Astoria Divina gauge trouble

[noreason]

I noticed my gauge for dispensing pressure no longer rests at 0. Even with the machine turned off the gauge will sit at about 4 bars. The gauge also bounces a half bar or so in each direction at times if that helps.

Any ideas?

Thanks!

[cannonfodder]

Provided it is not from back pressure (as the cold water in the closed system heats over time, the pressure will creep up) it sounds like your gauge went south. It happens, and the gauges in most espresso machines are not of top quality to begin with. I have replaced a couple.

[HB]

The gauge also bounces a half bar or so in each direction at times if that helps.

Does it have a vibratory pump? Sorry, I don't know the particulars of this specific espresso machine. If it's a vibratory pump, it should have a coil of thin capillary tubing to dampen the pump's pulses.

[mteahan]

If the gauge doesn't reset to "0" after turning off the water and momentarily pressing/pushing the manual fill button, your gauge is dead.

Doesn't sound good.

[shadowfax]

I noticed my gauge for dispensing pressure no longer rests at 0. Even with the machine turned off the gauge will sit at about 8 bars. The gauge also bounces a half bar or so in each direction at times if that helps.

Any ideas?

Thanks!

It sounds dead. I bought a La Pavoni Professional in near-perfect shape on eBay, and its boiler pressure gauge died when I was descaling it. I believe that some of the scale that was dislodged from the inside of the boiler wound up clogging it (I believe I had the machine resting sideways near the sink).

It sucks, it cost like $40 to replace the gauge. Ah well, the machine was still my cheapest! Hopefully you can find a replacement for cheaper.

[mhoy]

I had a gauge problem with my Anita so I purchased a new gauge for $50 and installed it in 15 minutes. I then took apart the old one since heck, I wondered how it worked. It's a simple enough system, the pressure from the copper tube presses on a lever that moves the dial. Popped off the old dial (plastic in my case) and pressed it back on. I've probably reset it to zero. I've not tested my hypothesis.

In my case, the seemed to work but it had an offset of XX bar. Since you have nothing to lose you may want to try it.



Mark

[noreason]

thanks! you have all been helpful. i'm glad i found this site!

[noreason]

Ok so I've replaced the gauge, but it did not fix the problem. Doh!

Anyhow; I noticed that when I removed the gauge cluster the gauge rested at zero. Putting the new gauge on did the same thing the old one did. The needle was back on about 4 bars, just sitting there.

So. I've traced as much as I could and tried to think logically as to what would be causing the problem...

This is what I've come up with. Correct any errors, I've only just began working on espresso machines.

The main water source goes into the pump, out of the pump, and then into the water inlet valve. From there, the water inlet valve sends cold water, unregulated, to the auto-filling mechanism, to a junction of sorts (the possible culprit?), and to the boiler (regulated via the manual fill "knob"). The "junction" seems to split the water output to the 2 groups (valves with green lights), the water dispenser, and the gauges pump pressure reading.

So... I wanted to see if the pump regulated the water in any way. I removed the pumps output hose and then turned the water source on, and the water came out freely and unrestricted. I'm assuming this is correct and thus throwing off one theory that I had.

And here I am.

Any help is greatly appreciated.

[mteahan]

The gauge will register line pressure when at rest, regardless of whether the machine is on. A plumbed machine should never rest at "0".

Vibe pump machines rarely have gauges because the flow rate is low enough that they won't respond well without restrictive pressure. Bouncing is common and remedied by a restricter in the line or fitting going to the gauge.

It appears that the water pressure feeding the machine is high-around 8 bar. If your pump is a vibe pump, simply disconnect it and enjoy a nice, quiet machine; 8 bar is sufficient to make good espresso as Italy likes them around 8.5 for most roasts.

If you want to hook up the vibe, install a pressure regulator or you will blow it to bits.

If it's a rotary and you can't adjust it past 8, either disconnect and enjoy or replace the pump head.

[noreason]

Interesting! It all makes sense now. No wonder I couldn't find a logical explanation for it. Thanks for the help!