Vibiemme Junior HX pump doesn't work... sometimes

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MuHyC
Posts: 11
Joined: 9 years ago

#1: Post by MuHyC »

Hello everyone,
I'm having issue with my Vibiemme Junior HX machine. (machine is about 1.5 years old)
When machine is on for say 10-15 min only, the water pump does pump water and water is coming through grouphead (pumping noise is quite audible).
Once the machine stays ON for a little bit more the water pump doesn't work anymore when Im trying to brew (no water coming from grouphead, and I can see that the water is drawn from tank in one plastic pipe and its coming back to tank right away through another plastic pipe). There is a barely audible sound coming from machine. Looks like pump is struggling.
Once the machine is turned OFF and fully cooled off I can brew again once or twice and then pump stops working again.
Should I just replace the pump or there are few other things I need to check before?
Any info is greatly appreciated.

ecuew
Posts: 151
Joined: 11 years ago

#2: Post by ecuew »

I don't know the solution but can offer a few leads.

I once had a machine with a pump that went quiet (search "quiet ulka" on this site). The solution was to replace the pump. In my case, the pump was about the same age as yours. I don't recall any water flow however, so in your case I'd be inclined to look for a blockage somewhere.

E61 mushroom:

Checking an E61 Espresso Machine for Scale

Take it apart and have a look. Maybe there's a 'foreign object' blocking the gicleur and stopping flow to the group?

Dr. Coffee
Posts: 89
Joined: 9 years ago

#3: Post by Dr. Coffee »

I'm having a similar issue with my machine, except now the boiler doesn't fill at all and no water comes out of the group. Because water is coming back out of the over pressure tube, I don't think it's a pump issue, because the pump is still pumping water. I'm more inclined to think it's a solenoid issue, I'll let you know if I figure mine out.

ecuew
Posts: 151
Joined: 11 years ago

#4: Post by ecuew »

Dr. Coffee wrote:I'm having a similar issue with my machine, except now the boiler doesn't fill at all and no water comes out of the group.
That's a good point. Pavel, if you draw water from the boiler from the hot water tap, does it refill normally (loud pump), or does the pump try to run but is quiet.

MuHyC (original poster)
Posts: 11
Joined: 9 years ago

#5: Post by MuHyC (original poster) »

Thank you all for the suggestions.

I have disassembled "mushroom" (btwI did a full descaling 2-3 months ago)."Mushroom" was pretty clean and I didn't find any particles inside.

I have also removed the cover and put cold water into tank as was suggested in one of the posts of "QuickMill Anita with Erratic Brew Pressure" thread. The machine has been ON for 2 hrs and the pump still works so far.
I'll leave it like this for now and see if pump stops working eventually. The next step I assume would be to disassemble the pump and try to clean it.

ecuew, the pump was "quiet" (barely audible, water coming in and back through plastic pipes) if I drew some water through hot tap if machine was ON for more than 20 min. However the pump was drawing water into boiler( quite audible normal pump working noise) when machine was still cold. So it's the same symptoms whether I use grouphead or hot tap to draw water.

Can someone please point me to the solenoid on the attached photo? Sorry for my ignorance.

MuHyC (original poster)
Posts: 11
Joined: 9 years ago

#6: Post by MuHyC (original poster) »

Here is some update after I tested machine yesterday and today.
Left the machine ON without the cover overnight. The pump worked fine in the morning and I was able to draw the water through grouphead without any problems (boiler refilling worked as well).

In the evening installed the cover back, and after about 30 min the pump stopped working again (once again the same barely audible sound coming from pump, and water was drawing and coming back into the tank through plastic pipes, but no water through grouphead).

Removed the cover again and put cold water into tank and after about 5 min or so the pump began to work again...
Btw I noticed that internals of machine were quite warm after I removed the cover (especially metallic pipe and front brass part on the photo above (i think it's Bypass Valve OPV ? ). Also after about 5-10 minutes these parts cooled down back to room temperature.

Looks like overheating affects the machine and I'm not sure what could have caused it it since the machine was working fine for 1.5 years. I didn't do any upgrades or repairs.
Looking for any ideas.