Here is my Cimbali M20. When I got it the guy said that water would come out of both groupheads and not stop. I havent had a chance to power this up yet so I cant verify what the problem is. The first question I have is whether this can run off single phase power or otherwise. Ive looked over the metal tags on it and I cant see any indication of this.


This picture shows the two groupheads and I want to know what type of grouphead they are?

These next pictures show the switches and power box. Each switch has a knob (both are missing). What do these knobs control? One of them has a definite 'centre' feel to it, the other feels too loose and doesnt have a 'centre' feel to it. What do these knobs do?



Overall its in fairly good, and clean condition. The boiler shows no signs of previous leaks, so I am keen on getting this back to working condition if possible.

Edited this post as i forgot to ask what the knobs by each grouphead switch do.

I had the chance to power the machine up. As soon as it got power the pump engaged and stayed on, pumping water directly into the drain via (what i think is) the OP valve. Also the grouphead switches and knobs dont seem to have any impact on what the machine does.
Anyone have any ideas on what I can do next to diagnose the fault (or multiple faults).

Still looking for help on this:
What function the knobs next to the grouphead sitches do?
What is the function of the relay?
What are possible causes for the pump to not turn off and not for it to be pumping directly into the drain?

Your machine looks like a semi-auto-which means the barista controls the shot time by starting and stopping the brew pump manually, via the missing knobs.

Finally found a little bit of time to start doing something with this machine.
I tested the resistance of the solenoid directing water from the pump. Resistance across the terminals was 20k Ohms, which with some Googling appears too high, meaning the solenoid is open. Is this correct and does this solenoid need replacing?

Bryce wrote:Finally found a little bit of time to start doing something with this machine.
I tested the resistance of the solenoid directing water from the pump. Resistance across the terminals was 20k Ohms, which with some Googling appears too high, meaning the solenoid is open. Is this correct and does this solenoid need replacing?

20k? That appears to be off the charts...

I know I have two solenoids/coils which should be working. Which have a reading of 1.028 (which surely works) and another one which I am not 100% sure of 0.899. Those were autofill things though, I think thats what ur talking about.

http://www.espresso-restorations.com/solenoids.html

I think you might have read this, but if you have not it might be useful. That site also has some other very useful information about other parts like heating elements etc. Tell me if you cant find it, dont wanna look like im advertising his site or something.

Changed the solenoid but this did not solve the problem of 'the pump engaging and pumping water into the drain outlet on startup'.
I still have no idea why the pump is driving water into the drain.
My next thought is that on startup the water level probe is telling the pump to engage but that something is forcing the pump to overflow to the drain...any thoughts on what to look at next would be appreciated.
Im assuming that I can disconnect the water level probe which would eliminate it as the reason for the pumps engagement in the first place?

Went to disconnect the level probe. Found out that the wires led to a fuse, screwed to the outside of the boiler rather than a probe. Cant figure out how this machine automatically fills the boiler.