ACS Vesuvius Evo Leva

DavecUK

BillyG Paolo though it was just a faulty valve. Upon inspection, there is no obvious scale or obstruction.

I can happen…with any component.

Adrianmsmith

So, I got to thinking (yes honest!) after reading various updates about the safety sleeve I thought It was time to have a look at fitting it

After comments saying the overall pressure available to the system was lower with the safety system i wondered what would happen if i doubled the area available to the inlet. Thinking id gain more flow and slight increase in pressure at the expense of increased speed or the lever should the impossible (😀 ) happen.

im going from a 0.785 square mm inlet to the sleeve to 1.57 square mm inlet but halving the damping effect of the safety system

so im hoping to see nearer 11 bar start and LESS chance of puck drilling but to retain some lever damping should it ever be required.

So at the risk of Dave banning me for life and Maria never answering an email ever again here goes….

First off in all seriousness- this is not approved or endorsed by ACS. This is purely my experiment . And a warning: do not try drilling this type of material with standard DIY kit as it is not safe to do so

So basically the mod is a second hole in the sleeve. 1mm hole and 2.5mm csk on the outside of the sleeve, presumably to spread the stream as it enters. Im not sure exactly what version the sleeve I have is and how it compares to what is currently being shipped. it is not the current design. the second hole is slightly closer to the centre. both holes are within the blank area or the shower screen. i drilled out a m6 copper washer to m8 and used it as a thin wall spacer below the shower screen to stop the shape deforming as i tightened the centre bolt ensuring the outer edge of the shower screen had no gap.

Will upload and link to a video showing me literally release the lever and let go. No its not a smooth as the real safety system, but believe me it very slow compared to letting the lever go with the standard sleeve fitted. I did do this once on the evo one whilst talking and not concentrating. The whole machine did jump and my wife was lets say, not happy with me!

Im writing this shortly after doing the job this afternoon and have made 1 actual shot - video to be uploaded. Nothing unpleasant to report anyway.

Its basically doing what i expected and i need to decide if there’s any advantage to the slightly lower shot start.

Another video shows me holding the purge lever with no portafilter. this shows clearly the effect of the restricted inlet as it purges on and off, hitting the 2.5 bars pre infusion set point. this does not happen with the standard sleeve fitted

One very nice thing is the actual shower pattern seen here , never seen it so defined previously.

Lever piston assembly removed. I find it easier to remove the sleeve with the outer head warmed up. Works a treat!!

Second hole drilled. Both holes are 1.0mm diameter

Standard and alternative piston end

Showing how it will be fitted

Tool used to change the piston end, alternatively an angle grinder soanner can be used. This one is made by Norvin.

Ready to insert looking forward to a few Moly Lattes over the next few days 😎

Literally shove up the lever with no puck in…..

Shower pattern seen when holding purge lever with modified sleeve fitted. Pre infusion set 2.5 bars

First shot …

trey_antipasto

DavecUK

Much like @SebH posted I also have had the constant hissing from the steam boiler but mine comes and goes. Some days its very faint and other days it more pronounced. I have just been dealing with it because its not that annoying but I do want to get things fixed.

I am assuming if I tap the vacuum breaker pin and it changes the hissing noise then that is enough diagnosis to then go ahead and order o-rings? I am in the US so i’ll have to find a suitable replacement the link that Dave posted isn’t available here.

floydo

Hissing -Yep…from memory it should be a AS 006 or 007. Best to measure yours. For some reason amazon link won’t show up so here is the product - ZDBB 382 PCS SAE FKM Viton O Ring Assortment Kit 30 Sizes Fluorocarbon Oring for Aviation Car Engines Cylinders Hydraulic Plumbing Various Industrial Chemical High Temperature and Oil Resistance 75A

Mcmaster-Carr https://www.mcmaster.com/products/o-rings/chemical-resistant-viton-fluoroelastomer-o-rings-8/?s=viton%C2%AE+fluoroelastomer+o-rings

Or you can go to chris coffee and buy a breaker, measure thread diameter and clearance. I like the tall one. https://www.chriscoffee.com/search?type=product&q=vacuum

trey_antipasto

floydo

Is it not worth attempting to disassemble and clean it out before ordering the o-rings? Or would I just be inviting issues if I don’t have the replacement on hand? Fwiw, I have reached out to Paolo so I am also in touch with ACS. Sometimes getting the community opinion is also helpful so I don’t have to take up more of his time : )

floydo

This is an easy operation. For me opening it up and re-assembly would be very simple. Vacuum breaker seal refurb/replacment is a maintenance operation for all machines….

