Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Jason Duncan on August 19, 2008 at 2:30pm

Hey Cara,

The water that is "heating up" is probably that which is in the boiler - not actually coming from the pump. Are you using a flojet pump? Did you ever hear the pump kick in when turning on the machine? How is the water pressure on your machine?

..be bold

Permalink Reply by Alun Evans on August 20, 2008 at 4:47am

Is water coming out of the hotwater/tea spout? This generally comes from the boiler, not the heat exchanger(s) linked to the groups. If the water heats up, Jason is right in saying it probably is the residue water left in the boiler of the machine. If water comes out from the tea/hotwater tap, then the pump pushing water up to the machine should kick in- pushing the water level up to that set by the probe in the boiler. If this is not happening then-

If you are just using a procon machine pump, and no auxillary pump as well, then water should be going up as soon as the machine calls for water. Does the pump engage when you call for a shot from the group? The steam wands themselves do not rely on the pump anyhow, so if there is no steam there may be another issue.

I would- 1/. check the pump first. Most procon type rotary pumps have a small mesh filter cone set over the inward pump inlet. If no external water filter is being used prior to the pump, the pumps own filter will catch any muck before it gets to the pump. In my experience this often can get blocked. Grab a spanner, undo the inbound bolt and check the filter.

2/. If this is clear also make sure the pump is engaging. The external pump works off a call from the machine to engage. Check the P,N and earth wires are attached to the cabing from the machine.

3/. If the pump and wiring is OK...then there may be lime/calcification build up inside the machine. In many cases I have seen cart/kiosk based commercial machines running without a watersoftener. This is of course asking for serious problems after a year or so. Calcification is like my worst nightmare. Where I am clients rarely bother recharging them... So, what often is an early sgn of major limescale problems is the heat exchanger inlets sealing up. Hopefully this is not the case for you. The reason I would be worried this COULD be the problem, is the steam wands not working. That could mean that limescale has blocked up entries to both wands as the entry to the heat exchangers.

Either way, I think the easiest answer for you would be to give a local machine guy a call and get him to look in at the problem. It is a little difficult to analyse from afar. Good luck.

Permalink Reply by Mitch Buckner - Bella Caffe on August 20, 2008 at 7:03am

Make sure you are using an On Demand Pump. FlowJet or ShurFlo do them. A Booster pump made to help get water to the machine. What kind of pump did you have?

Permalink Reply by Chris DeMarse on August 21, 2008 at 6:05am

I am afraid that you might have a machine pump problem. Kick on your group sometime and look at the pressurestat to see if it's pulling 9 bar or so. If it is fluttering or low, your pump may be burnt up. This is a common problem with anything that is both portable and used by people who might not know as much about their setup. Anytime an epsresso machine pump runs dry, the lack of resistance causes the pump to heat up rapidly and damage itself internally until it siezes. So if you or anyone else accidentally ran that tank dry making drinks while the machine was autofilling, that might be it. It could also be that your water inlet and water outlet got hooked up on the wrong sides of the pump. The lack of steam is directly related to the amount of water in the boiler, so your lack of steam means there is too little water to create enough pressure from prolonged steam.

Permalink Reply by Chris DeMarse on August 21, 2008 at 6:13am

looking at alun's reply, his might be the issue as well. it's a matter of what water might have been used in the machine. Hopefully he's right and I'm wrong.