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Close call with the Pavoni Lever

 
 
 
 
  • Posted by Son Ton
  • Thu, 01/19/2012 - 15:27

Yesterday,  I had a really close call with my La Pavoni lever espresso machine! What happen was I was in a rush in the morning as I have a really early morning class. I turned on my La Pavoni profesional lever machine intending to make a cup of americano to go with me on the car ride. Atlas, after having a quick breakfast,  I ran out of time to make coffee and decide to leave so that I can be in time for the important class. However, my forgotful mind did not remind me to turn of the switch on the Pavoni lever and as a result it was left on for over two hours. 

Fortunately a disaster did not strike for me because afer 3 hours I remembered that I did not turn the machine off. I called my wife and asked her to turn off the Pavoni for me.  Most espresso machines are fine being left on for an extended period of time and some machines such as commercial grade are actually meant to be left on 27/7. These machines benefits from being left on for extended period of time because it provide temperature stability for brewing espresso. However, with home lever espresso machine such as the La Pavoni profesional,  they are exactly the opposite, they are meant only to be turned on for a short period of time while being used to make espresso or to steam milk. If left on for a long period of time, several things could happens; seals such as the piston seals or group seals can have their life shorten because of the higher group temperature of these lever machine (due to group attach directly to boiler, the group temperature will approach temperature of boiler which can be as high as 220F which is defintely not good for rubber seals). Additionally, if there is a possibility of steam leak such as the steam wand not closing all the way, the boiler will boil dry; if this happen the heating element would definitely be toasted (this actually happen quite commonly with lever machine owners as they forgot to add water to the boiler and turn the machine on while the boiler is dry!). 

Fortunately for me this time, nothing happen but it will definely teach me a lesson to be more careful next time when I use the Pavoni!

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REVIEWS & COMMENTS

  • MY EXACT FEAR

    Wakeknot | Wed, 02/01/2012 - 22:14

    I have a slow leak in mine, but if I forget to turn it off it could well be a major problem as the boiler would run dry. yikes.

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  • CLOSE CALL

    EricBNC | Fri, 01/20/2012 - 18:11


    That was a close call - I hope the seals turn out to be fine in spite of the extended work out.

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  • LUCKY

    samuellaw178 | Fri, 01/20/2012 - 10:12

    That's really close. I think if you left enough water in the boiler, they could help cushion the temperature rise above its boiling point, that is as long as there is water.

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  • @STEVE

    Son Ton | Fri, 01/20/2012 - 01:34

    Yeah, the thing about my machine is it does have a pressurestat and the valve does not hiss frequently. It is a good idea to unplug the Pavoni.

  • @JBVIAU

    Son Ton | Fri, 01/20/2012 - 01:32

    I do not really know but there is a huge risk. If the steam wand was not closed completely, the water would evaporate and boiler will becomes dry. Since the Pavoni has no autofill function or even a reservoir heating element damage is inevitable if boiler is dry and heating element is energized.

  • GLAD YOU REMEMBERED

    jbviau | Fri, 01/20/2012 - 00:03

    So how much longer do you think the machine could have gone without any major damage?

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  • @HOONCHUL

    Son Ton | Thu, 01/19/2012 - 23:36

    actually, if the overheat occur, you can most likely replace the heating element on the machine only, which is about $150 still much less expensive than replacing the whole machine!

  • GOOD TO HEAR THAT YOUR

    hoonchul | Thu, 01/19/2012 - 17:08

    Good to hear that your machine is not damaged considering how expensive they are. I don't think my wife would ok the replacement if I damaged mine with neglect.

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  • YIKES!

    Steve Rhinehart | Thu, 01/19/2012 - 16:23

    Good thing you caught it! I'm certain mine would boil dry, though perhaps not in three hours. My benefit is having an older model that hisses constantly once up to temp, but I still unplug the machine when not in use. To kill my Pavoni with neglect would be most tragic.

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  • GOTTA BE CAREFUL! REDUCING

    intrepid510 | Thu, 01/19/2012 - 15:31

    Gotta be careful! Reducing the life of the seals isnt that big of an issue, but boiling dry would be. My wife did that once with a pan on accident, no bueno...

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