Google is your friend - https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=espresso+vacuum+breaker+o+ring+repair

SebH

DavecUK

Unfortunately I still did not manage to clean the v-breaker.
It sits so tight that I’m not able to remove it with a spanner or socket (even if I try to hold the section below the V/breaker with another spanner). The T piece also moves left and right so might also be that the thread locker that Dave mentioned now broke…

Trying to understand what the best move forward is. Is there an easy way to remove the whole piece from the boiler so that I can take a look at the single parts on my bench…) Have PTFE and thread locker at home.

DavecUK

SebH Photo please

SebH

Thanks a ton Dave!

DavecUK

Annoyingly, removing the T piece is tricky as it has been put in place and then the fittings added, probably on the vacuum breaker side using permanent thread locker. or assembled outside the machine, then the boiler put in. Which is fecking annoying and why I went ballistic with the factory around 4 years ago about the use of permanent thread lock. If the water tank panel can be removed it will make it easier.

The vacuum breaker simply needs a clean and a tiny O ring replaced, you can get a silicon set of various sizes, cheaply from amazon and one of them in the assorted box will fit. DON’T attempt to remove the nut at the base of the T piece. Safety valve is at least on with PTFE, putting the vac breaker on with permanent threadlock is madness…are you sure?

You "might be able to turn the T piece, if you take the safety valve and limit stat off, can’t tell from the photo?

I would also recommend asking the factory for advice…really just to make the point.

P.S. If the T piece has rotated it may very well leak. When you get it all off, reassemble using PTFE not thread lock.

P.P.S effectively those assembly decisions, if the vacuum breaker is really on with threadlock, turns a 5 minute job into one taking a lot longer, use of special tools, or even boiler out.

Elcarajillo

@ DavecUK. Is that ‘nut’ a reducing bush ??

DavecUK

Elcarajillo DavecUK. Is that ‘nut’ a reducing bush ??

Sort of yes, it’s the nut that should use permanent threadlock into the boiler, allowing a range of standard fittings to be used.

trey_antipasto

Just updating on the steam leak situation on my machine. I used an inspection mirror and found it isn’t coming from the vacuum breaker. Mine actually doesn’t look like the pics posted above. Maybe a design update?

Anyway I isolated it to this piece. Unsure if this is the water sensor fitting? Anyway I tightened the top nut that cinches on the Teflon tube per Paolos suggestion. Tightening it aprox ⅓ turn seems to have resolved it for now. I was hesitant to tighten too much for fear of deforming the probe and breaking it. Seems to be mostly resolved now. Hopefully I don’t need to tighten it further or attempt to tighten the bottom fitting which attaches to the boiler. Maybe there is thread locker there idk.

DavecUK

trey_antipasto Be careful when tightening the small nut…as it compresses the teflon sleeve against the probe wire to form a seal….so don’t do it too much.

trey_antipasto

DavecUK

Yes, the first ¼ or so turn was easy. The last slight turn was where it met resistance. I made it very snug but did not try to overly tighten. I am not sure if the actual leak is coming out of the teflon piece or through the theads on the small nut. I suppose I could try backing out the small nut and adding maybe 1 wrap of ptfe to it.

This morning there is still hissing as the steam boiler warms however once it hits temp the hissing completely stops. I am ok with it if that is as good as its gonna be.

SebH

I made progress as well. While I still was not able to fix the vaccuum breaker, I discovered that the hissing (which is getting more and more) is actually coming from this friend here:

@DavecUK do you know if I can simply unscrew this from the boiler and reapply PTFE?
Looks like this might also have been fixed with thread locker, but am not 100% sure…

DavecUK

SebH do you know if I can simply unscrew this from the boiler and reapply PTFE?
Looks like this might also have been fixed with thread locker, but am not 100% sure…

You need a very good fitting spanner for the flats on the elbow, it is probably from the days when they were using permanent thread locker (can be really hard to undo), if it was a later machine and they were using semi permanent, you should be able to get it off. You may need to rap the spanner with another larger spanner, to try to shock it off…the idea is not to thump it hard, but short sharp shocks to break the threadlock.

In either case you should clean the threads and yes, you can use PTFE, it needs to feel tight all the way in for it to seal…but don’t go mad.

Note: The elbow is nickel plated brass not stainless steel, so it’s relatively soft!

SebH

Thank you so much days, ii think I have fixed it for now and most of the hissing is time.

The last minor issue seems to be some hissing from the t-part under the vacuum breaker. The thread lock probably broke. Guess I have two Options now: 1/ Take the whole machine apart, and fix with ptfe 2/ try to fix with additional permanent thread fix on top and revert to 1 If this does not work…

Currently learning towards Option 2… anything that speaks against that?

Thanks again!

DavecUK

SebH Currently learning towards Option 2… anything that speaks against that?

You can try, but not sure it will work, or if it does, probably won’t work for long.

Elcarajillo

I am with Dave on this, you can try but I am fairly sure it won’t work.

Bite the bullet and do it properly/ correctly.

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