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Thread: La Cimbali M20 Advice Wanted

  1. 11th March 2008 #1
    Joseph
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    La Cimbali M20 Advice Wanted

    Gene Cafe Coffee Roaster $850 - Free Beans Free Freight
    Greetings all!,

    Im hoping someone can help me out a bit and not be too grumpy at my luck. Today I was lucky enough to be GIVEN!! a La Cimbali M20 from a customer of mine. Trouble is, I have absolutely no clue of how to work it or how to set the equipment up. Most of it seems pretty straight forward on inspection but there is obviously more to it then that. I have included a few questions below in hope someone could throw a bit of advice my way.

    1: Does anyone know where I may be able to pick up a manual for the M20. A user and service manual would be great.

    2: I Don’t want to sound stupid, But there is GAS, written on the front of the M20 above a whole. At first site I thought it may have been heated by gas and this was an inspection whole for a pilot light or something. But I don’t see any gas connectors or anything remotely gassy :)

    3: After removing some covers to check out the inside I can see what appears to be a water inlet (brass) and a pvc or plastic water outlet. There is water in the machine so I thought it would be ok to plug it in to see if there was any signs of life. I presumed because water was in the machine (full by the indicator) that it would not burn anything out. But there is no life at all, i.e. I thought the red light may come on to indicate life. So the question is, does anyone have any hints to what might be wrong. Possibly a fuse or another obvious problem worth trying, or is it a trip to the electrician. I figure at the price I paid its worth while putting some $$ into the girl to bring it back to life!

    4: PARTS! From what I can tell I am only missing the Portafilter. Can anyone recommend where to purchase parts online. Needs to be online because I live on a very small island and there isn’t anything like that around here.

    For those interested or suspect on the free bit :). Story is simple. I do some work as a tree loper, and a customer has just purchased a house that used to be a restaurant on an island near by. And the Cimbali was part of the fixtures so was left behind. While I was there I noticed what looked like an esky on her porch except that it had Cimbali text on it. Thinking it strange I said to her what’s that and she replied its an anchor. On inspection I said wow how cool to which she replied if you think its so cool can you dump it for me because its to heavy and I cant lift it. So I just had to oblige :)

    There is a pic below for those interested.

    Joseph

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  2. 11th March 2008 #2
    JavaB
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    Re: La Cimbali M20 Advice Wanted

    Hi Joseph and welcome to CoffeeSnobs....

    Well you were lucky - sort of!

    As an M20 owner myself I can help a bit.....

    Manuals.... never been able to locate one! I have M27 and M28 manuals but they arent a lot of use with this model. All La Cimbali model manuals are hard (near impossible) to find......

    These machines can be heated with Gas as well as electricity..... The panel will often have the label even if the gas burner isnt fitted (you will see it under the boiler)....

    There arent any fuses but the machine can be wired for single and 3 phase power (not sure about the single group)..... The second position on the power switch is the heaters by the way.

    I suspect you might have either a blown neon globe (so no red light) or a faulty main switch or wiring problem.... best bet is take it to an electrician.... electricity, water and lack of knowledge is a lethal combination..... and can prove terminal!

    Parts can be purchased online from CoffeeParts (a site sponsor). ... who do mail order shipping. (Guess it depends where you live as they are an Australian supplier - there are also suppliers in America and of course in Europe)

    Good luck!
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  3. 12th March 2008 #3
    Bill
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    Re: La Cimbali M20 Advice Wanted

    Quote Originally Posted by JavaB link=1205241065/0#1 date=1205243959
    All La Cimbali model manuals are hard (near impossible) to find......
    Theyve got both user manuals and parts manuals for Cimbalis (among other machines) at this site: http://www.cafeparts.com/listCategoriesAndProducts.asp

    I couldnt see an M20 one though. Look under "Commercial Machine Parts", "Cimbali", "Manuals"


    regards,
    Bill
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  4. 12th March 2008 #4
    Dimal
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    Re: La Cimbali M20 Advice Wanted

    Might also be worth contacting Pedro from CoffeeParts, one of our esteemed site sponsors. Not much concerning coffee hardware that Pedro doesnt know about or can find out for you..... 8-)

    Mal.
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  5. 12th March 2008 #5
    Joseph
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    Re: La Cimbali M20 Advice Wanted

    Hi,

    Thanks for the replies everyone. I have certainly learnt a lot about the machine in the last 24 hours. *A bit off topic, but I’m in the middle of restoring our kitchen so the carpenter now has strict instructions on where the La Cimbali is to go. Had a chat to my mate who’s a plumber and he’s actually installed a few and has suggested a water filter be installed to stop crap getting into the machine and also pressure restrictors to make everything sweet.

    I have now come to the conclusion that it would be best to put the M20 in for a full service by someone who knows what they are doing so when its installed all will go well.

    Does anyone know of a good service centre for Cimbalis in Brisbane Qld Aussieland ? I was going to email Coffee Parts to see if they knew of anyone.

    Joseph
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  6. 12th March 2008 #6
    Dimal
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    Re: La Cimbali M20 Advice Wanted

    Quote Originally Posted by Joseph link=1205241065/0#4 date=1205317564
    Does anyone know of a good service centre for Cimbalis in Brisbane Qld Aussieland ? I was going to email Coffee Parts to see if they knew of anyone.
    Hi again Joseph,

    If you send me an email via the button below, I can possibly suggest someone who can help,

    Cheers :),
    Mal.
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