Hello,

A few weeks ago, I decided it was time to do some maintenance on my Unic Torino, I pulled the group head gasket only to find I didn't have a replacement gasket so I placed an order for some gaskets. After replacing the gasket and performing a light cleaning I fired it up only to discover that the pump is not functioning. It has a fairly robust commercial motor/pump, so I'm hoping I am missing a simple fix... I looked for a reset button but did not see one. I did disconnect the 3/8 line during the gasket/cleaning, could it be airlocked? Anything else I should check/try to bring it back to life?

Thanks,
Alberto

Before you check anything else make sure your boiler fill probe has not come loose. That can cause some issues on certain machines.

Like any time you have a pump/motor problem the first step is to separate the two and find out if you have a pump problem/or a motor problem.

Disconnect the power and unbolt the rotary pump from the motor and see if the motor will spin, or better run. Also try to turn the pump by hand, it should be rather easy to turn.

Let us know what you find.

-C

Ok thanks, not sure which one to loosen to separate the pump from motor, the bracket closest to the motor or pump.

Start with the collar on the motor, which in your photo is on the right. You may need to loosen the other side to give yourself some more wiggle room.

Also, since the pump has not been working, the boiler may be low on water. So when you go to test the pump, unplug the heater element wires from the top of the boiler and tape them up with electrical tape. No point in having another broken part.

-C

Thanks again. I took the pump and motor apart, the motor spins freely but unfortunately the pump is seized.

Multiple places you can send it off for a rebuild, should be in the $40.00 range at the worst. Or you can order a rebuild kit for half of that and do it yourself. Plus who knows what you may learn.

Hope you didn't toast the motor, did you power it up and see if it ran?

-C

I like the idea of doing it myself for no other reason than to learn something new, I didn't run the motor as yet, I also hope it hasn't been damaged as a result of the pump. Thanks for the help.

I've managed to free up the pump, it is now spinning freely. I found a small plastic bit in the pump which is likely the cause of the jam. I'm not sure where it came from and if it is crucial to pump operation or not (see photo). I also gave it a quick bath in citric acid to help clean up possible scale etc. Next is to determine whether the motor has been damaged, it does spin freely...

That pump manufacturer does have a US outlet: http://www.nuert.com/espresso-machine-pumps.php .

A phone call and a pic to them will help but I suspect that piece is a part of the pressure regulating system and is LIKELY not available (by itself) as a spare part. The NUERT distributor may have one in his "gold locker" but the likely scenario is to replace the complete pressure regulating assembly.

I have checked both motor and start capacitor, both are functional, the machine still does not initiate motor/pump to fill boiler. I removed the auto fill probe and cleaned it, still nothing.