Originally posted by Horrie39
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The OPV on the Carisma is of poor design in my opinion. I had one in the other day and it was reading real high on the gauge with the blind filter, this was attributed to never being set up properly when it was sold (common practice with dodgy sellers, never bench testing machines).
To adjust the OPV was a really .....fun.... experience. Once you spot it behind some plumbing up against the front panel of the machine, you think it's an easy job of just turning the big nut that the hose comes out of to change the pressure, much like pretty much every other machine on the market. Nope, this just loosens the nut causing a leak, the real adjustment is a very small flat head screw inside the OPV. Thanks to Faema not adding an access panel underneath (which would have been very easy to do) or just orienting the OPV in a more manageable location, you will need to remove the entire OPV in order to get a screwdriver into it to make the adjustment. Removing the full assembly which incorporates a tee fitting and the boiler fill solenoid is the easiest solution I found. I turned the screw out about 1.5 turns I think which gave 9.5-10 bar measured at the group with a portafilter gauge. Real extraction pressure will be slightly lower.


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