Eric,

Thanks for posting the picture. I see it on the bottom of the machine. Your help is much appreciated.

I followed Eric's advise and disassembled the solenoid valve to see if the plunger is stuck due to scale build up. To my surprise there is very little deposit and the plunger moves freely without any noticeable drag. I clean the plunger and the cylinder with citric acid solution. The problem still persisted. It turned out that the solenoid coil had gone bad. It measured open with a DMM.

There is some trace of rust on the metal surface that mates to the brass body evidently due to very slow water seepage over time. The moisture and hot cold cycle over time must had taken it's toll.

I now tried to find the exact Olab solenoid so I can just replace the defective coil without the need to mess with the brass body and the plunger assembly. I contacted the service folks at Chris Coffee and they had been extremely helpful. Unfortunately they now only stock a Park solenoid - which I expect the coil would not be compatible with the Olab.

I tried to find the Olab solenoid valve to no avail. I checked most online espresso machine parts and ebay.

Here are the pictures of the Olab coil:




I appreciate if anyone know where I can find it.

I would give Chris' Coffee a call to see if they have any coils in their "gold locker". Changing out the coil is, as you know, "duck soup". Changing out the valve, well, that's a PITA. The key item to note is the inner diameter of the coil/outside diameter of the cylinder.

Eric,

I would sure give them a call again and ask about the golden locker - or the bone pile of wrecked QMs.

I check ebay global and found few Olab coils and complete solenoids - but alas they are all 240V

They (Quickmill) re-sourced the fill solenoid assemblies to Parker - possibly with a little elbowing from CC - I do not know the details. It is POSSIBLE that a Parker coil will fit.

Seeing how little hits there are when I google Olab and the Olab italiy site is not exactly useful it is no surprise they switch to Parker. I suspect Olab is no longer big supplier to the espresso machine industry. I contacted Olab's US distributor in the East Coast but I am not holding my breath that would lead to anything. They sells all sorts of industrial/medical pneumatics products.

erics wrote:Remedy - assuming this is the problem:

Power off and unplugged.
Water supply shut down.
Syphon water from boiler.
Unscrew top half of valve and soak components in vinegar for 30 minutes.
Rinse well and reinstall.

Disconnect one lead to the heating element.
Power up machine - pump should run for about 20 seconds (my HUNCH).
Reconnect heating element.

Good to go.

I did a google search to trouble shoot my Vetrano pump that was not turning off and I found this thread. The above was the cure. I am up and running again after an hour or so of digging into my machine.

Gracias EricS

I guess this a good indicator that it is time to do a full descale soon.