Hello all Ive been visiting this forum for quite a few months now, so I thought id register and take the chance to finally be part of this community I just started out on my coffee journey, this is pretty much my second restoration project (first one is a Fiorenzato Ducale from 92 which is almost complete)

Anyways. this Rancilio also appears to be from 92(the pump is), even though im not 100% sure if its the S26, but its my best guess(the info label is unreadable)








I have never seen something as disgusting as this, even the stainless steel and the frame are totally... well its as if they were in a kitchen without air-ventilation for 10 years and never cleaned.

Things that I discovered when I tested the machine.

Steam comes out
Heating element works
Boiler pressure gauge works
Tea-water comes out
Solenoid works of the grouphead, grouphead just drips though.
Auto-fill works
Pump appears to be broken somehow, it makes a VERY low bzzzzz sound, there was a bit of limescale in the shaft and it turns pretty badly, will try again after a citric acid bath.

So, that is my progress after around 7 hours. Im having some trouble though, pretty simple things I guess.

Cant seem to remove the heating element from the boiler seal no matter what I try, is it wise to just put the whole thing in citric acid and be done with it? (even though the HX in there is stainless steel)

Any recommendations on the frame? Should I just paint it myself a nice black color or bring it to a company to do this (I never painted something so im pretty much an amateur hehe) But it has to be done since its very rusty.

Also, the boiler is stainless steel, normally citric acid is not such a good idea then, but what is your opinion about this? I could also get a brass wire to clean it, which is more work ^^

If anyone wants to see all of the pictures, even the pictures of things that are just for memory http://195.22.103.121/~ravenskull/Ranci...index.html

What did you do to clean the stainless steel panels? I'm cleaning up a s27 (sisters!) and I am trying to get the brown stains off of it.

Nice! Im pretty sure it will look amazing when ur done

I basically used the main dish washing materials, a metallic wire and just dish washing liquid. It was a lot of scrubbing but its doable. It was very stained and oily in my case, no idea how the previous owner(s) got it this far.

I also heard its possible to polish stainless steel with toothpaste and a regular brush(toothbrush?) and sandpaper.. but I never tried that myself.

EDIT: I used steel wool, but then the rough kind. I must say there are some "leftover" places on the red outer casing parts because of the wool work I think, might have had some effect on the color, but at least its way better than before.

I'm brand new to the forum too, been lurking since '08. This will be a fun thread to watch! Best of luck.

Hello everyone! Im back again with an update!

Managed to make some progress in the meantime. I have summer vacation now so im planning to get the frame and the red casings(all three of them yay) to the powdercoater this week. I hope im done in time atleast..

So, the boiler and heating element are almost clean. Just cleaned them with citric acid anyways. Most of the scale on it turned blue for some reason, pretty interesting I also managed to cut off the "way too rusted" piece of metal and get a replacement to weld back on again. Will have to do this before bringing the frame to the powder coater.

Im thinking shiny black for the frame and shiny red for the outer casings, any better recommendations? Those are fine colors I guess.

So, see the lovely pictures beneath And some more that I wont post here on my album

Before cleaning grouphead.

After cleaning, looks pretty good. No idea why there are two screws missing there, not my fault lol

The secret weapon to the right.

A new piece of metal (for free!) to replace that ugly rusty thing.

Re: The loud buzzing on your pump.

You need to evaluate your pump and your motor as separate parts. And from your photos it looks like the motor ring and color are just about pristine. I do not see any sign of the top of the pump leaking into the motor mount.

So from there you evaluate your motor first. Is it free with slight hand torque, the motor will make some back EMF and it will not be like a top, but it will be 'unbound'? You will feel grit if the bearings are shot. If not then it is likely you are good, the starter cap could have gone south on you but you have to look at the pump second.

This is a rotary pump that is designed to put out much more flow than is ever used in the S-series machines, so even a poor preforming pump can make a grade, but will load the motor more than it should.

A new or rebuilt pump like is in the S series will be easily turned by hand, if it is stiff at all you ought to consider it a rebuild candidate. They really do not suffer shelving well at all. The rubber vanes can become stiff and any other of other pressure bypass parts can become dry and hard. But the hand turn is a basic test, it should at the most feel like winding an alarm clock spring.

Let me know how both parts spin, if they are free you could have a valve farther on in the system giving you a problem, but I have had my S27 totally down to bits inclucing the Vulcan valves, and had to rebuild the logic board.

Do a search back on it in this forum and you will find it.

The boiler on my was worse than yours, I could not even see the coils on the heating element when I started as there was so much build up on them. After a good soaking I was all pink and ready to start again.

-Cecil

BTW, that level of leakage and rust on your frame was minimal from some I have seen.

When I had mine down I was not worried bout the frame. It was mostly good, but the brains were off. So I worked with them the most, but I did stabilize the frame with protectant (it wants to suggest I protected the frame with protests, that will not work, and yes after a while it will get into your head). Anyhow getting it running and in the case of this large of a boiler getting it insulted seemed more of a concern.

In this case it did. You can look up the back statistics if you care, but plan on wrapping that sucker up somehow when you rebuild it.

-Cecil

One other thing, unless Ranciilo pulled a quick one, your boiler should be solid brass. Copper should clean to pink, brass to a nice gold.

-Cecil

My s27 has a steel boiler with a brass top piece. Not sure about the s26 but they are pretty similar. It's better to have steel since it won't strip when you over-tighten the bolts.

They could have retooled the factory mid run, but I know mine is a brass bathtub. I am guessing cost savings?

-Cecil