Breeze Senior Member Joined: 3 Dec 2006 Posts: 733 Location: St. Croix, V.I. Expertise: Pro Roaster
Espresso: Pasquini Livia S Grinder: Mazzer Mini/Rocky Drip: TechniVorm/Krups MB Roaster: Toper 1 kilo
Posted Sat Dec 29, 2012, 10:29am Subject: Problem with a Livia 90 Semi-Auto
After several years of flawless performance I now have a problem.
I purchased a half dozen portafilter gaskets from Pasquini just after I got the machine and change them when they get stiff and small leaks develop. A couple of months ago I replaced one and afterwards I had a gusher between the gasket and the basket, no matter how tight I made the portafilter. Today I just got around to fully investigating and I'm stumped.
Seat for gasket clean, along with screen, etc. Under bright inspection light, no visible cracks, dings or deformed metal either on the portafilter ears or their corresponding slots. I swapped baskets, same problem.
New gasket installed both with the tapered edge away from the basket contact and toward the basket contact. When the basket fills with water, it gushes from the rear of the filter, between the basket and the gasket. This is without coffee in the filter.
I sent an inquiry to Pasquini about this but they are likely closed until after New Years.
Any guesses out there? Could two of the purchased gaskets be wrong. I don't think that's likely. This is not a high pressure leak. This is a gusher, pressure never develops.
Thanks and I hope I'm overlooking something stupid!
Breeze Senior Member Joined: 3 Dec 2006 Posts: 733 Location: St. Croix, V.I. Expertise: Pro Roaster
Espresso: Pasquini Livia S Grinder: Mazzer Mini/Rocky Drip: TechniVorm/Krups MB Roaster: Toper 1 kilo
Posted Sat Dec 29, 2012, 12:15pm Subject: Re: Problem with a Livia 90 Semi-Auto
OK, problem solved and it was stupid, embarrassingly stupid but here goes....
I try to keep a clean portafilter and soak it occasionally in Cafiza to make sure. It really looked clean! As a last ditch effort I took a bamboo skewer and ran it through the double spout, side to side. Crud much blocking the hole(s)? Ahem....yes, and after a good reaming to remove the tar from this critical port, good as new!
My admission was to believe it was clean, and not clean it properly. My admission is to believe that the gasket to basket was capable of very high pressure forcing extracted coffee or plain water out the proper orifice. Wrong on both accounts.
Ok then, I'll see if I can brew a proper shot with a bag over my head.
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