I'm at my friends house for the christening of his new Fiorenzato Bricoletta Volante and we have a problem. The pump goes on, but it does not draw any water from the reservoir to fill the water boiler. Both tubes are submerged in the reservoir. I also purged the air from softener(?) attached to the left tube. I also noticed a loose spring rolling around the bottom of the machine, any idea what that is from?

Does anyone have any suggestions before we begin taking apart the machine? I just brought over his wedding present, a Mazzer Super Jolly and a bunch accessories and blends. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

A pic of this spring MIGHT be revealing to someone.

The first thing you should do is to electrically disable the boiler's heating element. With all the "testing & probing" you are likely to encounter, the LAST thing you want to do is burn out the heating element.

Disconnect the water softener cartridge and prime the suction line of the pump with a "turkey baster" or similar. Having the heating element disconnected while all this is going on will not affect any other aspect of machine operation.

I fished out the spring and figured out it actually should be sitting under the water reservoir.

The next step is to take apart the machine, I will disconnect the heating element at that time. How is the cup warmer attached to the machine beyond the two screws on top? My machine doesn't have anything else securing it.

Did you try the turkey baster trick as mentioned above? This will often get a machine to prime.

Turkey baster saved the day, thank you.

The saga continues, as now the brew pressure is @ a lovely 2 bar. Can anyone one save me an under-caffeinated search?

Try the FAQs and Favorites under "Pumps".

We are about to open up the machine to check the OPV. I was just hoping to avoid that and get to pulling some shots since we are about out of time.

Stop for a minute - the brew pressure is at 2.0 bar when? when you flush? when you try to pull a shot? when you insert a blind basket?

The boiler pressure, when you reconnect the heating element, should settle out to ABOUT 1.20 bar max after about 45-60 minutes.

The brew pressure, when you "pull a shot" with a blind basket, should be ABOUT 9.0 bar.

Yes, is it 2BAR when you're pulling a shot? 2 bar when you just flushing water isn't uncommon. If my machine is idle for a WHILE(like the first shot in the morning, after being on all night waiting for me), Ill lift the lever to do my "wake-up" flush, and the water runs at 2BAR for 5-10 seconds, then goes to about 4and will stay there if I let the pump run forever. It only goes to 8.57 when Im backflushing or pulling a shot.

Try pulling a shot.. As that is the ONLY time the brew pressure gauge means anything.