Olympia Cremina

I serviced a Cremina with a bad pressure stat. The micro-switch was fine but the proprietary membrane/housing was sticking, causing overheating.

Instead of importing the new (expensive) part from Switzerland, I replaced the brass housing with a copper tube and a MATER p-stat. The $40 part worked well... When set to disengage just shy of 1 bar it would re-engage at .08 bar.

Picture shows the new installed MATER and at bottom the original Cremina stat.

Repairs in October

The commercial repair business has been strong... Great Infusions recently hired a new lead tech to handle the increasing demand. Big welcome to Julien.

As always, lots of home units & a few Pavoni lever units.

Elektra Maxi had severely scaled left group requiring removal of group & replacing flowmeter.

Also the pump was seized.

September had me snowed in

This month saw a whole bunch of work.

Maintenance call in Santa Cruz (Astra Mega1)

Steam Wands rebuit on a FB80 in San Jose

Monster Linnea needed a minor rebuild

The bench is just packed!

Our service has Wheels

We recently added a new member to the Great Infusions Service team...

The Scion XB is a super economic cargo utility car.

It holds as much packing peanuts, boxes & bubble wrap as a small pickup....

I can easily store my service gear in the rear hatch without folding seats.

Averaging 30 mpg... I Love That!

Separated At Birth

Pasquini will not admit it, but the Livia 90 is made for them by Bezzera.

Both of these came in with flow meter errors and the Livia had a shot expansion valve.

Check out these views:

They appear different with Pasquini wrapped in Stainless & Bezzera in Plastic panels.

The top view shows same boiler layout:

Side 1 shows control box (same gicar) and relay (same finder)

Side 2 shows same placement of p-stat & same flowmeter...

Dialing it in

What you see in this photo is a nice tool of the trade.

The gauge displays the accurate brew pressure at the group.

The digital thermometer displays the group temp.

I adjust the expansion valve for brew pressure & the pressure stat for temperature

for about max Bar pressure 10 & temp 200 f.

This portafilter fits several machine groups.

For those with different portafilter sizes I have PSI gauge

& thermometer attachments.

Retro Rancilio Home Unit

This Rancilio Audry came in for repair and consignment. It had been used for a few months when new and then shelved so it was amazingly clean and original. It did need a new pump and set of gaskets... But once fixed it ran like a champ.