Hello,

I'm working on a Brasilia Century. The boiler fills and heats, the steam wand works, pressure gauge works, and the hot water nozzle works. I have two draw buttons that suddenly stopped working (middle top and lower right,) and when I press the working draw buttons, no water comes out the Group. I do get water from the backflow spout. I read on a separate post that it could be the Solenoid Coil or Solenoid Valve guide so I pulled those off, took them apart and cleaned them, but it didn't fix the issue. Its $100.00 to replace those two parts but want to kind of be sure before replacing them.

Thanks in advance for any and all assistance.

Here are some pictures of the unit:

I took a chance and replaced both the Parker three way and the Solenoid coil but still no joy when I press one of the draw buttons I still get no flow out of the group. I've cleaned extensively, checked the line running from the boiler to the group and even removed the bolt on top of the group to see if there is water even attempting to pass and there is not. I would appreciate any advice anybody has. Thanks in advance.

The machine has been stored for a very long time, while it was stored inside, with no chance of freezing, it could very well be that something is gummed up. I'm kind of taking a pragmatic approach to cleaning it. This is the first time I've really delved into the machine like this. Here are a couple of more pictures of the group with the new parker three way and solenoid coil:

In cleaning out the group, I was able to get a mild solution into the head after removing what looks to be a "jet" screw with small hole in it. I started the machine up this morning and pressed a draw button and it ejected the solution so head pressure and draw worked but only from the perspective that I manual poured the water into the group. I'm not sure what this tells me other than perhaps water isn't making it to the group from the boiler? I am likely missing some basic understanding of how the group works. Perhaps somebody could enlighten me?

There is a copper tube running from the boiler to the top of the group. There is a plastic line running from the three way, etc. My assumption is that the water supply for the head is delivered via the copper tube? I have good heat in the group as an FYI.

Thanks to the guys over at Espresso Resource for helping me track through this . . . I've heard that espresso machines could be 3 beer or 6 beer projects; I need another 6-pack. There is a tiny hole in the flowmeter that was plugged up with something to the point that I couldn't even see the hole. This feeds the heat exchanger that runs to the head. I'll test it tonight, but feel pretty good that this should resolve the issue. I'll check back in tonight and post as to whether this resolved this particular issue.

~Shane

Does the solenoid make a clicking sound when you press the group activate button?
Did you try turning the water "on" while the solenoid was removed from the group head?

There should be a check valve that could be stuck or the jet in the flow meter plugged. Another place to look for and obstruction would be the jet you already took out. There should also be a wire mesh screen surrounding the jet.

It was indeed the jet in the flowmeter that was plugged. That restored water to the Head! I was so very close to having coffee tonight, but alas, foiled again. The connector from the boiler to the PRV seems to be spitting steam out of its side.



Naturally, you have to undo two other connections to get this one off.

I have a question regarding these connections; can I use ones purchased from Home Depot? Do they have to be special based on boiler use?

It looks like the thread sealant failed and that reinstalling the fitting with the teflon tape on the boiler threads "should" do the trick. Clean the threads well with a wire brush first.
Not as good as a hardening pipe thread sealant such as "Expando", but teflon tape is easy to find.

No, those fittings are not generally available at home depot.

Thread tape did the trick Back in business and I learned a ton. Thanks for the assistance. This is kind of addicting, and while we've owned this machine since the mid 90's, I may have to find another project machine to play around with.