I have a Quickmill Andreja Premium that's about two years old and is in immediate need of a new heating element. I'm pretty sure that I burned it out in the process of descaling (the pump lost its prime while refilling the boiler and I'm afraid that it ran dry for too long) and now I only minor rumbling from the machine when the boiler turns on. It was working fine last night, but died sometime in the night and was quickly losing temperature and pressure when I got up in the morning.

I've verified that I'm getting the proper voltage at the heating element, but the machine's current draw doesn't change at all when the boiler comes on. This is in contrast to the typical 10-11 amps that I usually see when the boiler kicks in. The red light on the front comes on, but no useful activity from the element.

I went through the normal troubleshooting procedures with Chris Coffee (Hi-limit wasn't tripped, voltage at the element was ok) and the tech concluded that the element was probably bad. I took the initial step of trying to drain the boiler using the drain plug at the bottom and it immediately sheared off. At that point, I started to fear damaging the boiler while removing the heating element and I think I'd like some professionals to step in.

I can box it up and send it to Chris as a last resort, but since it's on the opposite corner of the country, I was hoping that there might be some reliable repair options here in San Diego. A quick Yelp search brings up "Solutions Espresso Service", "Jim Duke Service Company", and "Express Fix", all with good reviews.

Does anyone here have any personal experience with these or other places around San Diego that could give my machine a tuneup?

Of course, if there are any other useful troubleshooting steps that I can take with the machine while I have it, I'm all ears.

Thanks!

It's likely that the element did get toasted, but just to be sure I would disconnect the heating element from the wiring (document the wiring first with a picture so you can reassemble it later, maybe with a new element) and measure the resistance across the element. If it's infinite resistance, or very high resistance then it is burnt out. A working element is probably around 10 ohms.

This should be close: http://www.greatinfusions.com/index.html . I have no experience with these guys but they are surely intimately familiar with the Andreja.

Try this company, it's a lot closer (LA area), and they've had experience with Quickmill

http://www.hitechespresso.com/

Thanks, folks. Santa Cruz is over 6 hours away from me, so it's a little outside my reasonable driving radius .

HiTechEspresso looks interesting, but I can't find their address anywhere on their website. Do you know where they are?

I suspect that the problems with my machine are pretty basic, so I took a chance on Express Fix this morning (about 40 mins away). Others were M-F 8-5 and it's challenging for me to get out and back in the middle of the week. I'll keep HiTech in mind if Express Fix lets me down.

Rob

Here's their address via Google: Address: 2013 Griffith Park Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90039
Phone:(877) 286-2833
Hours: 9-5; Closed on Sunday.