A $12 Cremina From Goodwill, and the Two Warnings in Its Comments

A 1,000 W Swiss lever — The Cremina 67 is Olympia Express's compact manual lever, with a chromed brass group and a 1,000 W element; the Goodwill unit's plate reads Model 67, 220 V, and someone had fitted an American plug, which is why its new owner has not switched it on (post).

Asbestos on boilers until 1982 — Cremina 67s built up to about 1982 had their boilers insulated with asbestos, which The Lever's restoration guide describes as flaking with age and highly carcinogenic, and recommends removing through a specialist and re-insulating with modern material (The Lever).

Lead-free once meant 8% — US plumbing law defined “lead free” as no more than 8% lead in pipe from 1986 until the 2011 Reduction of Lead in Drinking Water Act lowered the wetted-surface limit to a 0.25% weighted average; the thread's 32× figure is those two numbers divided, applied to a machine no plumbing rule ever covered (EPA).

The risk travels by air — Asbestos becomes a hazard when the material is disturbed and fibres reach the air; the diseases tied to it — lung cancer, mesothelioma, asbestosis — are respiratory, which is why both threads argue about dust and flaking rather than about what the water dissolves (EPA).

Reaction · Reddit · r/espresso — Worth $1,500 as it sits — The money verdict in the thread is that $12 is a jackpot: one owner prices an as-is machine at $1,500+, a second says he made the same find for $10, and the $0.59 bag of original accessories widens the gap (comment).

Objection · Reddit · r/espresso — The next reply is asbestos — The top comment is naked envy — “I have been dreaming of this exact scenario for decades.” Below it, the highest substantive reply tells the buyer to look into asbestos insulation panels, while conceding that the 1967 thread it links may not be the same model. The owner of the same $10 find is blunter — “Pre 1983 they did but it's really not a big deal even if it has it” — and folds the fix into the teardown: “stick tank in bucket, scrape it off, dispose” (comment, comment).

Claim · Reddit · r/espresso — One owner's water test — The same commenter turns up in both threads with results: boiler water “scarily high in both lead and mercury”, then, after hot filtered water sat in a cleaned boiler, “bad news on the heavy metals front” and the project ends. Neither post shows lab numbers or a unit (comment, comment).

Advice · Reddit · r/espresso — Leave it alone unless it sheds — A former owner of two Olympia machines says the older boilers carry an asbestos plaster covering and that “Unless it is shedding off the plaster, I recommend leaving it be”; the 1982 machine's new owner hopes to keep the boiler wrap “un-disturbed”. One reply goes further, arguing asbestos only matters if it is broken up and that the lead is no real concern either (comment, comment, comment).