# Cremina



## 2971 (May 7, 2012)

I've had a Cremina in the house for a little while now, off and on, and it's been a journey for sure. I've reached the stage where I am really starting to enjoy this thing, despite quite a bumpy road. I've still got a number of problems, but the coffee being produced is now superb, and it really took me quite a lot of practice and learning to be able to say that.

I swapped out the Olympia steam wand for a Rancilio Silvia v2 wand yesterday, and the steaming has been transformed beyond all recognition. I've got some serious admiration for this little beauty now!


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## coffeechap (Apr 5, 2012)

Glad to see that you are finding happiness with your Cremina. Like any lever machine they all take a little getting used to, but will produce the most amazing shots once mastered.


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## coffeechap (Apr 5, 2012)

Let's see some photos of the little beauty


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## 2971 (May 7, 2012)

I don't really understand why swapping the wand made such a huge difference. Will try to take some snaps this weekend


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## 2971 (May 7, 2012)

OK so Ed was pretty clear about a persistent problem whereby the Cremina occasionally decides not to heat up any more, and the pstat cycle is broken. Flicking the power off and on causes it to leap back into action, but I wanted to try to resolve this. I ordered an XP110 from Bella Barista and this morning (pre-coffee I might add), I installed it.

The first thing I noticed is that the throat of the screw on the BB pstat is much longer than the one on the original part. So when I screw it in to the nut thingy, I can still see the threads of the pstat. First few attempts, I was getting some seepage of water, so I tightened it more than I initially had fancied, and it *seems* watertight now. Can anyone more experienced than me tell me whether I should be concerned about mating a screw with a nut that doesn't go in all the way?

For what it's worth, there's a rubber ring inside the nut, so I am hoping that it's just a question of tightening it enough that the pstat screw end is pushed firmly against that rubber ring.

Anyway, the deadband is now really really narrow. I have it cycling right now and it's going between 0.8 and 0.9 bar, so I don't have to temp surf so much any more.


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## 2971 (May 7, 2012)

OK I need some help now! I changed the pstat for a brand new one, as mentioned above, because sometimes the machine would just cool down, breaking out of its pstat cycle. Flicking the power on/off would cure that problem.

This has just happened again with the brand new pstat. It's such a simple machine, I can't work out what's going on. Any advice would be gratefully accepted.


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## 2971 (May 7, 2012)

Thinking about this, I reckon there can only be three possibilities, given that when the problem occurs there is no power at say 0.5 bar.

1) Pstat is faulty and has cut the power

2) Thermal safety valve has triggered and cut the power (would that reset with an off-on?)

3) Wiring is dodgy

Is there anything else that could cause the power to turn off?


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