after getting a hold of a wiring diagram (of sorts) for the MC-1 i'm trying to fix i have some questions that i think pertain to hx machines as a whole. I'm having trouble figuring out what controls the the pump. The machine has a gicar rl30-1e that only controls the valve letting more water into the boiler. There is a white lead coming out of the brew switch that i think turns the pump on and off but it seems like there needs to be some other way to get the pump to turn on besides flipping the brew switch. For instance if i use the steam or hot water the water level in the boiler will go down but those as of now don't look like they will trip the pump at all. Does anyone have any ideas? thanks.
Michael

here's the diagram i'm working with. this doesn't have a gicar but its the closest thing i have
https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/k...directlink

there needs to be some other way to get the pump to turn on besides flipping the brew switch

Not necessarily. The water pressure in typical residential plumbing systems is high enough to refill the boiler without the aid of the pump.

so by default the solenoid to fill the boiler will stay closed and only open when the water sensor trips the gicar. then when the brew switch it hit it will turn on the pump to bring water through the hx and to the brew head?

I am not familiar with the Brugnetti mc-1. Some of the old machines had a manual fill valve on the front of the machine below the drip tray. That was your boiler fill and the user had to keep an eye on the water level sight glass to make sure the boiler did not go dry. Since the machine is plumbed in no pump was needed to fill the boiler. The brew boiler is at most 1.1 bar on those old commercial machines and most domestic or commercial plumbing has 3 or 4 (or more) bars of pressure from the city. So the line pressure was more than enough to fill the boiler. You could also open the manual fill and then hit the brew button to get the pump pressure for refilling the boiler.

If it is an auto fill, which would be obvious since you would have a boiler level probe, it would be controlled by the brain box. The appropriate solenoid has to be opened to allow the boiler to fill then the pump kicks in. All of the Gicar boxes I have worked on had a wiring diagram on a sticker that was stuck to the box just so you knew what wire controlled what.

Yeah the gicar has wiring diagram on it. Now that I know that the tap water pressure is high enough and sine I've drawn all the sequences of events out this all makes sense. Thanks for the help.
Michael

That is a very interesting machine. I would say it sorta defines robustness. I'm hoping you have seen these pics: https://sites.google.com/site/espressorefuge/home/brugnetti-mc-1

I've definitely spent my time looking at that site. Mine isn't in such pristine condioon but the only problem I've found so far is a seized pump head. Hopefully I'll have it up and running in a couple weeks. Its my first really machine so I'm excited to get it started.

That wiring diagram you previously linked to does, in fact, show the "Gicar" - its the box with the terminals marked 2-10. These may (likely do) correspond to terminal numbers on the Gicar board after you remove the plastic housing cover.

Post some pics of your machine undressed.

the gicar doesn't exactly follow the 2-10 on the wiring diagram. I think there's a few different models of this machine. the other diagram i got looks like it has some semi automatic shot timers and such but i think mine is in the middle of the two in terms of electronic amenities. Here's a picture of the unit.
https://picasaweb.google.com/mpap89/Jun...2220741602

erics wrote:I would say it sorta defines robustness.

That's an understatement. I've had mine since Nov, 1991, and the problems are few and far between.

Enjoy your new toy, Michael.