erkal I was referring to me. I have had mine for 2 years (and if memory serves correctly, this day two years ago I ordered my Elizabeth). Have had a lot of fun with it, no major issues, only minor issue with the tip of the Teflon tube in the steam wand (which took me longer than it should to figure out). Guess I am lucky-ish.
Now eagerly waiting for my Bianca but for anyone who want to get into espresso, I wholeheartedly recommend Elizabeth
erkal it was deformed.
now I think of it, if you feel like your steam is not powerful enough, you can try to unscrew your wand tip (tip: you can use a double sided tape to make it easier to unscrew), check if that teflon tube to see if there is anything stuck. elizabeth steam should be powerful enough to steam 500ml no problem (I just did).
erkal not really, I stopped playing with it a few months later and switched to other hobbies (still use it but more “routinely”). But as mentioned above, you can try puck screen/paper filter, keep the shower much cleaner. I also like a simple WDT (I bought one for like 5$ from aliexpress) which help a bit with channeling.
erkal - I have a Niche Zero and a Niche Duo.
MediumRoastSteam Sorry I know it’s off topic for this thread. Would you say the upcoming 83mm Niece or DF be overkill?
erkal Would you say the upcoming 83mm Niece
Niche? That’s no longer upcoming my friend. 😉👍 - it’s been released over two months ago.
MediumRoastSteam oh ok then that makes it easier lol
Hello!
Just a quick update, swapping out with a new silicone gasket and a new o ring has totally solved the leakage. I can feel the new gasket is so much better when locking in the PF, no need to really force it much either. It’s just so much more solid. I also lowered the amount of coffee and the group head comes out pretty clean every time. All this has been a nice step forward in my learning curve. Now I just need a better grinder and better water and I’m almost ‘there’ :D
Thank you for the tips!
erkal - So… What solved the problem?
a) The new gasket;
b) the new o-ring;
c) lowering the dose;
d) None of the above. :-)
PS: Glad it was an easy fix.
Definitely the gasket, o ring was just a safety measure, I thought might as well change both.
I had lowered the dose during the couple of days waiting for the gasket to arrive and there still was some leakage.
My new Monsooned Malabar is tasty but definitely expands a lot more than all the other coffees I used so lowering dose was necessary, but I wouldn’t have know that if gasket was not leaking :D
I really hope that this was the last problem with my brand new Elizabeth…
PS. that curve does not exist on this gasket, its completely straight on both sides, so I am guessing when the gasket gets curvy like that it’s pretty worn out already? I thought that’s how they come when new. I need to warn my buddy with the Profitec 600 because I noticed his gasket looked exactly like that as well and his machine is older.
erkal PS. that curve does not exist on this gasket, its completely straight on both sides,
Look carefully. One side is bevelled and has some writing, the other side is completely flat. We can keep going on and on, I have a gasket like that and so do you. Mine is like I describe. So, you are more than welcome to remove your gasket, take a picture and prove me wrong. 😀
Yeah this red ones is exactly like you described, it has brand name printed on one side and the other side is completely flat. But the one I took out, the bottom is not flat, or it’s no longer flat, I don’t know what it looked like when new, but now it’s angled inwards. I can show you a better photo now.
The first photo was the PF side, you can see it’s curvy, is that how it was or is that because it’s worn out?
erkal - Yes. You locking the portafilter so hard caused some pretty nasty premature damage to the gasket, and you can also see where the shower screen and dispersion plate were tighten so hard against the gasket too. That’s really bad, specially when you consider that is only over a couple of months of ownership.
Anyway, hopefully everything will be fine now. Don’t throw that red o-ring in the bin, as it’s likely it’s absolutely fine (there’s no reason for it not to be).
So follow the advice given here and enjoy your machine. And remember, if you are over doing something, too much force, tightening etc… You are doing something wrong. And that also applies, SPECIALLY to the steam tap. You should not tighten it - it should only be closed very gently until steam stops. When the machine cools down a bit, it will drip and you then gently close until it stops. Very gently. If you overdo it, the tap will start leaking and your next replacement will be a steam tap - which is not hard to do, but it’s more costly and will require you opening the machine up.
And lastly… Make sure you are using good water, which does not scale (e.g.: not tap water from London, not tap water through a Brita filter). If you are not… Then I wish you best of luck.
PS: On your second picture… You can see it’s not completely flat. There’s a slight bevel to it.
Yeah the steam knob gets a little ‘springy’ at the end, that’s where I stop, steam slows down and then and feels like I haven’t closed it fully but it’s closed. I mean it’s not a foolproof system.
In regards to water, that is still an issue. I am currently only using the filter in the water tank which came with it and tap water :/ I am looking to invest in a BWT Bestmax filter ASAP. It should be good for drinking tastier water as well.
Will that be sufficient? What do you use?
Sorry the bevel is the side that was facing the portafilter is what I meant. That bevel is non existent on the new Cafelat silicone one. It is completely flat on both sides plus the brand imprint on one side.
Edit: I see what you mean now, you are not talking about the obvious curve you see on pic 1, you mean there is a slight angle on the flat side as well. Was that side meant to be facing the PT? Because that’s how the machine came.
Had to look it up, on average water hardness of London tap water is 293 ppm :o. where I live ca + mg is less than 50 ppm, usually around 30. no wonder why people were talking about using diluted water + minerals
