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Permalink Reply by Jay Caragay on January 9, 2011 at 1:20pm

If I were you, or if I were buying a new machine to replace my current one (which I am), I would go with La Marzocco.

 

That said, go and get yourself a great machine.  Worried about the expense?  Are you familiar with equipment leasing plans?  For a monthly payment (like paying your car or house), you can outfit your operations with nice and new equipment.  We're buying most of our capital equipment that way now.

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Permalink Reply by Antonio on January 9, 2011 at 4:31pm

Thanks for your input Jay, but Faema is the local leader in machine service here, followed by Gaggia and Rancilio. I was able to find 1 authorized dealer/service provider for LM, not too close to me either. I am specifically looking for comparisons between the 2 lines I mentioned.

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Permalink Reply by Mike Sabol on January 9, 2011 at 10:54pm

What is your old machine?  You might consider having your old machine descaled and rebuilt. There are only so many parts on it.  An experienced tech should be able to do the work in 8 hours over the course of a week.  You pay labor plus parts.  The total should come in around $1000-$1200.  The unit will basically be new and you already know it and like what it does.

 

On another note, if your tech is showing up every month then they are not dealing with the root cause problem.  And if the root cause problem is scale build up then that can be fixed.  You should also pay attention to your water filtration and make sure your filters are appropriate for the water hardness in your area.  And make sure to know when to change them.

 

$0.02

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Permalink Reply by Antonio on January 10, 2011 at 6:18am

Hey Mike,
Each time it's something different. The latest thing was the stainless steel pin that has a thread on it that goes into the group head, the actual thread in the group head has worn away. We've had this machine for 15 years, and it was purchased used, I think it's from 1970 originally, maybe even late 60's. It has the levers that go to the left to turn it on and to the right to turn it off. We had it rebuilt once before about 9 years ago when we relocated shops and had a 9 month out of business period while waiting for the new place to be built. Our tech said he hasn't seen that group head part in at least 5 years. Now, we seem to have sprung a leak from behind the group near the drip tray, and the lever for 1 of the groups has become impossible to move. So it's not always the same thing going. I think the machine is on its way out. What's the general life span of machine anyways? New ones probably wont come close to being as sturdy will they?

Hey, can I get anything for it somewhere?

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Permalink Reply by Mike Sabol on January 10, 2011 at 9:46am

Yeah.  Don't throw it away.  I understand what you are saying, though.  Can you get me a model number?

 

New machines, save for a few types are not nearly as sturdy.  Not by a long shot.  The level of Faemas you are looking at will not last as long as your machine now.

 

Old machines like yours can be collectors items to the right people.  If you can find a model number start looking on ebay and craigslist.  That will give you an idea of what it's worth.

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Permalink Reply by Antonio on January 10, 2011 at 10:36am

It's a P4, and all the problems relate to 1 entire group head. I've scoured the net for parts, but no one's seen a group head in a while. I'm in Canada, and I've even checked the US for parts. I guess I can see if anyone in Italy may have an old one lying around. Is a P4 considered a classic? The leak and the stripped thread are on the same group. There isn't a lot a calcium build up as we do run the coarse salt through every month.

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Permalink Reply by Antonio on January 10, 2011 at 11:50am

My mistake, it's not the P4, its a Prestige, mid 70's.

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