Greetings -

In my never ending quest for the oddball and unusual I ended up with this thing.


Other than a parts manual and one thread on a German site have been unable to find much out about it. It's set up for plumbed in but there is no pump, nor does it seem that it ever had a pump. No dangling wires or unused plumbing attachment points. Most references I've found comment that it is a high quality machine, and that it should have a rotary pump onboard. The parts manual indicates one, and all photos I've seen show one. However, the boiler installed seems to be for the Elli, but the Elli boiler is different than this one.

Any help, advice, references, greatly appreciated. Overall it seems in decent shape, tho it is missing the dispersion plate and shower screen.

Got the covers off, which has just prompted more questions. I can find no sign of a pump having been installed. No unaccounted for plumbing fittings or any place for wiring to be plugged in. It does seem to have a water level sensor as if it had auto fill. There is a Gicar and a solenoid that seems to effect water inlet. I can't imagine this works on water pressure alone. Found a parts manual, so will have to do some reverse engineering to figure out how this one differs. Hoping to find a wiring diagram as well. I contacted NS USA and the fellow said he had one of these years ago, and no parts available. Going to try and pump him for more detailed info if I can.

After 5 days of soaking the boiler flange bolts in a combination of first citric acid and then Liquid Wrench, I finally got the halves separated and the HX out. Also had to hit them with heat and a drift punch. All bolt heads snapped but one.

Unfortunately the HX has a split, but the element is fine. Now if I could just figure out how to get the element out. Looks like I need to pick up a crow's foot.

cuppajoe wrote:After 5 days of soaking the boiler flange bolts in a combination of first citric acid and then Liquid Wrench, I finally got the halves separated and the HX out. Also had to hit them with heat and a drift punch. All bolt heads snapped but one.
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So, I'm really intrigued to see how your rebuild goes with this. I was one of the people bidding on this. I'm definitely glad that somebody with more experience doing these rebuilds won the bid -- I'm sure that you'll do it right!

I had also noticed, when looking at the seller's photos, that this machine seemed to defy the parts diagram provided by NS for a Beach machine, and that it didn't look like it had a pump. All very intriguing ...

Here's to hoping that SOMEBODY out there can help you with this because, despite the comments I've seen about some people not like the looks of this machine, I think that it has its own charm and is pretty interesting looking. Good luck!

Thanks, not even sure why I bid on it. Something about it just kept prodding me, maybe the name, and what few references were positive. The only thing I could find from NS in the US is it was introduced in 1975, two years after the Elli.

Other than the solenoids it looks original. While the boiler looks Elli, it has been adapted to use the Beach group. Again, does not look like a DIY job. It has been fiddled with over the years, as the installation of the brain box and Sirai is a bit wanky. I'm hoping to find someone in Italy that can shed some light. The main challenge will probably be inserting a pump into it somehow, and will probably just go with a decent vibe.

Got the HX repaired.

And while waiting for various materials to arrive I started assembling the taps, solenoids, and the water inlet tap. Quite an unusual device. Looks like a standard valve, but you pull the spring loaded handle to open and it snaps back to close.

Cool looking repair.

I'm curious about whether you've made any progress on thinking about the pump-situation. I kept thinking that it seemed like a pretty good candidate for an external rotary, though, I understand the appeal of the vibe option. As you move forward, I'd love to hear your thoughts on pros and cons for the different pump options for this machine.

Thanks, it's been educational regardless of the outcome.

I've got an Ulka already, which will work for proof of concept. It does seem set up for external pump, but don't see where to control leads for the pump switching connect. There's only one tap unpopulated on the Gicar. Machine has been fooled with over the years.

As it appears to be some sort of hybrid, and NS can offer no info, will have to reverse engineer both the plumbing and electrics. It seems set up to run on line pressure, which makes no dang sense. Once I get the plumbing basket of snakes figured, will tackle the electric. The solenoid for the group is easy, the other's function makes little sense at this point.

A bit more progress. Got the element out. All parts had seemed to fuse, and when wrenching on the nuts, the element started to turn. Soaking in citrus and Liquid Wrench had little effect, so figured the best approach was to hack the nuts off with a Dremel and big screwdriver.

After cleaning it up, the date of the element was revealed. It's a 110V 1200W. Unfortunately whatever info was on the other flat was history.

A bit more progress, but another conundrum. There seems to be no way to disassemble the sight glass without breaking it.

The end caps are brazed/welded to the cross bar. The nuts are loose. Only one end cap is open, so no way to push from other end. No way to get enough purchase on the glass to move it. Thought about trying to force the glass protector over the glass.

Not wanting to break the glass, think I'll just leave it and hope it doesn't leak. It soaked overnight in vinegar, but will not budge. Brilliant bit of engineering. There are nuts securing the end caps to the cross bar, so not sure why they would weld the bloody things on.

Finally getting the boiler assembly together.