Pstat ... pressure dial

Terra Banes

Can someone point me to a video or help page on how to adjust the pstat, please? The previous owner had set it to 1 bar, but the pressure dial reading has not climbed above 0.6 to 0.75 bar., and I am wondering if this low reading might be affecting performance. As a new user, I may be completely off track on this, but perhaps it would make sense to begin with the original default pressure setting? 1.3 bar is the default setting, if I understand correctly?

Frans Goddijn

The dial of the manometer, where you read the displayed pressure could be wrong. How is the machine performing? Is the espresso hot enough? Is the steam power strong enough?

Frans Goddijn

Assuming you have this one, like the one in my big L1, it's very simple. Take a wide blade screw driver which 'grabs' into both slits on each side of silvery part, and turning in the direction of + increases pressure, turning the other way decreases. Do a half turn, observe the result during a minute or two, and continue. You may hear a spring 'scratch', no worries. Observe and take care not to do too much too fast. When in doubt, book video conference with Reiss.

Terra Banes

The machine was working well in the hands of an experienced user (previous owner), so I assume all is well there. However, he did tell me he had lowered the pstat to 1 bar as this worked well for him. The dial reading is lower than that setting of 1 bar, so I thought it might be wise to put the pressure back to factory default setting. (The steam pressure seems on the weak side for what I was expecting.)

Is there a video or guide on how to do change the pstat setting?

(One odd thing I have noticed is that the volume brewed from 14 grams of coffee has only yielded 18 grams... but as I said, it is early in my experimenting, so normal volumes & behaviour may yet follow.

Terra Banes

Sorry, I missed your second message & illustration! I will review that now... (p.s., my machine is the original L1).
thank you!

Reiss Gunson

hello

which model have you got? an L1(2012-16)?

if so it is true that you will eliminate thermosiphon stall issues with the boiler set to 1.0 bar max, but you may struggle to get enough heat and pre-infusion pressure for medium and lighter roasts, and also large doses

a good place to start is with a cold machine and check that the needle of the pressure gauge is at zero

once you have established that then set the pressure to 1.0 bar by all means if you are running fairly dark (traditional) roasts

kind regards

reiss.

Frans Goddijn

You posted in the help area for the I/II/III models so I at first assumed you referred to a big commercial L1 like I have as well.

Your P-stat may look much similar though.

If the lever grabs very high, and extraction yields very low volume, one explanation could be a low boiler / pre-infusion pressure in the 'old' consumer model that was called L1 at the time (and later evolved into the current L-R model which has a very different pre-infusion setup).