churn out one specific thing. It's a bit frustrating that the manual isn't very helpful in this regard. They don't even have a clear explanation of what the pre-infusion lever does at the back of the group. And after a few years of fiddling with it, I've concluded that it essentially does nothing important. You can move it's position which will alter the point that the lever fills on the upstroke by a small margin. I don't see how this makes any difference when that whole chamber still has to fill from the boiler, at boiler pressure anyway. Little things like that can be irksome, but the shots they pull are fantastic, dead quiet and the machine is built to a very high standard.

Thank you, Tom.

I'm sure (well, I hope) at some point I will be close to where you are on the finer points of directing the extraction flavors in various directions using the many variables at our disposal, one of which being the temperature of the steam boiler. However, believe it or not, I'm at an even more basic level with this PID, specifically, just how do I set it? The manual is really useless here. For example, when I turn on the machine, will the PID give me the temp the boiler will reach? Will I just use the up and down arrows to change the setting? When I use the machine for the first time, should I just not worry about it or even pay any attention to it?

As you can see I really don't know what I'm doing with this PID controller.

John

I suspect there are many Youtube videos available showing how to use a PID. They are a widely used regulator if I'm not mistaken.

Barney,
Thanks for the reply. I looked around on the net and YouTube for this. They all seem to be dual control PIDs. As the Alex Leva is just a single boiler, the PID is controlling just the steam temp. I did watch an Alex Duetto PID video, and I think I should be able to extrapolate from that procedure. Thanks for the inspiration.

John

Hello JohnW.

Not sure if you feel your question was really answered, therefore two points for you:

If you want to change the PID setting temperature just press 1) the down-button followed by 2) the up-button. This enters the change mode and then 3) press the up- or down-button as you need.
You need to be quite fast, as the IAL quits this mode in less than a second.

The temperature for both, water and steam, is the same.

BR
peter

Peter,
Thanks so much for the reply and the information. That was exactly what I have been looking for! I tried out the procedure this morning and it worked perfectly.

The PID temperature setting directly impacts the steam pressure that drives preinfusion and indirectly effects the temperature of the group head. Most dippers run a boiler temperature between 235-250 degrees F. Varying the boiler temperature and changing the length of preinfusion are the two primary adjustments you can make. If you want to see directly the impact you can mount a thermocouple to the group (or place a stick-on thermometer on the group).