Starbucks Barista pump works no water out of grouphead

#1: Post by **ldthompson** » December 13th, 2008, 12:36 pm

My Starbucks Barista heats, the pumps seems to work but I cannot get it to push water out of either the wand or the group.

Is it a vapor lock? If so, how do I get it to prime?

LD

#2: Post by **bgn** » December 13th, 2008, 1:04 pm

Ive never had this trouble with my Barista, but I've talked to others who have had issues and have found Starbucks customer service quite good. I would suggest a call to them. (and welcome to the group!)

#3: Post by HB » December 13th, 2008, 4:42 pm

ldthompson wrote:If so, how do I get it to prime?

Would you believe a turkey baster? Or at least that's what I've read online. See Saeco Aroma - can't prime it for the life of me! or WholeLatteLove's answer to The pump is loud and no water comes out of the steam wand or group head.

January 15th, 2009, 2:32 pm

Water won't come out the group head Starbucks barista. Help?

4 yrs old. steam works ok. Water is super soft so no real scaling problem (Vancouver BC).

thanks

#5: Post by HB » January 15th, 2009, 2:35 pm

I merged your thread with another on the same topic. Let us know if the solutions proposed above don't fix your problem. For those following along, Chris also cross-posted his question on Coffeegeek.

#6: Post by **portamento** » January 15th, 2009, 2:40 pm

Basically you have air trapped in your boiler and you need to replace it with water. You do this by pumping water through the steam wand. This is called priming the machine. Turn your machine on, but not in steam mode. Open up the steam wand, which should also engage the pump. It might pump dry for a few seconds but you should soon see water pumping out of the wand.

For more details, check this article
http://www.starbucks.com/customer/faq_q ... =brewequip
and look for these paragraphs:
- Why isn't water coming through the machine?
- Prime-Steam-Prime-Brew Instructions

#7: Post by **ntwkgestapo** » January 15th, 2009, 3:38 pm

I resurrected my old Barista a couple of weeks ago and had this VERY problem! I could get an occasional dribble out of the steam wand but nuttin' out of the brew group (and no steady stream out of the steam wand)! It had been sitting in a storage box for about a year...
What I did was take a small bulb syringe I had (holds about 2oz of water if you fill it up) and, with the pump running, I lifted the pickup tube out of the water tank, removed the "filter" (pretty much a debris filter!), stuck the syringe into the tube and squirted a full load from the syringe into the tube. Viola! I dropped the tube back down into the tank and it pumped just fine! After I'd let it pump about 4-6 oz out thru the brew group, I shut the pump down, replaced the filter on the inlet tube, dropped it back down into the tank and tried again. Has been working just fine ever since!

You could use a turkey baster would work just as well, but I had the syringe!

Hope this helps!