Vivaldi II in Europe

[KimH]

Hi folks

I am on the verge of replacing my Andreja Premium with a Dual boiler machine. Thanks to this and other good coffee forums the machine of choice is now narrowed down to the Vivaldi II I live in Denmark (Europe) and have only been able to find the Vivaldi machines in a few European web shops

Unless I find a far better offer, I think I will buy the machine fromBellabarista which I have good experiences with. I have also seen the machine at lagondola.it who I have never dealt with before and as far as I can tell from their website I don't think they will be able to help me if I get into troubles regarding the machine. Anyone who have experience dealing with lagondola.it or can recommend another web shop who sell the Vivaldi 2 machines in Europe

Another thing I am a little concerned about is the accessories for the Vivaldi. I haven't seen a lot of that in the European web shops I know about. On Chriscoffe.com I have seen bottomless portafilters, tampers, no-burn steam arms etc. for the Vivaldi machines. Were can I find these accessories in Europe

Finally....Do I have to worry about different kind of voltage? As far as I know we have 220/230/240 Volts depending on the individual countries in Europe. I know there is difference in the Hottop roasters, but is it the same for espressomachines? or is the Vivaldi II only available in one European voltage version that fits all countries

Regards
Kim

[Weska]

KimH, good to hear from a potential owner in Europe.

Line voltage always fluctuates considerably in real life and can depart from nominal, whether it's 220v, 230 or 240. For roasters these variations are pretty much directly proportional to the heat developed moment by moment. Since roasters are trying to vary heat in controlled ways, a sufficiently large voltage fluctuation can mess up a roast profile.

Espresso machines are not trying to do the same thing. They develop heat until a certain level is reached and then store it adding to the stored amount as it is depleted by use or leakage. That level of heat is well within the capacity of the heating elements even if voltage fluctuates wildly. (Large enough fluctuations might affect recovery times, but not by very much.) So there is no issue about minor mismatches of voltage with espresso machines, and one Euro-voltage machine serves all locations despite their minor differences.

Any of us who live far from Vivaldi dealers have to be prepared to do a lot of the repairs ourselves--at least in a pinch. I've been lucky to date and have never needed any service. However, you have a number of other resources including this website, local technicians who service a range of machines (and all of them are pretty analogous) even if they don't sell them, the Vivaldi plant in Bologna (which has been very forthcoming when I have approached them), and dealers like Chris Coffee (who does sell internal parts along with accessories and will ship to Europe by special request). It's hard to see how the service availability for a Vivaldi is any different than for your Andrea.

Good luck making your final choice.

[KimH]

Hi Weska

Thank you for clearing this up for me I am now convinced that the Vivaldi II is going to be my next machine

I have been in contact with espressolutions.at who can provide me with machine and the necessary accessories. So far I am very happy about their level of support, since they reply to my mails very quick and very competent.

Regards
Kim - Hopefully soon a new Vivaldi II owner

[Niko]

Hi Kim,

Welcome to the forum!
Let us know how it goes