hello again,
i recently replaced the element in my vbm. it was 1 inch longer than the previous. i also replaced the pressure stat with a sirai. the pressure stat is working properly. The problem i see is the extreme pressure from the boiler, when i turn on the lever for hot water, the hot water gushes out very very quickly and huge amounts of steam, there is a lot of steam pressure as well from the steam wand. , soon after i replaced the element there was not too much pressure. I would say 2 weeks later the pressure was extreme, the steam was extreme, and the pressure gauge always reached the maximum. does anyone know what the problem is.
please let me stress that i mean huge pressure from the hot water lever, and also from the steam wand.
btw, when i make an espresso it comes out black and hot.
my guess would be the element is slightly larger.
thanks again.

My guess is if it worked fine for two weeks your pressure switch or relay is sticking.

does anyone know what the problem is.

Maybe, but lets start from the beginning. In this thread - Heater element rough going in Vibiemme Domobar Super., when you were fitting an "odd" heating element, I asked that you post some pics of your machine and directed you to some reputable vendors who could assist. You chose the following:

Well I decided to just bend the filaments away from the HX. Worked out ok. I also upgraded my pressostat to a larger heavy duty since the old one was constantly melting the wires. Will post pics later.

Then, in this thread - Steam pressure gauge trouble on vibiemme - you reported that the boiler pressure gage "pegged out" at the maximum. I again asked for some pics of the machine's internals and made some comments about your original pstat configuration. The last paragraph of my response is particularly appropriate. Your response - zilch

In this thread - Couple problems with replacement pressurestat - you reported problems with the newly installed pstat. It is fortunate for you that another forum member (Allon) solved the problem by calling out the possibility of a loose connection on the water level probe. But I still am confident that you have "destroyed" the accuracy of the boiler pressure gage.

So now we are back to the point of high boiler pressure. And I go back to one of my comments in this thread - Steam pressure gauge trouble on vibiemme

Now, I'm just guessing - Your original pstat was a CEME model from your description. These are not typically wired to control a heating element directly but rather through an electro-mechanical relay either within the machine's control box or external to it. This relay that is being controlled by the pstat may be tired, very tired and may have been the cause of your wild pressure fluctuations. Your new Sirai pstat is capable of direct control and could easily be wired to do this by a good repair shop.

The problem that you APPEAR to have is that a relay inside the Gicar(?) control box which controls the heating element but is, itself, controlled by the pstat, is faulty as I described in the above paragraph. Troubleshooting machines over the net is tough and made even tougher without pics of an unfamiliar machine. Uploading pics is tough (the first time) but it is through mistakes that we learn how to do it. Try the search engine with topic = uploading pics.

My suggestion - take the machine to a reputable repair facility, have them wire it such that the new Sirai pstat controls the heating element directly, and replace the boiler pressure gage.