Heat control mod for 2nd Generation La Pavoni Levers - Page 9

March 24th, 2017, 10:00 pm

cebseb wrote:I would like to express my gratitude to DanoM for sharing the mod with the community. Like so many other first time lever owners, I struggled with the search for a solid routine to net me 4 (stable) shots with my 2nd gen Europiccola. I tried everything from adding a PID and creating a plumbed coiled copper heat exchanger inside the boiler to purchasing the Naked Pressure profiling kit from Gabor. The above were all successful in their own right, but none as simple and profound as this Mod. It took me 30 minutes and about $15. Wonderful.

Just glad to give back to the forums a little bit.

H-B has been a great resource for my coffee experience. Maybe too good $$$, but it's been fun and tasty at the very least!

#82: Post by **wachuko** » March 25th, 2017, 8:47 pm

Is there a need to make any holes to the plug?? My confusion comes from the first cap having two holes... were holes also made to the black cap???

#83: Post by **redbone** » March 25th, 2017, 9:07 pm

^
^^
No holes needed in plug.
Further into thread you will see a metal washer covering early beta plastic plug and all holes.
Nice clean cut on the tube, dremel ?

March 25th, 2017, 9:38 pm

Dremel, correct.

For modifying the plug, I had an inexpensive caliper. Measured the diameter from the group head, locked the caliper at few mil more and used the caliper as the cutter. Plug was on the drill press while I used the caliper to cut it.

Thank you for confirming that no additional holes are needed in the plug.

So when is water entering the head?? If air does not go in, neither water. ??? When I lift the lever for water to go to the shower head?

March 25th, 2017, 9:46 pm

The goal is to have a watertight plug at the back of the group. That will turn the group into a water heated group rather than steam heated, adding stability to the temperature. As long as everything fits snugly you should be fine.

March 25th, 2017, 10:52 pm

Cool. Everything is now back together. Will give it a test run in the morning.

Thank you for sharing this idea, the additional development in finding a better way, videos, etc. Much appreciated!

#87: Post by **forbeskm** » March 27th, 2017, 6:58 pm

This has my attention, thanks Dan for the great work! I have a 77 that I swapped a 3 screw brass element into that is crazy hot as soon as it comes to temp. So much so its hard to cool it down.

So I guess I'll order up some plugs. Is there a place to get them cheap, or does someone know what plastic it is made from? Any consistency on the diameter ? I have 7 machines I'd like to do this on.

March 27th, 2017, 7:04 pm

You should be able to get the Pavoni plug as Dan from wherever you normally buy your Pavoni spare parts.

An alternative, as already suggested here, is to get a food safe, high-temp silicone plug and just drill a hole. The rest is the same.
I did this for my 1st gen (to reduce heat transfer to the group), and drilling with wood bits is no problem. Paid $1 per plug. Food safe and rated for 200°C.

#89: Post by **wachuko** » March 29th, 2017, 12:50 pm

Found an image and modified it to try to represent before and after...

Before

After

#90: Post by **forbeskm** » April 12th, 2017, 12:27 am

I can say not all groups have the same size hole in the back. I made a plug to fit a group head on a machine that was waiting for its powder coated base. I then tried this in another group, not so good, other group was bigger and I didnt notice it until it didn't work

I then made a new one for this machine, temp was steady at 198 versus 220+ before. Nice work Dan!