I just took my S1 Mini out of storage, where it had been sitting for ~15 months. (So sad.) I plugged it in and am having trouble getting it to act normally. After I plug it in and turn it on, the machine does its vibrating thing, but for a full minute, instead of the usual several seconds, before it stops the pump automatically (I believe the La Spaz has an automatic shutoff after a minute of the pump being engaged). Then all the lights go out except the boiler light, which flashes red. If I turn off the boiler I get no error lights, but when I hit the single-cup button, no water comes out of the grouphead.

Help!

Update: There seems to be a definite problem with the boiler (anytime I turn it on, the pump goes on for a minute and shuts off) and water not coming through the grouphead. Not sure if these are related or separate issues.

My first recommendation is go to s1cafe.com forum if you haven't already. There's a lot of knowledge there and an appreciation of the desperation in a case like this!

My first thought is that the pump is not primed - it needs some water in it to get things going. Did you do the initial boiler fill per the instructions for a new machine and did water come out the grouphead?

Cheers Ben

I used to go to S1cafe but seems like activity there has slowed down a lot...I don't want to wait a week for an answer!

No I haven't. I'll take a look for instructions on the initial priming - but maybe you can let me know, too?

Thanks!

From the manual for the Mini Vivaldi II:
- fill reservoir
- plug machine in
- press on/off and hot water buttons simultaneously. Pump will run, empty and on/standby lights will flash.
- once you see water come out of the group, release both buttons.

If water doesn't come out after a reasonable length of time (boiler isn't huge) then stop and reassess. You should hear a different noise from the pump when it is pumping water vs air. When my mini was new I had to disconnect the water line out of the pump to get water moving. There is probably a more elegant way to prime a stubborn pump though.

Cheers Ben

Link to manual:
http://s1cafe.com/s1v2/MiniV2Manual/Min ... l_RevF.pdf

Cheers Ben

Ben_C wrote:From the manual for the Mini Vivaldi II:
- fill reservoir
- plug machine in
- press on/off and hot water buttons simultaneously. Pump will run, empty and on/standby lights will flash.
- once you see water come out of the group, release both buttons.

If water doesn't come out after a reasonable length of time (boiler isn't huge) then stop and reassess. You should hear a different noise from the pump when it is pumping water vs air. When my mini was new I had to disconnect the water line out of the pump to get water moving. There is probably a more elegant way to prime a stubborn pump though.

Cheers Ben

Okay, I'm at the stop-and-reassess stage. Now what?

Sometimes a turkey baster to force water down the hose into the pump to get it started helps. If one of the valves stuck a little it can take some water to free it and it might need some help.

Ira

Where do i stick the turkey baster?

You can probably use the baster to push water into the valve that the reservoir hooks up to. If you are comfortable working on your machine, you can take the covers off and work your way through the plumbing - is water getting to the pump? Is it flowing from the pump? etc until you find the blockage. If the pump isn't changing its sound though then it is probably localised at the pump/water supply area which is a pretty simple part of the machine.

If you're not comfortable tinkering, try the baster or a syringe and then if no joy, get the machine to a service agent. It may well benefit from a descale/clean etc to get it working as it should.

Cheers Ben (who has broken more things than I care to admit with my tinkering)

Okay, I'm going to post a pic of my opened-up machine in the hopes that people can point out where I should be looking for blockages. I don't *think* the problem is at the water source as I've scraped and poked the reservoir connector (both the part in the machine and the one in the basin) with a wire brush; moreover, if you look at the photo below, the highlighted tube closer to the bottom was filled with water. I've also highlighted a tube connecting to the boiler near the top -- when I turn on the machine and try to fill the boiler, I can see some very slow and irregular movement in that tube (not sure if that is an air tube or water tube?).

If you guys can point me to what I should be disconnecting and cleaning it'd be very much appreciated. There is a boiler filling issue and also an issue with water getting to the grouphead.