Hi all and thanks for reading this! I purchased a brand new La Marzocco GS3 Paddle group last year and everything has been going great since a few weeks ago when a refill tank message appeared and button lights went off just as i was starting pulling a shot. I removed the tray, pushed on the water tank and the lights came back with the message gone. The problem is occurring several times a week and it's getting annoying. Has anybody ever experienced that problem?
Thanks!
Stephan

The update Dan mentions may have diminished the frequency, but most of us "reservoir dogs" - whose machines are not plumbed-in - will still get these phantom refill messages. (I believe that if the machine parameters are set for water-line feed, water level status in the reservoir is ignored, and so plumbed-in users never see the message regardless.)

Despite the contact springs and the reservoir strips appearing to be clean and shiny, a slight film - invisible but sufficient to block current flow - falsely convinces the GS/3's logic that the reservoir is near empty. The GS/3 usually won't shut off during a shot, but you may already have started the pre-infusion flow and delaying the pump start will compromise the puck. The quickest way to clear the message is just pressing inward and releasing the drain box two or three times, which in turn presses and jiggles the reservoir contacts and reestablishes the connection allowing the pump to start.

The only effective remedy I've found is an old-fashioned contact cleaning with an eraser. Just center a pencil's eraser on each of the spring ends and twist it (counter-clockwise so the spring wire end won't tear up your eraser) a few times. Then rub down the shiny metal contacts on the reservoir. The problem will then vanish for a few weeks or months, and if you make this part of your weekly or bi-weekly cleaning routine, you'll probably never see the problem again.

By the way, you may see other proposed remedies, such as adding extra washers and/or hex nuts to the contact screw ends on the reservoir side. Note though that these screws do not line up against the contact springs themselves; while there may be some incidental contact with the screws, the contact springs press only against the shiny metal strips on the reservoir. Nevertheless, I tried this strategy with several tiny metric hex nuts and washers in brass, zinc plate and stainless steel in various combinations, none of which helped at all. But the eraser always works.