# La Pavoni Pro questions



## MediumRoastSteam (Jul 7, 2015)

I'm thinking of getting a la Pav Pro at some point, so would like to ask a couple of questions:

- The Pro's capacity is 1,6l. As I'm the sole drinker in the house, is there any issues in filling it up only halfway? ( I specifically want the Pro, I'm not interested in the europiccola at the moment).

- When I had my Profitec DB, o only ever fed it Tesco Ashbeck so it would not form limescale. When I buy the La Pav, I'm thinking to use filtered tap water (maybe with a Britta Filter) bearing in mind I'd need to descale the machine every two months or so, same as when I had a Gaggia Classic. Is this a bad idea? Are there any issues with descaling the la Pav, like corroding the chrome plated internals of the group or lime scale blocking small pipes etc?

Many thanks in advance.


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## christos_geo (Feb 9, 2016)

I have a europiccola bit can safely say there is no problem filling it halfway.

As for the water, I could never recommend tap as bedsides reducing the life time of your machine will also end up giving you sub optimal taste. Pavoni is easy to descale but you will wear out all the seals if you do it every couple months. Also you will have to remove steam assembly, OPV, sight glass to break away the scale formed. These parts are all bolted on to the boiler and an absolute nightmare to remove without removing the element first, not something you want to be doing often.

At >£0.50/L for bottled it's simply not worth using tap. Britta, maybe you can get away with but you will still have to descale every so often.

One thing I would like to point out though seeing you have your heart set on the professional, is that you go for the millennium, post 2000, versions with the 51mm group head. They have an inner sleeve that helps with keeping grouphead temp relatively stable. Older 49mm versions don't have that sleeve and overheat after the first shot so having the pro would be overkill.


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## MediumRoastSteam (Jul 7, 2015)

christos_geo said:


> I have a europiccola bit can safely say there is no problem filling it halfway.
> 
> As for the water, I could never recommend tap as bedsides reducing the life time of your machine will also end up giving you sub optimal taste. Pavoni is easy to descale but you will wear out all the seals if you do it every couple months. Also you will have to remove steam assembly, OPV, sight glass to break away the scale formed. These parts are all bolted on to the boiler and an absolute nightmare to remove without removing the element first, not something you want to be doing often.
> 
> ...


One more question if you don't mind me asking:

- How much water would you say you use to make a cup of espresso? For example, on my ex e61 dual boiler machine, I found that in order to extract 36-40g of espresso, one would use about ~120ml of water, including a "clean group flush" before and after.

Does the Pavoni require a flush after the initial warm up period?

Thanks.


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## CaffeeX (Oct 2, 2016)

Flush is required to heat it up quicker. Wet towel / water spray is needed to cool it down before the second shot.

Descaling is easy and to my best knowledge a good descaler is gentle enough to rubber seals.

Bottled water for a couple of double shots daily is exactly what I do on my LaPav - and I'm perfectly happy to keep it that way.


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## MediumRoastSteam (Jul 7, 2015)

CaffeeX said:


> Flush is required to heat it up quicker. Wet towel / water spray is needed to cool it down before the second shot.
> 
> Descaling is easy and to my best knowledge a good descaler is gentle enough to rubber seals.
> 
> Bottled water for a couple of double shots daily is exactly what I do on my LaPav - and I'm perfectly happy to keep it that way.


Cool thank you. At a best guess / estimate, how much water would you say you consume per week for your 2 shots daily routine?


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## Aikendrum105 (Mar 27, 2018)

Useful thread - I was looking at a Pro for the same reason !


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## DougalMcGuire (Feb 21, 2016)

I've got a Stradaveri Pro. I've just re-filled it after making a couple of doubles earlier. It took 260ml water to refill it to the same level. That's for about 32g out twice and steaming enough milk for a couple of flatwhites.

So about 130ml all in, including all the warming and cleaning flushes.


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