Hi everyone,

I have had this Silvia for almost 5 years - zero issues. I must have accidentally hit the brew switch before going to bed. The Silvia is connected to a timer device which is plugged into the wall. It just comes on 15 minutes before we wake up to warm it. Anyways, my daughter came to report the machine was running. There was puddle and water tank was empty. I shut it off immediately. After the clean up, I tried brewing. Here are the symptoms:

1. A little hot water runs out through the group head when I hit the brew switch and after a few seconds, no water from the group head.
2. Steam and hot water work fine
3. I took out the group head screen and cleaned it out (lot of grounds in there). Same result
4. Next, I took out the coil and the valve - gave it a good cleaning. Put it back together. Same result. A local technician suggested a technique to figure out if the coil is damaged or not. He said to put a metal object (screw driver) near the valve when the brew switch is on, if you feel a (magnetic) pull then the coil is probably fine. I tested this and I definitely felt the pull with the screw driver
5. Observation: When I hit the brew switch, it sounds exactly like it did when it was working i.e., pump seems to sound fine

Few questions:
1. At this point, it could still be that the valve is damaged or still not clean?
2. Could it be the pump? Will I be able to steam if the pump is damaged?

Thank you
Sri

Is the pump pulling water when you open the steam valve and turn on the middle buttons of the 3? Sometimes the check balls in the pump stick when trying to pump air.

Yes, hot water comes through the wand and I was able to steam milk fine.

You DO NOT need heat to solve this problem so do yourself a big favor and simply detach one of the heating element leads.

Run water through the wand for 20-30 seconds and then let the pump rest for a minute or so. Does water flow continuously from the wand for this time period? Repeat the procedure. Same result? How much water do you collect in those 30 seconds? It should be ~300 ml.

Here is a Silvia water circuit w/o the easily adjustable OPV.

Hi Eric,

Thank you for your reply. How do I disconnect one of the heating element leads? Which one is it in the picture below?

In the mean time, I tested the hot water (middle button) again. I turned it on, opened the steam/water knob. A little hot water came out and no more and water was not being drawn from the tank.

What's odd is that I got running hot water and also observed that the water was being drawn from the tank when I tested this couple of days ago. So it seems like it's the pump issue?

Either "A" or "B" with B looking easier.

I disconnected B. No water through the wand

edit: I should have been more thorough in my previous reply. I disconnected B. Turned on the machine. Turned on the water switch (middle button). No water at all when I turn on the knob.

Taking the heating element out of the circuit was simply a protective measure.

With the heating element still disconnected, can you get any flow from the grouphead? Prime the suction line for the pump using a "turkey baster" or its equivalent.

The Ulka pump is not designed for continuous operation. If I remember correctly, it is 1 minute on and 1.5 minutes off or something like that.

Ok. Will do. Gotta go get a baster.