Hi!

I've been a happy owner of a Reneka Techno (second edition) for almost eight years. Yesterday it suddenly started to come out a lot of water from the steam nozzle. The repair manual is in another location and I just found out that justespresso.com (the dealer in NZ) have shut down.

I have sent an email to Reneka in France asking for debugging support, but I suspect since its vacation time in Europe it could take a while to get a response. I understand there are some Techno owners in this forum so I reckon I ask for help here

What could be causing this issue? Too much water in the steam boiler? What could be the reason for that to happen? A faulty probe? A clogged solenoid valve? (The solenoid valve for the hot water is clogged since three years, and I dont use that switch anymore because of that).

Any help on where to look would be greatly appreciated!

Regards
/Erik

billerby wrote:What could be causing this issue?

Sounds like the steam boiler has overfilled because the water level sensor is failed to detect ground.

billerby wrote:A faulty probe? A clogged solenoid valve?

Indeed. This often happens because of scale buildup on the probe acting as an insulator. I would start by unplugging the machine, letting it cool, and then cleaning the water level sensor. Be careful not to overtighten the fitting around the sensor; it's ceramic and may crack. Or as you suggest, it could also be that the boiler fill solenoid is failing to seal. That can happen if it doesn't fully close due to scale buildup, or because the inlet pressure it too high and forces it open.

Thanks for your quick reply!

Got hold of the tech manual now and this is exactly the two things suggested. My last steam cycle a while ago did not contain any water. I had another solenoid valve that got clogged some years ago, and it was working/not working a while before totally giving up. This makes me suspect the filling valve. Maybe a faulty probe could start to work for a while again also, but I dont have the loctite 577 needed for reassembly (according to the manual) now so lets start looking at the filling valve


/Erik

The temperature probe won't affect the fill level, and that is the only part on which the Loctite 577 is used. For the level probe, you can just loosen the sleeve. There are two possibilities there. One, as others have said, is that scale has insulated it. The other is that if it isn't fairly tight, the wire that makes up the level probe can move up in its sleeve over time. To fix that, you can gently tap the top of it with the retaining collar loosened, then tighten it back up again.

I know you already have the manual, but even though I no longer have mine I have left the manual online, here: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/152 ... tation.pdf

Best,
David

Thanks! I apparently read up on the wrong probe there with the loctite. Great to have a digital version of the manual.

/Erik

One more thing, The manual is not clear of which solenoid valve is the "filling valve". So there are three valves, one 3-ways and two 2-ways. In the docs they are numbered (the 230V and 220-240V since I'm in Europe).

• 42 SV 2 WAYS 230V / 50-60 Hz (9003435)
• 45 SV 3 WAYS 220-240V / 50-60 Hz (9008257)
• 48 SV 2 WAYS 230V / 50-60 Hz (9003364)

Which one of those could be the filling valve (its marked with numbers in the design scheme but its not clear which one is the filling valve).

Thanks!
/Erik

First, the Techno is a bit unusual in that water for the steam boiler comes from the brew boiler, so that the brew water is changed as often as possible. So the pump turns on, one solenoid opens to allow pump water into the brew boiler, and a second opens between the brew boiler and the steam boiler. Note that all this is from memory. The frontmost solenoid is the three-way valve, and the one that is in back of that and doesn't have the steam line coming out of it connects the two boilers for steam boiler fill. That looks like the second from the front, behind the three-way, labeled 48-49-50 on the diagram.

Best,
David

I have a Techno as well, and have replaced the solenoids on occasion. My question is that the tea nozzle solenoid seems to have a steeper or more tubular shape in the base inlet, whereas the espresso solenoid has an almost hemispherical shape. In looking at the CafeParts reference http://www.cafeparts.com/item_crossref_ ... emID=82633 for the solenoids, it seems like they are interchangeable, and the base nozzle shape doesn't make a difference. However, there are different part numbers.

Any ideas on these shapes, and whether the orifice diameters different for these two components?

Do you mean just the black electrical solenoid part, or the valve part itself ?
I'm not quite clear from the way you describe it.

The valve part itself. If you unscrew the tubular component from the flange that attaches to the brass block, the profile of the inlet on the inside of the flange where the solenoid nucleus seats is different for the two valves. It may not matter but it is possible the inlet diameters are different?