eeww, that's nasty

I had a Fiorenzato espresso machine in for service this week. The Fiorenzato has a decorative curved body panel that wraps the 2 sides and back of the machine... It looks cool! It also leaves a gap on the underside of the unit that can allow VERMIN into the espresso machine - And the vermin might decide to use your espresso machine for a crapper... After vacuuming u the crap, I found typical scale & foul group head. Descale, replace level probe, vac valve & needed saftey valve. Plus a vigorous group cleaning...

Giott - oh - no

Poor little Giotto...

Hard times. Hard water. Pic's show fittings have mineral build up... Needs to be totally descaled. Strange leak at heating element leads and also building effervescence will require new element as well. Pump is fine. Can't test the P-stat until I get it cleaned up and heated up.

Elektra Maxi

It's been a while since I posted... but have been very busy on the bench. I have been rebuiding from ground up an Elektra Maxi. This came in in the kind of shape that usually means scrap metal... Not working and full of scale, grime & decay. I know these Elektra units are good solid performers and I have been using it to train my new 'Tech' Ken. So I have to say that Ken has done quite a lot of the repair with me looking over his shoulder.

It needed just about everything from procon pump, all gaskets, solenoids, acid bath, complete rebuild of groups and now it needs a push button pad for 1 side. I think it will be worth it for the owner who will be selling it as soon as we get it done & it will be a great piece of equipment for a small business. Here is a pic of the unit on its 1st heat up (no leaks). I will post another when it is all dressed up.

First week Feb 2010

Funny story. An owner of a nearby bistro brought his La Pavoni commercial 1 group 'Pub' model espresso machine in for a service - which turned out to be a fried Pressure stat. I noticed the machine did not have an internally installed motor & pump & assumed he had it mounted under his counter at his shop... On completion of the repair I mentioned the missing motor... nope... he had no idea that he had been running his espresso service on line pressure for months!

This week had an on-site repair of an Astra Mega 2 with yet another burnt out Presure Stat

At the shop we had an overheating La Spaziale Vivaldi. It needed a new thermostat probe & a good cleaning and tune up. The 2 boilers in the Vivaldi do not use pressure stats to control temp - they each have probes with leads to the cpu.

Did I ever warn you about scale?

An ECM Giotto came in with a pretty serious scale issue. The result was several leaks in various fittings, shorted out solenoid coil & needed replacement of the vacuum valve and safety valve. The E61 was also obstructed by calcium build up (see the valve body soaking in solution).

The frame had a fair amount of rust though still able to hold the unit together.

Most or maybe all of this repair would not be needed if proper descale procedure or filtered water was used.

first week Jan 2010

Yikes!

A slew of small home espresso machines have come in.

Problems are... boiler in francis francis X5; switch on Pavoni Piza; steam valve on another Piza; switch on Pavoni europicola; 3 gasket sets on europicolas; electrical short on Livia 90; frozen group on an Ascaso dream...

Most interestingly a warranty Silvia came in with a rare cracked group base:

December week 1

Oh what fun it is...

Too many fix ups to list so I will mention two interesting items. An old La Riviera came in with no heat. Found the pressure stat was mechanically jammed and easily got it heating up - only to find the piston seals were so worn that they would not allow it to build pressure. As the unit is quite old, I had track down a set of o rings... Once in hand I had not much trouble replacing them. This is a spring loaded lever and using a clamp is essential in getting the piston back in. All back together & a very nice home espresso maker.

Also I had a mysterious leak on an Expobar. Thought it might have been a seal or the tube that sends over pressure to the drip tray (redirected the over pressure to the water tank). After much searching, I found a faulty gasket in the Ulka pump was the culprit. Additionally the vac valve was scaled and leaky as well.