ACS Vesuvius Evo Leva

danielpugh

@LMSC - thanks - yes have a bag of GU10. Just need the pliers…

DavecUK

The piston must be tight enough to make the seal bulge slightly, but not too tight. This is so it makes a good seal. Once there is good pressure of water that helps push the seal tighter against the bore.

danielpugh

DavecUK - I think it arrived overly tight - needed some effort to loosen. I probably did back up too loose - 4 shots fine, so fingers crossed… thanks!

LMSC

danielpugh Good job. well done mate!

Norvin

danielpugh DavecUK - I think it arrived overly tight - needed some effort to loosen. I probably did back up too loose - 4 shots fine, so fingers crossed… thanks!

After devising and making a tool to fit the piston I was almost disappointed to find that the piston on my Evo wasn’t screwed on very tightly, although it may get harder to unscrew with age. Interesting to see that there is a variation in tightness between new machines. Did you find the tool useful?

DavecUK

danielpugh I think it arrived overly tight - needed some effort to loosen. I probably did back up too loose - 4 shots fine, so fingers crossed… thanks!

That’s great, because if that hadn’t worked the only other place would have been the O rings….which is quite rare, even on a very very old group.

LMSC

Norvin The same thing here. The piston head wasn’t super tight in our case; we didn’t struggle to remove it. It came off easily. But, we can’t dismiss your tool as not useful. It does make the job easier and we are also comfortable in the knowledge of its’ future value! 😊

danielpugh

Norvin Hi, yes very useful. Without it I would have struggled to undo. It was very tight originally.

danielpugh

DavecUK unfortunately it’s still leaking. Are the o-rings the one just below the spring?

Trying to think out - it must be getting past both the gasket and the upper o-ring in order to come out of the top.

At a loss at this point as there isn’t much to do differently or swap?

SimonBarker

LMSC It’s an original Londinum, I’ve had it for over 7 years.

MediumRoastSteam I’ll need considerably more time with the ACS before I’d want to talk about how they compare and the more pretentious side of coffee bores me so I’m hardly the best person to wax lyrical about an espresso machine but I’ll share some thoughts once I have them.

I’m not replacing the Londinium because I’m in any way unhappy with it, it’s been a star over the years but I’ve been using the Londinium for so many years I thought it might be useful to try another manufacturer so I can see a different take on the same idea. It’s a small reason but I really think the fast warm up time is a super nice feature for home use, I’m pleased to see the boilers retain their temperatures for quite some time too.

DavecUK

SimonBarker I think it’s wise to take some time, especially as it can take a while to get used to the Evo and all it’s features.

dfk41

I have the same mark 1 as you. I gave it to my son. Found it uncomplicated ed to use and I believe I was the first member on CFUK or there about to buy one. I think the mistake they made as a company, was replacing and making redundant this model in favour of trying to appeal to lighter roast drinkers. If I wanted the new LR24 version I would be shelling out an awful lot of money for features I would never use……sometimes simple is easier.
I do though, fail to get my mind around the price difference between the 24 and the Evo since they are both direct offer machines…….perhaps as I get older, I do not understand as well!

LMSC

danielpugh Sorry to hear that. Bizzare and strange. I have no idea where the O ring on our group is. Would be keen to know.

One thought.

Do you want to check if you have assembled the piston parts and gaskets the right way ?

Please don’t mind me asking this. It’s too easy to fix it the other way.

Running out of options except the O ring. Hope you emailed ACS already.

Edit:

Once you check that out, tighten from underneath as well.

LMSC

danielpugh If your answer to my question above is yes, the culprit is most probably SM1, the O ring. Please see the link here.

Norvin

Did you replace the O ring situated to the left of the white ring in this picture? I think the white PTFE ring acts as a centraliser for the piston and isn’t meant to seal.

LMSC

Norvin The left of the white ring is SM.123, which is also a gasket — SM.7. The white ring is sitting on SM.123, which is a full unit, I believe.

LMSC

Norvin white PTFE ring acts as a centraliser for the piston and isn’t meant to seal.

Yeah. It’s a loose fit. I always wondered why it is loose and what does it do in simple terms.

danielpugh

pic to show where leak is.

shows what have/havent replaced.

the bit that confuses me is … it only leaks when the level is lowered and the pump is running to fill the group.

(so technically not when pulling the shot).

So at that point the piston is at its highest point.

So water is coming in below both gaskets and getting past both even though you would have thought the natural path would be downwards through the puck rather than upwards past two seals??

maybe i am missing something and its actually coming from somewhere else but not easy to see??

LMSC

danielpugh maybe i am missing something and its actually coming from somewhere else but not easy to see??

That would only be the pipe connecting the chamber, right ?

LMSC

danielpugh Are you able to see the chamber below this little metal sticking above the bottom of the group? If there is a leak in the pipe below this, could this send the water through?

Could you check through opening the top ?

While SM.1 is a possibility, the water will still have to travel up.

Norvin

danielpugh

Is it possible that the piston assembly is not screwed in far enough on the rod? That would mean that the piston sits lower and perhaps the lip of the seal could then be level with or above the water entry hole, letting water up past the seal when the lever is down.

I took this reference photo when I was stripping my Evo to record the amount of thread showing, it was 20.90mm.

LMSC

If you also look at the link I provided, there is an O ring, SM.1 that sits beneath the upper part of the group chamber. If that’s broken, it will let the water out when the lever is cocked, can’t it ?

Of course, the water needs to get past the gaskets.

A pictorial view of the group chamber connected to the pipe might help.

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