Problems after storage and moving 1 mile high

Need help with equipment usage or want to share your latest discovery?
michaelaye
Posts: 1
Joined: 9 years ago

#1: Post by michaelaye »

Hi there!
I'm new to these forums and hope I can get some support to get my Starbucks Barista espresso machine working again.
After moving, but also after a long time of no use (due to storage), the symptoms are as follows:

* The pump is primed, water is flowing fine when using the left-side knob.
* What I'm worried about is the fact, that I get steam through the milk steamer even so the steamer button is off. Could that be due to the fact that I moved to Boulder, CO and with the same temperature that was not steam yet in Los Angeles, it now is already steam due to the reduced pressure?
* When I use the button to draw water through the group head when the green light is lit up, it first get's some drops through, but then stops.
* I then let steam through the milk steamer out until the green light is off.
* Using the 'espresso' button again to draw water through the group head now let's some water flow through the head but stops soon after, apparently (but not sure) when the water is too hot again?

My questions are:
* are the symptoms still reconcilable with a boiler that needs to be descaled? I tried to run through descaler solution (the good one for Espresso machines), but the symptoms did not change. Is it possible that I need to unmount the boiler to manually remove limescale?

* Or is it clear that I need to reduce the thermostat temperature somehow? If yes, how?

Thanks for any hints!
Best regards,
Michael

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Joined: 16 years ago

#2: Post by EspressoForge »

How was the machine stored and for how long? Was the boiler drained before storage?

I believe your machine is a lot like some model of Saeco, which means it should have 2 thermostats at 95C and 127C for brew and steam respectively and I don't believe they are adjustable, likely you would have to replace them to change any temp. 95C is probably close to the boiling point there in Boulder so I think you shouldn't need to worry about the steam coming out of the tap. You can still temp surf to try to get a bit lower or higher for your brew water if you want.

If I get what you're saying, it looks like your brew pump isn't working when you press the brew button, no flow or little flow? I'm not exactly sure why, it could be due to your pump, or for other reasons like your boiler isn't filling correctly etc. Hopefully someone else will chime in who knows more about this.