# Replacing Piccino group seal: howto



## johnlevon (Mar 13, 2015)

Since I would have sorely liked this myself whilst struggling yesterday, here's how to replace the seal on a Fracino Piccino (with help from you lot, thanks!)

1. Turn the machine upside down and unscrew the big screw in the middle, and remove the shower screen. This will leave the brass locking plate

and the seal around the outside. Note in this picture I've already removed the seal because I did things the hard way:









2. Remove the locking plate. It isn't at all obvious but it just comes off - yours might be a little stuck like mine was. I levered it off by putting a large allen key down the centre hole and levering, and it just popped off. You'll probably find a load of gunk underneath.

3. Remove the seal. I did this destructively by screwing a little screw into the seal and pliering the hole thing out. A pain even with a fairly new seal but just a matter of persistence.

Everything out:









4. put the new seal in - it should now slide in with nearly no effort.

5. place the plate back on, screw on the screen, and tighten.

6. This should give you a good seal (feels tight at the 6 o clock mark when the portafilter+basket are in place), and you should be able to run with the blind portafilter for a while without any leaks.

Hope this helps some other poor soul....


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