This forum is now read-only
To login to the new support channel and community forums, go to the Support Portal
Initial experience with L-R and the yearn for aftermarket mods
I received my L-R less than a week ago. It replaces an Izzo Vivi PID III. Before the Vivi I used a Pavoni Europiccola. I have already pulled some really great shots and absolutely love the lever machine concept.
I do think a few things could be improved.
The drip tray grate
When flushing the grouphead to clean it, I see a lot of splahing from the drip tray grate, because it's not a very open desgin. Are there any 3rd party sources for wire- or mesh-type drip trays? Or does the Espazzola group cleaning tool reduce splashing a lot?
The clicking from the pressurestat
I can see from a number of other posts that the noise from p-stat seems to be bothering some people using the machine in a domestic environment.
Boiler insulation would reduce the cycle frequency. Would there be any detrimental effects? It seems many other machines have boiler insulation. Wouldn't insulation of the boiler also extend the lifetime of most other components inside the chassis?
I have seen at least one other user fiddling with PID control of the boiler pressure, using a thermocouple for monitoring. I would be really interested in an aftermarket solution for this. What are the pros/cons?
I do think a few things could be improved.
The drip tray grate
When flushing the grouphead to clean it, I see a lot of splahing from the drip tray grate, because it's not a very open desgin. Are there any 3rd party sources for wire- or mesh-type drip trays? Or does the Espazzola group cleaning tool reduce splashing a lot?
The clicking from the pressurestat
I can see from a number of other posts that the noise from p-stat seems to be bothering some people using the machine in a domestic environment.
Boiler insulation would reduce the cycle frequency. Would there be any detrimental effects? It seems many other machines have boiler insulation. Wouldn't insulation of the boiler also extend the lifetime of most other components inside the chassis?
I have seen at least one other user fiddling with PID control of the boiler pressure, using a thermocouple for monitoring. I would be really interested in an aftermarket solution for this. What are the pros/cons?
Comments
The p-stat clicks don't bother me. The background noise of boiler heating tell me the machine is okay.
Insulating the boiler also prevents one to see how the boiler is doing. If sometime in the future there is a tiny leak somewhere, and it remains hidden in the 'coat' of the boiler, the moisture can build up damage before anyone finds out. Also it makes the clicks less frequent but not more silent.
Lining the inside of the "box" of the machine with the stuff that's also used in cars to muffle motor sound could be a strategy, but make sure you won't close off the openings in the bottom of the chassis and in the back, so air can still flow.
I also agree that some things could be changed electonic wise, but the machine is very good as is and has a certain charme. That being said you can check out my mod, which gives you control of a silent relay for the boiler as well as the preinfusion pressure. I am currently working on a manual how to apply the mod. When its done you can also just read the part where the Sirai pressure switch (the clicking one) is changed for a SSR relay (silent) and apply that to your machine. For control of the temperature you can then either use an existing PID controller and hook it up to the SSR (just two wires) or go with an arduino PID etc.
For this reason I would be crazy to use single spout. The double spout is only useful if you want to make a pretty double shot, but in this case there is guarantee both will have the same amount and is harder to weight both cups.
Finally, esthetics - I love seeing flow. You also see bigger canals and prefinfussion.