My Giotto recently has been having difficulty getting up to pressure and then maintaining it. My solution is to listen for the unit to click and then I cycle the power toggle switch. The boiler then reactivates. I do this repeatedly until I am up to pressure. About 50% of the time the unit stops in the middle of a pour. Once again I toggle the power switch to reactivate the pour. The local repair guy thought it sounded like a control module in the unit, but I'd like a more definitive answer (especially since he told me the card cost $125 and he didn't have any in stock as they weren't being supplied by ECM anymore).

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Can you be a little more descriptive of what exactly is happening? Did it do it all of a sudden? How high does the pressure go before clicking off? You're not talking about the normal up to 1.3ish down to 1.0 ish behavior, right? It normally cycles between two limits, upper and lower. I've had mine apart a few times, so just post back some details!

Sounds like the power switch or connections there to.

The boiler is under control of the pStat and fed from the power switch

The pump is under control of the lever and fed from the power switch.

Common item : power switch

Contact Stefano at Espressocare for great service.

Good thinking - I was thinking maybe the reservoir safety switch being open. I used bit's of foil to keep a tight connection to the case.

Ozark_61 wrote:Good thinking - I was thinking maybe the reservoir safety switch being open. I used bit's of foil to keep a tight connection to the case.

Could be the reservoir switch as well, if it shuts down the machine.

Should be able to test that by grounding the connector to the reservoir probe and see if the problem is eliminated.
ENSURE THERE IS ALWAYS WATER IN THE RESERVOIR

I'll try the reservoir switch idea. Meanwhile, my unit has a bar pressure gauge that goes from 0 to 3 bars. The green zone is from 1 to 1.25 bars. I'd say that the unit has been acting up for several years and I just put it to being emotionally Italian! However, over the past 6 months or so it has gotten worse. It acts correctly perhaps 25% of the time. When it doesn't act correctly, I have to toggle the switch to get it up to pressure. Sometimes when I steam the milk the unit will drop in pressure to around .5. The local repair guy told me a couple years ago that part of the technique to get things back on track was to unplug the unit and then re-insert the power. Apparently this resets everything to default. I started doing the toggle switch because it is easier, although perhaps not as effective.

You guys all seem to know a lot about how to test for anomalies. Are there any measurements I could take to help in figuring out what is going on?

Thank you so far for the good hints and thoughts!

I just went to the Giotto and noticed that my reservoir probe wasn't pushed up tight against the black strip of metal that the connector is attached to. Also, the black strip of metal appears to have gotten some memory in terms of sticking up a bit further than when it was new and now it doesn't spring down like it perhaps should. I jammed the reservoir probe up tight against the black metal strip and turned on the machine. Lo and behold it worked like a charm. Is there a simple mechanical fix for this or should I replace the black metal strip?

Also, does anybody happen to have a link to a parts list and exploded diagram that shows this stuff?

Thanks!

mobias wrote:Also, does anybody happen to have a link to a parts list and exploded diagram that shows this stuff?

Here is a fellow enthusiast's web page with some Giotto information you are looking for, http://biobug.org/coffee/giotto/

Sounds like you figured it out - but are you talking about the boiler autofill sensor or the water reservoir sensor?

Geoff