I've had virtually no problems with the used Isomac I bought earlier this year. I use it 1-4 times a day, 5-7 times a week. The only minor setback has been the hot water coming out of the water wand has always been really slow. Maybe 45 seconds for 3oz, and usually with far more steam than I'd care to see.

It's been over 6 months since I got it, I do a regular water backflush and figured tonight would be a good night to descale the machine, maybe that would clear up the problems.

According to the manual (PDF link):

When the machine has reached operating temperature, place a container under the hot water wand, turn the machine off, and turn on the hot water knob to drain the boiler When the boiler is drained, turn off the hot water, and turn the machine back on.

Problem is, even with the machine on I left it open for 5 minutes and got less than 6oz of water coming out, barely any steam. Turning the machine off and opening up the water knob leaves virtually nothing coming out.

According to the manual, the left gauge at the top is the Steam Manometer, this is usually at 20psi. The right gauge is the Pump Manometer. When the machine is not in use it's usually at 50psi, during shot extractions it's closer to 150psi.

The steam wand and grouphead all seem to be operating normally with no issues. I however don't want to have to try and drain the tank of water with the descaler in it plus another full tank of fresh water through the grouphead, and I prefer to drink Americano's in the mornings, so I do like to use the water wand.

Ideas, thoughts, suggestions?

Hot water is dispensed by the pressure of the steam in the boiler. You need to leave the valve closed, allow pressure to build to its full extent, then turn the machine off and open the hot water valve and allow it to drain fully.

Another trick, with the machine COLD and UNPLUGGED(!), remove the tips of both the hot water spout and steam wand, open both the hot water valve AND the steam valve, then apply low pressure air into the steam wand and it will force virtually all the water out of the boiler. You can flush the boiler by pumping clean water into the hot water until it comes out of the steam wand signifying that the boiler is full, then remove all that water as mentioned with air pressure. Then refill it to about half capacity with clean water and that's it. For air pressure, use a bicycle pump.

Also The Tea is a HX machine so pumping water through the group does NOTHING to empty the boiler. It only flushes the heat exchanger. Check my website for details on the workings of HX machines.

NOTE: the OP is cross-posted on CG as well... Just saw that.

Hot water is dispensed by the pressure of the steam in the boiler. You need to leave the valve closed, allow pressure to build to its full extent, then turn the machine off and open the hot water valve and allow it to drain fully.

This I understand, and my ignorance for not stating that I've had the machine on since 11 this morning, 10 hours now.

If the boiler is getting up to proper pressure, then there must be some mechanical obstruction in the hot water wand.

I'm letting it cool now, will try to disassemble the related pipes and blow air / soak in descaler to see if that remedies the problem.

Sounds like your water level is very low. Either the level probe is too long or covered with scale. The Tea should blow lots of water out the water tap with no steam until the water level hits the end of the water take-up tube.

I've had this problem since I got it, now it's just worse. Water level was full when I started this whole ordeal, I pulled the reservoir, emptied the water and wiped it out, then filled it with warm water so the descaler could dissolve properly into it.

Mike Panic wrote:Ideas, thoughts, suggestions?

OK. I missed the part about the hot water flow always being this way...

The steam pressure gauge is reading about 1.4BAR (20PSI), so if accurate that should be more than sufficient to push water out at a good flow rate. If that is the case, then I wonder if, as Dave said, the water level is too low in the boiler. That could be caused by the factory installing a water level sensor that is too long. Maybe it didn't get cut before installation. Maybe another owner can chime in on its proper length. When you pull it you can also check for scale.

I would suggest removing the end parts of the hot water wand and seeing if the flow improves. Also try the air-pressure trick, opening both the hot water and steam valves when the machine is cold, and blowing into the hot water outlet. If that doesn't indicate good flow not then the problem is in the valve or related plumbing, from the hot water wand itself all the way back to the boiler including the valve. If it has always been slow like that you may find a piece of something left in the boiler blocking the hot water opening in the bottom of the boiler... just a guess. That may necessitate removing the heating element to remove it.

Finally got the back off it and disconnected the hot water copper pipe at the boiler, opened up the water wand knob and air seemed to blow through it pretty freely. I guess my next step, the one I don't want to do, is take the whole thing apart and look inside the boiler. also going to pull all the piping out and soak it to try and clean it all out.

I put it back together, let it come up to temp and pressure and now NOTHING is coming out of the water wand, not even steam =/

OK - after taking apart most of the machine, I think I found the problem. The valve itself seems to be the issue. What leads me to this is within a few minutes of putting the machine back together and turning it on, all the copper piping became hot / burning to the touch. When I opened the hot water valve, again barely anything came out and I touched the copper pipe that goes from the valve to the hot water pipe itself and it's cool. Even after leaving it open for several minutes it's cool to the touch, indicating water isn't getting through the valve.

Before I go and spend the $40 on the valve: http://www.chriscoffee.com/products/hom...steamvalve

Is there any way to clean / repair it, or should I just replace it?