Hi! I was hoping someone here could give me a little help with my Elektra Microcasa Semiautomatica.

It's a lovely machine, but I've found it nearly impossible to get repaired or serviced, as it is not a common brand here in Melbourne, and even companies who claim to be able to repair them can't. I've been through three companies so far, and all have let me down.

My current problem is one I've seen before, and the most reliable of repair groups have had three tries at fixing to no avail. So now I'm at the stage where I'll need to learn how to fix it myself, or give up on my beloved machine completely.

Basically, I've got no pressure when trying to pour a shot. The solenoid and thermostat have recently been replaced. I can hear the pump running fine to manually fill the boiler, but when I try to run it to pour a shot, it sounds blocked as though I were backwashing it with a blind grouphead, then all I get is a dribble of water.

I personally think there's a small leak, seeing as I continue to get some moisture through the buttons, and that leaking usually accompanied the lack of shot pressure when I've had this problem in the past, but the repair mob claim this is certainly not the case.

While I'm reasonably technically minded, I'm a complete novice in espresso machine repairs, but completely ready to learn. There's not much in the way of information out there to help me with that, save for this forum! If anyone could offer any advice I'd be very grateful indeed, even if its just to get me started in understanding the workings of my machine; if I can't find anyone who knows them, then I'll have to become the expert myself!

Thank you for any help you can offer.

How much water flows from the grouphead when there is NO COFFEE in the portafilter? For example, what is the time in seconds for you to attain 250 ml of water?

It seems as though you are not getting voltage to the brew solenoid valve. The brew button should (obviously) energize both the pump and the brew solenoid coil simultaneously. It could be time to pull out the voltmeter and check that coil.

See this site for a parts breakdown drawing: http://espressocare.com/products/semi-automatica

I recently worked on one of these with a similar problem. If the brew solenoid was replaced, it should have been checked, but has the group jet been checked? Its accessed through a large bolt on the left side of the group . Undo the bolt and you'll have access to the group jet. It has a tiny hole which becomes easily blocked .

The moisture on the buttons may be a separate issue which needs looking at immediately as water and electricity don't mix well

I picked one up locally a month ago for $25 that a kid had taken home from work to "fix". He got as far as tearing out (and losing) all the wiring before he gave up.

I'm still surprised how little this particular machine has popped up online with rebuild threads.

Oh my! Thank you all so much, this is a brilliant start!

I'll check out your suggestions tomorrow and that link to the parts break down is the most useful information I've been able to get out of anyone, thank you so much!

When it was flowing slightly better I clocked 60ml at over 30 seconds, so 250ml would be well beyond a minute or two. I'll time it out when I'm checking things tomorrow.

Thanks again for your help!

Do your timing and flow measurements with NO COFFEE in the portafilter basket. A reasonably correct value would be 250 ml in 30 seconds.

Hi everyone, I am experiencing a similar problem with my Elektra Semi-Automatica with a slight difference. It pulls coffee well for say 10 seconds and then the pump seems to make a little less noise and less coffee flows out of the portafilter. I then empty the portafilter, reinsert it, give it a wiggle while running some water through it and the volume of water is a lot less than normal. If I immediately attempt to fill the boiler the pump makes less noise than normal and the filling process takes a lot longer than normal.

The strange thing is that if I leave it for a couple of minutes it seems to go back to normal. Without coffee in the portafilter it delivers about 250ml in 30 seconds.

It seems like it struggles if the grind is too fine and too tightly packed. It now seems to "choke" a lot easier than it has in the past. I remember reading once that the pumps in these machines can go if they are run too hard (I think from a backflush guide). Maybe the pump is gone? Im very interested in your thoughts. Thank you.