Paolo_Cortese Ciao Paolo, well, that’s not correct. The machine arrived home with factory settings, those recommended in your manual. Anyway, we changed pump settings again and problem was still there. Then we started to test what you asked: new pump settings with a plain 9 bar profile and the machine does not overshoot. But if you program a profile with a 10 seconds 2 bar preinfussion problem remains unaltered: no steam pressure no problem, high steam pressure, problem. No overshooting with new settings with a flat 9 b profile does not mean steam pressure was not causing the problem. The vesuvius is not a machine you want to perform with a 9 bar plain profile.
As I’ve explained quite a few times, overshooting is not the problem, is just a consequence. With steam boiler hot there is always, 100% of times, a stop at two bars. Always. There is a physical obstacle. You can see the manometer stop, you can hear how the pump struggles to pass this 2 bar mark. Yes, you can tweak pump settings and try to tame the pump to the limit it can barely go up so it will no overshoot but this is not the point. But why? Just avoid steam pressure to pass 120º and you will not have any problem. Never. No stop, no struggling, no overshotting with steam under 120º. Just a smooth shot anytime, always and with any pid settings (I mean “logic” pid settings, you have to know what you are doing with this and with any espresso machine).
The Vesuvius is a capable machine and should be a flexible one: you can make a soft curve or you can reach pressure faster, you can play with different pump settings and acceleration, you have to know always what are you doing and adjust profile and settings to your style of espresso. Sometimes you will program, i.e., 11 bars of peak knowing the machine will arrive just to 9 or 10 and the other way round, depends of type of coffee, roast level, profile, etc. But, sorry to say again, machine should perform 100% of times in the same way with hot or cold steam. It’s ok, pid settings could be wrong despite being the recommended by factory, but even being the case, it should work in the same “incorrect” way with or without pressure in the steam boiler. This is not how our machines (well, not mine anymore) are working. Our four machines does not perform in the same way depending if the steam boiler is or not under pressure.
I have been using the Vesuvius for six years. Every day. Two cappuccinos for breakfast and about 4 to 6 espressos during the day. Everyday during 6 years. I know very well how the machine works. Yes, it could be a complicated machine if you want but this is not the experience I’ve had. For me it’s been easy to adapt to pressure profiling. But, and sorry to insist: if you want to steam milk you will have to control temperature before making the espresso, a kind of the old temperature surfing technique you had to use with gaggia classic and similar. I’ve not looked for a simpler machine, just for a more reliable one. Now I can steam milk without spoiling my espresso.
I really hope this problem gets solved soon!
