hey iam new to the whole coffee world. but i currently own a astoria cke espresso machine. the other day it quit making steam. the gauge usually reads between 1.2-1.4 and now its on 0. the water that come out when i make espresso only heats up to 114. i heard from some were its suppose to be at like 205 when i brew. the water tank is not how. were should i start to check. times are hard right now and really dont have the money to fix



PS added by moderator: Same question cross-posted to Coffeegeek and continued in Boiler maintenance-Did I kill my Wega?

If you are getting 100 degree water, then the element is working.

Do you know what the pressurestat is? If not, search around here a little and you'll learn.

Is it cycling on and off? Do the contacts look good?

The good thing about the heating circuits is that they are not complicated.

WES

Sounds like False pressure on start up to me. Check the vacuum breaker is working properly. Or, as a test, just open the valve for the steam wand. If it returns to proper operation, your vacuum breaker is sticking.

WOW you guys rock just posted this issue and wow 2 posts after 45min SWEET. um yes iam familiar with the pressure steam it not it we just changed it. as for the steam wand iam guessing that iam not getting any pressure because A the gauge reads 0 psi and the water temp coming from the brew side ( not familiar with term but its were espresso comes out) its a 110 degrease. my commercial coffee machine puts out like 185 when brewing. iam guessing that my heating elements work but not at normal temp. like i said iam not getting ANY steam out of the wand even after the machine has been left on for 2hr. were can i start to trouble shoot

If you've confirmed it's not false pressure and the heating element is warm, I assume it's shorted out. The next step is to check its resistance (unplugged!). I don't know what it should be for your model, but you can calculate it based on its rated wattage.

resistance across the heating element???

Yes, checking resistance would be across the heating element.

thats located in the tank????

Er, you may want to consider taking your machine to a repair technician.

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lol i like the disclaimer but i think iam very capable of tackling the machine. i just need to placed on the right path. do the heating elements go bad??? often