SET712 (Standard Equipment Technologies) PID. Seems to be a very inexpensive unit (came with my previous machine).

Mark

A few things before you start down the path. Your valve, it does not look bent. After you use the machine for a while the valve controls get a little play in them. They do not pop back to dead center all the time. That photo you posted looks like my steam wand which is not bent but broken in.



The cup warmer. The lower plate will have a screw hole. The hole is off to one side so the lower plate will only go on one way. The sides go up like a U with the screw hole in the front and right of center. The top plate is slightly smaller and goes in with the sides down. To take the plates off, use a paint can opener. One of the handiest tools you can put in the espresso bar. You can open your beer bottles, hook and lift those top gratings, pry out shower screens, pry out group gaskets, and a plethora of other uses.

cannonfodder wrote:A few things before you start down the path. Your valve, it does not look bent. After you use the machine for a while the valve controls get a little play in them. They do not pop back to dead center all the time. That photo you posted looks like my steam wand which is not bent but broken in.

Thanks for the pic. I will definitely have a better look at that. As I said, the valve control has absolutely no play in it, which is what makes me worry. Still, it's only cosmetic.

[edit] Here's a closer look at the one pictured above. You're right, from this angle it looks off of center, rather than bent. You can also see the nicks in the nut from the lever slamming into it.



On the other hand, I also had a look at my picture of the other valve; It looks like it may in fact be bent:



In case you need any more detail, here's a closer look.



[/edit]

I'll have to get a paint can opener, sounds like a pretty useful tool. FWIW, I am pretty sure I didn't see a screw hole on either of my lid pieces. Maybe the old ones aren't supposed to be screwed down?

Hate it when my lever dents my nuts, ouch . It does look like it was battered. My valves have a little play in them. The photos are from one side to the other. The valves close up just fine; they just don't pop back to dead center which I attribute to breaking in. The stock levers/portafilter handle are made of Bakelite, I turned a set of Bocote for my machine which is why they look different.

If one of your tops does not have a screw hole in it, then put the larger one on the bottom, smaller on top. Vent holes go in opposite directions with the rolled edges toward each other to form a hollow gap between each plate.

Hi Nicholas,

great news, congrats on the machine!!:) another one joins the league of Elektra owners

If you want a fast config for temperature indication you can always use an unsheathed TC and simply run it between the group and the 'bell' of the group.

Regards,
dsc.

Dave,

I friggin' love you, man!

I got home tonight, heated up a citric acid solution, removed the bypass valve and adjustment assembly from the pump, and filled it up with the solution. Turned the spindle a few times, and filled it. I let it sit for awhile, emptied it out, and repeated that process 3-4 times. I cleaned up the rubber parts on the bypass valve and put some food grade lubrication on them to keep them soft, and reassembled it.

Reinstalled into the machine, routing the pump water out to the sink, and turned her on. Sure enough, after a minute the pump kicked in, and the pump part sounded fairly good. In spite of my 3/8" line, I think that my 0.5 micron carbon filter is going to have to go. It makes noise like it's getting sucked on when the pump kicks into gear, and the pump starts to make a funny noise after a bit that I think is cavitation. I fed it from a bottle, and this removed that noise, but the motor with a load sounds kind of... annoyingly loud. Maybe it was damaged from running with a seized pump.

Anyway, it works for now, and I don't need to replace the pump, which is excellent news. Anyone know if AC motors can be tuned/repaired, either by myself or a professional? For now I think I am going to live with it.

I haven't got to checking the steam knobs. I can't figure out how to get the lock nut off. I believe you turn it clockwise to loosen, but it really doesn't want to budge without some serious torque, and I am afraid of damaging the chrome...

The plot continues to thicken.

Lock nuts go counter clock wise (when looking at your machine from the front). I left them finger tight as they don't need to keep much from moving.

Mark

Put some electrical tape on the nuts to lessen the chance of damaging the chrome.

Mark

The new Elektra valves ( since 1997 or so) are reverse thread

Glad it worked. It can be a crap shoot with pumps. Sometimes they can be revived, other times it is a rip and replace. Electric motors can be repaired and often much less than a replacement. Look in your phone book for electric motor repair. There are probably several. Bearings are a common problem, you can also have them rewound if needed.

