# Multi-part plastic steam wands – why?!



## iffy (Mar 5, 2011)

Hiya,

I haven't posted here for a long time, but having replaced my now dead Delonghi machine with a rather more expensive Sage machine I can't believe how much better the steam arm is. The main reason for this is it's a one-piece metal pipe, like you get on commercial coffee machines. One quick wipe and it's clean.

The Delonghi machine had a plastic tube, screwed into a plastic base and inside that was a second plastic tube held in place by an O-ring. Cleaning after every use required removal of both tubes and extensive soaking and flushing.









My aunt has a similar machine and has the same problem. Why on earth do the cheaper machines (Gaggias and such also have similar) have these awful plastic things where a single metal part makes so much more sense? Surely the difference in manufacturing costs can't be that big. It's as if this is viewed as a prestigious upgrade and therefore reserved for the top end products. Can't the casual user be trusted with a metal arm in case they burn themselves on it?! Do you agree or am I missing something?

Cheers.


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## timmyjj21 (May 10, 2015)

The panarello wand is designed to aerate the milk without input from the user - just stick it in. A useful steam arm requires practice and a little bit of concentration. For a domestic appliance i can imagine needing to minimize customer returns because the 'steam wand doesnt work' and cater for the lowest common denominator of users.


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## PPapa (Oct 24, 2015)

Also, I don't think (other) people really care about cleaning it properly.


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## hotmetal (Oct 31, 2013)

What Timmy said. Your average user is not going to engage themselves with learning how to create microfoam, they just want a 'frothy coffee' within ten minutes of getting the machine home. Plus, whilst these 'crappuccinatore nozzles' are a faff to clean, at least they can be removed and put in the dishwasher or left to soak. If you don't keep on top of cleaning a metal steam arm (like all good burghers of this parish do), you can probably imagine the thick brown crust of fats and caramelised lactose that would build up. At which point the thing would probably be thrown into landfill cos they can't be bothered actually cleaning it.


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## Jumbo Ratty (Jan 12, 2015)

I see them as like stabalisers on bikes.


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## jimbojohn55 (Jan 15, 2016)

Absolutely - plastic tubes designed to provide talentless foam with no microform - I'm looking at YOU gaggia - maybe its an inside joke in industry a bit like coffee pod machines.


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## iffy (Mar 5, 2011)

Great answers guys. I now know that these have a name "Panarello wands" and they are specifically designed to create milk foam without the user putting any thought into it whatsoever


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## hotmetal (Oct 31, 2013)

Panarello is Italian for "throw me in the bin" much in the same way as Lavazza is Italian for lavatory. LOL, just had a closer look at your avatar! ?


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## jimbojohn55 (Jan 15, 2016)

I thought panarello was Italian for elephant catheter and lavaza is the bag contents,


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## Rob1 (Apr 9, 2015)

Actually I started with a crappy delonghi and preground coffee before getting a crappy grinder and grinding crappy beans myself. I tried making the baskets unpressurised before accepting utter failure and getting a Pavoni followed by a passable grinder.

Anyway, I always found it really easy to get good microfoam and latte art with the delonghi. I removed the useless outer plastic thing and just used the inner nozzle as a tip. The Pavoni was an absolute pig to get along with for steaming but I got there in the end.


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## Vieux Clou (Oct 22, 2014)

The Pav is fine if you replace the 3-hole tip with an M6 domed nut with a 1 mm hole in it. Looks a bit prattish, but works. OTOH the supplied cappuccino whatsit is crap.

On SCG they often say something along the lines of "the steam wand is a Panarello so you won't burn yourself" but the one on my Lelit is chromed brass or steel and I haven't cared to try. It's fast, which is great if I have folk in and they all want cappuccini. In Alsace cafés a cappu is usually 3 fingers of scalding drip with 4" of whipped cream out of a can balanced on top, and if you don't get busy with a spoon it falls over sideways and goes spludge on the table. I should care about big bubbles?


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