I bought my Stradivari in 2008. Since then aside from its group gaskets and a few other minor swap outs she has been churning out beautiful espresso. However back when I moved to Alabama I lived with my sister for a short while with long tons of children running about. At the time I was also working stupidly long hours. So when my group started leaking it was obvious I needed a new piston sleeve oring and maybe a new sleeve too. But due to lack of time I left it for later and just made french press.

Now is later, much later but damn did the pandemic mess with me. I finally have more time on my hands and the money to get this machine happy again. So now to the machine.

It definitely needs a descale. But I am of the opinion it is probably time (maybe past time) to do a complete gasket and o ring replacement and a good deep cleaning I plan to buy some of the tools though I am not sure exactly which ones I will need for my machine. I know I will need the special wrenches and not too concerned about them but really not wanting to buy the boiler flange tools if it is possible to get it apart without them. I do have access to power tools. I know I can rent the boiler tools if need be.

Really just asking if the rebuild is something I should just send this off to be done by pros. I am not particularly handy though I can usually figure it out so long as I can watch you tube and curse properly. I have done the group gaskets about 15 times now. Probably could do that in my sleep. I know Stephanos has numerous videos for maintenance which I will follow along.

I am probably over psyching myself on the difficulty since I have not done it yet. Mostly I am just wanting to hear from other pavoni heads what they thought of it's difficulty.









Drip tray rusting definitely but not rusted through from what I can see
Was looking for a replacement base but they have been out of stock where I have looked. But can I clean it up and continue on anyway if I can't replace?

I need a new pressure gauge and was going to get a new sight glass.

I have a similar level of rust on the underside of the base. I just drilled a extra holes into the plastic base cover and wiped a thin coating of motor oil to seal against moisture. So far, no more extra rusting for a couple of years now. Hopefully, that's all you need.

That's good to hear. Hope it's not deep once I get into it.

I have a feeling that none of it is hard. Provided you have the tools.
So it's probably going to come down to just buy them and be able to do it again to either machine as needed.

I remember fidgeting about doing the group gaskets the first time too. But once I started I was done in fifteen minutes

The rusting is from the night after the last time I ran it. I pulled shots despite the oring leaking. Then had to rush to work. Machine was off but I forgot to unplug it as usual (lots of kids at sisters) and so at some point it got flipped back on and leaked a good bit of water. My sister saw it while I was at work and turned it off and unplugged. But didn't know to check the drip tray or under the machine and didn't tell me about it for a few days. Which is fair as I was working 16 hour days at the time and barely had time to sleep much less deal with anything.