A 3/8 ID line should be adequate. I have a half inch line running to a shutoff, then a carbon filter, pressure regulator then a 3/8 line to another regulator under the espresso bar and finally the machine. I run my input pressure (measured on the gauge in the machine) at 2 bar and don't have any issues. Your filter must be really choking the flow or it is worn out and needs replaced. Filters will restrict water flow and are best placed upstream of the regulator. The noise could be the pump instead of the motor but it is hard to diagnose over the internet. If you take the covers off and listen closely you should be able to detect which is making the noise, or use a stethoscope (that is what mechanics use to find a noisy part).

So, sometimes you have those days where you realize you're an idiot. You know? Today I had a little 'moment' of that. I realized that there was a good chance that the vibration I was hearing came from the tools I had on my stainless countertop that is keen on vibrating sympathetically with the things on it, namely the Robur and, in this case, the Elektra. I took all that stuff off of the table, and went through the test again:

Run motor + pump... Irritatingly noisy. I pulled the pump, and ran the motor. With the tools off, it's super quiet. Impressively quiet. I guess the grease I stuck around the bearings last night helped out. That's good news. Meanwhile, I tried turning the pump shaft. It has a very uneven motion to it. Sometimes it gives a lot of resistance, other times very little. It feels like it has some really bad-off bearings. Rats! I was wrong! I suspect it can be repaired, but it looks like you'd need some special tools to pull it apart. I don't want to mess with it, particularly since the seller has agreed to refund me the money I need to buy a new pump.

I did reinstall the pump and try some heavier-duty descaling, sucking the solution from the bottle. I ran it every 5-10 minutes for about an hour before I gave up and flushed it out... No change. What a disappointment!

I know that the motor could just be quiet because it's not under load, but I guess I'll cross that bridge when I come to it. It's encouraging to know that motors are typically reparable. If I need to, I'll look somebody up. You would expect such a service to be available in the 4th largest city in the country, huh?

As for the carbon filter, I am not sure what its deal is. It significantly cuts the water flow out of the tap (it feeds a sink tap via a T in the line before the pressure regulator, for drinking water) vs. what I get with just the water softener alone. I just bought this new filter about a month ago, and the water flow has been disappointing ever since. It's a non-issue with my Vetrano, but with the Elektra, it makes an awful sucking noise at the filter, not to mention the pump cavitation. The flow rate on this pump is really insane!

I'll post more tomorrow. I'm hoping to make a template for the boiler insulation while the boiler is all disconnected and easy to get at, then patch a few spots on the black frame with rustoleum to prevent rust, reinstall the plumbing and boiler, and test the machine out. The pump will be noisy, but it ought to work.... I hope.

Thanks for all the help, Dave.

You might want to check out these guys about getting the pump rebuilt-

http://www.jcbeverage.com/

I got the link from this post from about a year ago.

Regards, Henry

EDIT good info in this post as well.

Henry, Thanks! That sounds like a nice second option. I've already ordered a new pump on the seller, but I will look into getting this one repaired. I have a friend who's looking into a rotary pump conversion, and he might be interested in it.

Question to Elektra owners: do you know what brand this pump is? It looks like the bypass valve adjustment resembles the Fluid-O-Tech pictures that I have seen, so I assume I should contact them about getting it rebuilt? Silly Elektra and their custom labeling... which looks totally awesome.

[Edit]Whoops, this is of the motor.....[/edit]
I never took an explicit picture of the pump (or I can't find them). Here are two shots. At one time in the past I looked the pump number up but I can't recall what site it was on...



Mark

Of all the pictures I took, only one had with the serial number of the pump and it was in bright sun.

Someone better at photoshop or something can probably pull some numbers out of this...


Mark

Hydropure
http://www.adernet.com/hydropure/
(954)971-7593

The part number is stamped into the brass and I can't read it.

Mark

looks like 33067 (model) to me.

cannonfodder wrote:looks like 33067 (model) to me.

Well, you nailed their postal code.
6444 N.W. 55th. Manor * Coral Springs, FL. 33067

The part number is stamped into the brass (I remember puzzling this out once, but didn't write down the number).

Mark

I would stick with a rotoflow or a procon