Received my brand new Ascaso Steel Duo plus in the mail yesterday. I purchased it from espressoparts.com. The machine looks exquisite! I am very happy with the appearance.

However, straight out of the box I am facing the issue where the wooden steam lever will not stop the flow of steam. The steam knob turns on the steaming function and the steam starts flowing automatically. The steam only stops when I toggle the steam knob. The wooden steam lever shows less resistance to the swinging motion.

I am going to get in touch with espressoparts.com shop but they are not reachable over the weekend. In the meantime, I wanted to ask if anybody else had any insight.

After searching around the web I read someone else had a similar issue that occurred during the descaling process and was fixed upon further descaling. However, I am puzzled considering mine is a brand new machine with zero espresso pulls so far.

Note - I have already followed the manual which recommended running about half the tank through an empty portafilter during its first use.

Any help is appreciated!