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1st Gen L1 leaking at group head

Hello,

I've had this machine for 4 or 5 years now.

When making a coffee (Lever Down) I'm getting several drips of clean water from the joint between the lever assembly and group head. Where the 4 hex head screws are.

It was intermittent. Maybe once a week. I use the machine 6 or so times every day. It's turned on sunrise to sunset near every day since purchase.

I replaced the group piston seals and thought that solved it. But after two months it did it again today. Cant imagine seals going bad that quickly.

To leak up like this, wouldn't all three seals need to fail?

Tough to see in the photo but there are drips there.

No lever skip and it catches consistently at the same angle.

Attached is a photo that kind of shows the drips.

Machine has been modified but not at the group head.


Thanks!

Comments

  • hi david

    the group sleeve also has seals in it

    i have only known a couple of customers to have to replace them yet, but as time advances they will eventually fail

    the seals for the sleeve are in the service kit

    i am providing the above advice taking your assertion that the leak is not the result of the mod at face value

    kind regards

    reiss.

  • The mod was to connect the machine to the waterline and add a regulator to control pre-infusion separate from boiler pressure.

    Theres a post on here somewhere that I followed for the most part.

    There is an over pressure valve that trips at 9 bar so that's all the sleeve seals should ever see in theory. With pre-infusion set to 2 bar, I dont trip the OPV but I have verified the OPV at 9 bar with a gauge.

    Do you have guidance for removing the sleeve? I bought the service kit a while ago for the piston seals so I should have the sleeve seals as well.

    If it is the sleeve seals, would you expect it to leak regardless of lever position? In my case, it only leaks when the lever is down and stops leaking once I raise the lever and begin extraction. Never lever skip as others have described.

  • edited December 2020

    hi david

    how tight the sleeve fits into the group varies a lot

    you might be lucky, and with the shower screen removed, be able to push the sleeve up simply by pushing on the bottom edge of the sleeve with both your thumbs

    if it is tight you will need to make yourself a sleeve puller; there are various designs you could come up with

    shown above is the large nut, bolt, and washers that i use for this task

    the washer at the top end of the sleeve needs to be larger in diameter than the top of the group, whereas the washer at the bottom end of the sleeve needs to be larger than the diameter of the sleeve, yet smaller than the internal diameter of the group so it can travel up through the inside of the group (obviously)

    kind regards

    reiss.

  • note:

    in the image above you can see one of the o-ring seals on the sleeve

    the second o-ring seal fits into the seal groove in the land in the inside of the group

    the two seals are slightly different in diameter - only about 1mm from memory - only the italians!

    from memory the fractionally larger seal goes on the sleeve and the fractionally smaller seal goes on the inside of the group

  • Thanks!

    Of course, it stopped doing it now. Nothing worse than an intermittent problem.

    Will swap the seals and hopefully that resolves it.


    Cheers,

    -David

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