hellojava I am curious: does anyone else have dripping from the group head after a shot has been pulled and the portafilter removed?
If the group head is always dripping, check without the portafilter for a while with a container under the group and the portafilter is always wet. Then no, it’s not right and not how it works. It only leaks when warming up from cold or cool because the group has what’s called an open chamber and the water jacket around the group expands. This was a change made a long time ago to reduce piston seal wear and water washout…the Piston seals in the group do NOT act as a valve as they do in other groups. The group has a valve in it in the core area which is operated by the small lever at the rear of the group cam.
There could be a few reasons for this leaking, in order of what’s most likely.
- The little lever is slightly tight against the lever….you should be able to wiggle it backward and forwards a slightly
- Debris has moved under the group valve seat and it needs cleaning off
- The valve has defective. seals
I can’t sell you how to clean that valve, because mine is different as I had an 6 old scrap ex commercial group…that already leaked a little all the time…but I used it anyway. I can’t remember if the current spares kit includes new seals etc. for the valve. I would recommend you contact Paolo in writing in the first instance (once you have done some checks as above), so they are aware of a problem and they can advise how to resolve it. This ensures this is registered and if necessary feeds into any testing procedures, or identifies a problem with a batch of groups.
