Rancilio Epoca issue
I open up the wand and it shoots streams of water for several seconds. It finally purges, and steam comes out, but it pulses, and continues to mix more water in the steam. Doesn't do so well when you're texturing milk and adding water to it. The boiler is currently at about 1.1 bar.
Read on if you want back-story.
This is really irking me. I just opened a new location in my home town, effectively closing our last place because it was a terrible spot to be. I didn't own any of the espresso equipment at our old location. But, it just so happened that I had enough espresso equipment that I purchased for a hospital kiosk deal that fell through a year before. When we received the epoca it was 5 years old, but in excellent condition (from what we could tell). The previous owner had babied it and deep cleaned it daily.
Before we opened, we sent the machine down to Fortuna coffee shop solutions located in Greensboro, NC for refurbishing and tuning. We get it back, hook it up, and since opening it has been functioning at an excellent condition providing us great shots and texturing milk better than our previous machine which was a much newer Astoria. We have been open at our new location since May 29th.
About a month ago, the cleaning spout wouldn't release water and just pumped out steam, and our machine began to over-heat and automatically shut down. I called up Fortuna and they came running...in which the promptly took the case off and reset the breaker. All fixed! Right? Wrong.... They left, and it instantly started again. I talk to a different person there and he says the water level is too low and the elements are overheating. They come back a day or two later and swapped machines to work on it. Okay, so they had it for about a week. They said they went in and cleaned everything really well...said it was doing fine. One of the guys always takes a moment to trash my espresso machine and tell me how cheap it is. Usual encounter.
I get it back. It's not over heating now. But it is still giving me irregular steam and now the wands are releasing excess amounts of condensed water. I call them back. "Oh, now it's too full." They step me through the process of how to adjust the water level. I do it. I've done it now, several times. Still the same problem.
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Brady on
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Hmmm. If this is one of the Rancilio models that has the level sensor board with the LED behind the sightglass, your machine's issue may be an obstructed lower sightglass tube. This will keep the water level in the sightglass from responding quickly to changes in the boiler level - sometimes overfilling, sometimes underfilling. I see this occasionally, especially in areas with harder water/insufficient water conditioning. If this is the case, the boiler will need to be drained and the lower sightglass tube removed and cleaned (along with the mating fittings on both the boiler and sightglass). This is doable onsite by a competent tech, though the pump motor position can make it a little awkward.
Another possibility might be that the level board's gone bad. Does it respond in a logical way to visible changes to the level in the sightglass? This is a less commonly stocked part though, so it'd be handy if you knew that was the problem before the guy rolled for the job. Wouldn't want to pay a return trip for a special-order part... especially one that lists for only $40 or so.
You're in Martinsville, VA?
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Permalink Reply by Danny Heiss on
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Yes, I am in Martinsville, VA. Do you know where that is? I'm astonished!
I believe that is what was cleaned the last time it was taken in for a check-up. The tech told me to use adjust the position of the LED chip on the tube to adjust the level as it was too high. But he also said prior that it was adjusted too low which is why it wasn't filling properly. Firstly, our water is city water. Secondly, we have a water filter on our espresso machine. The previous owner of this particular machine also used a filter. I know that doesn't fix the problem of mineral build-up over time, but it does greatly increase the time for that to happen. I'll call them and confirm if that area has been cleaned. And what do you mean by responding in logical ways?
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Yes, I know where Martinsville is... I live in Charlotte and am a NASCAR fan.
What I mean by "responds logically" is if you move it up 1/4 inch it ought to fill until the water level raises by 1/4 inch. If you drop it by 1/4 inch and then drain the boiler a little with the hot water tap it should refill when the level drops by 1/4".
You want the boiler to be 1/2 to 2/3 full. This is really easy to see if the large front panel is removed, a little harder to figure out if it's in place. I think the Rancilio sightglass lines up pretty well, so 2/3 full is your goal.
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Oh nice! I just got off from a flight there.
I adjusted the level of the boiler down to 1/2 and drained the boiler. It's doing fine right now. I had to drain half the boiler to get there though. It was previously set at about 3/4's. But, if nothing goes wrong from now on I won't complain. I just passed a perfectly textured cafe latte out the window. Thanks!
Do you have a cafe in Charlotte? I'd love to check it out next time I'm down. What coffee do you supply?
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New development. After I set the new level, and drained the tank it was working fine. It continues to work well. However, I've noticed the level of water has filled at a illogical manner as it has filled past the pre-set level.
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Hmmm... Interesting. The next time it fills and stops "normally" mark the position of the water in the window with a bit of tape. Check back in a little while, then again during the day, then again the next morning (after sitting idle) and see what you observe.
My family no longer operates a cafe in the area, but I support most of the shops in Charlotte (and others in the broader area) as a service tech. Martinsville is sadly outside of my service area - as a one-man show, I try not to travel past Winston-Salem.
Good luck!
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I think it is failing to recognize the pre-set and is just automatically filling all the way. I checked it before I left and it was nearly full, although the LED was set at half way. It still works well and takes a while to fill all the way if I let out some water when I use it. But you know, I shouldn't HAVE to do that? And I don't how good it is for the hot water spigot if I run that much water through it.
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Here's the question - does it engage refill when the water in the glass is above your tape mark, or only when it drops below? How much does the water level rise in the sightglass after the autofill turns off.
This sensor board works exactly like a metal level probe. All the autofill circuit knows is whether the little electric eye does or doesn't see water - there is no preset, and it has no idea what it means to fill all the way. If the eye doesn't see water, the LED will turn orange (or red, can't remember) and the pump and fill valve will energize to fill. It will continue to fill until it does see water, at which point the LED will turn green and the pump and valve will shut off. It should respond at about the same level every time - this is what I mean by "logical behavior".
The key here is for you to determine if the autofill circuit is behaving as it should, and how the sightglass water level is responding.
I still suspect an obstructed lower sightglass tube or tube fitting. A slowly-leaking fill valve is another possibility. An obstructed tube would respond sluggishly - falling and rising more slowly than the level in the boiler. A leaking valve will slowly overfill the boiler.
Hope that helps.
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