Hello

Found this beauty at a local flea market.

Got her home and after a minor cleaning tried to power her up. Had the unit on for approx 15mins and noticed the machine was on, but not getting hot. Drew some water and it was still cold. Tried to blow some steam and it tripped my home circuit protection. Now it continually trips the circuits.

Opened up the machine and checked for wiring touching each other, separated wiring with electrical tape, but still no go...

Anyone have any ideas?

thanks

whoops, forgot the photos in my prior post

Looks like an early version of the Isomac Zaffiro. The switches look old style and the build quality looks more consumer than the current version. Couldn't tell from the picture what they used for the coffee thermostat.

Anyways single boilers are simple to fix and e61 SB have a good reputation for straight shots.


Wesley

demoe wrote:Had the unit on for approx 15mins and noticed the machine was on, but not getting hot. Drew some water and it was still cold. Tried to blow some steam and it tripped my home circuit protection. Now it continually trips the circuits.

Sounds like the heating element has a short in it.

I did more searching. The unknown-to-me Isomac Itala had the same guts and a similar case style to the Zaffiro. (I see the word Itala on the drip tray.) Now to your problem. Not heating could be anything from a thermostat problem, blown fuse, loose wiring or a dead heating element. Not sure how you could blow steam with a cold boiler but if that triggered the GFI problems, then you may have a water leak. Alan Frew has a nice web page on repair of home machines. He doesn't touch the case where the machine is in an unsafe condition (trips circuit breaker, GFI?). Given that he doesn't know the skill of the reader of the web page, it's probably a wise course of action.

http://www.coffeeco.com.au/articles/repair.html

coffee_no_sugar wrote: He doesn't touch the case where the machine is in an unsafe condition (trips circuit breaker, GFI?). Given that he doesn't know the skill of the reader of the web page, it's probably a wise course of action.

On the other hand, this type of problem is one of the safest to diagnose, once you have the problem identified. If it's blowing a breaker or GFCI, electricity is going where it shouldn't, This makes a machine a potential hazard, unless, of course, it is unplugged.
Once it's unplugged, it is no more dangerous than any other unwieldy club! ; >
So now, you can touch and play to your hearts content. Get a meter that has a continuity check (as in, it beeps when the wire or material between the probes will conduct electricity) and start with the 'hot' leg of the plug (in this illustration it's the brass colored flat blade:

and usually identified 'cause it's the narrower of the two flat blades) and see where that goes. One probe on that blade, and another on the case. If it beeps, or shows continuity, in the 'on' position you have a short somewhere. If that doesn't beep, check the heating element. You should get continuity on both sides of the element with the switch in the 'on' position. If you don't, the heating element is definitely shot. Check the element in the resistance setting on your meter. Really high resistance or no indication of a connection are both indicators that you may have an issue, as is a direct short.
The ability to follow a simple electrical circuit and diagnose fairly simple parts along the way will solve your problem. The inability to do so will indicate that you want someone else to look at it.

Maybe I've read too many Darwin award stories. I can see someone taking your advice that an unplugged machine is safe and try replacing the anti-vac valve of a hot machine. Yes, fixing an espresso machine is easy if you use common sense. However, not everybody has common sense. I remember trying to fix a leak on a hot machine. I stopped that practice when I read a story of a narrow escape when the fitting broke and steam escaped.

thanks for the responses !

My first thought was a fuse, but after looking the machine has none.

Yes it is tripping my GFI circuits. With my llimited level of knowledge, I will only be able to check and see perhaps if the actual power cord has an issue...other than that, I will probably put it on Ebay.

When I first saw, i too thought it was an Isomac or something similar.

Check the red wire just above the boiler. The exposed wiring may be touching some copper tubing.

Wesley

My first guess would be a blown element, like HB says.
When they blow, they often let water in which allows electricity to leak to earth.
Unplug the wires connectied to the element and measure the resistance across it. It will likely read 10-20 ohms or so if it is good, much higher if it is blown.