# SAMA vs Pontevecchio Lusso heating elements



## erik (Aug 30, 2017)

Hey!

This is an extremely niche question but maaaaybe someone here knows something that can help me.

I got a used Sama (pre-Pontevecchio) Lusso off eBay last year and it worked great until it didn't... Ran dry and blew the heating element and pressurestat. I sent it to Frank at Ferrari Espresso who is looking over it (I got the machine used and wanted to service it anyway) but the elements he'd normally use for a Pontevecchio Lusso (Isomac elements) doesn't fit the Sama as the thread is different. So I need to find another one.

I've contacted Pontevecchio to ask if they know anything about the old Sama boilers but they being Italian and this being August I'm not holding my breath for a reply for another few weeks.

So here's the question: has anyone here ever swapped out the element in a Sama Lusso? And if so, did the stock (new) Pontevecchio one fit?

Fingers crossed!

Erik


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## DavecUK (Aug 6, 2013)

erik said:


> Hey!
> 
> This is an extremely niche question but maaaaybe someone here knows something that can help me.
> 
> ...


Ask Bella Barista, they used to sell the PVs and may still have some old original elements in stock. Here is a photo of one I reviewed/tested back in 2006. If the heating element looks the same as yours, perhaps they still have some NOS.


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## erik (Aug 30, 2017)

Ah good idea, didn't think to ask since they don't stock them anymore. I ended up ordering an element from Italy since PV more or less guaranteed it would work.

Hopefully I've not run into a Frankenstein custom-threaded boiler. Will report back once we have the new element. Thanks Dave!


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## erik (Aug 30, 2017)

Forgot to mention how extremely impressed I am that you could pull up a photo of a PV boiler for a machine you only reviewed more than ten years ago! Makes me wonder what other gems are hiding in your archives...


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## DavecUK (Aug 6, 2013)

erik said:


> Forgot to mention how extremely impressed I am that you could pull up a photo of a PV boiler for a machine you only reviewed more than ten years ago! Makes me wonder what other gems are hiding in your archives...


I have a huge photo archive.....and luckily I took apart every machine I ever reviewed. I did unfortunately lose some of it to a disk failure, but most is intact. With so many machines passing through my hands, it makes a person very casual about them and I have to continually remind myself that for most people, they are a massive purchase and perhaps the only machine or one of only a couple, that they will ever own. It's sometimes difficult to pull back from that when I get an £800 machine to have a look at and nowadays, just don't want to bother...Threads like this always pull some perspective back into it...because I remember how much fun (and frustrating), the little PV machines were


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