Good day everyone.
The Fishing Grounds has a Simonelli "appia" single group machine with odd issue(s)..
What it takes to get ready: When turning the (cold) machine on, one has to keep the steam wand open, otherwise water will slowly accumulate up and up until it dribbles out the vacuum breaker top. Opening the wand negates the leak up top. Water will drip and dribble out the open steam wand until the boiler reaches a roar, at which point i close the wand intermittently and let pressure build up. I still have to purge the valve of solid water a lot.
Once it reaches near operating pressure on the gauge (the "top" one) everything is fine. Nothing leaks, i close the steam valve. Let it heat up, open the wand to purge off excess water, and its ready.
Ok, so. coffees are made; we leave the machine be, seems fine.... After differing intervals of time, I come back and see pressure to the max. I open the wand and drain a significant amount of water. Pressure goes to zero, boiler kicks on, and i have to repeat the procedure above.... (If someone catches it before the machine cools down and starts leaking from the vacuum breaker)
What do you think is going on here? I keep getting called due to a leaky machine. I do not have quick access to parts, and have tried many things to find a foul part including: cleaning/testing solenoid valves, clean/oil vacuum beaker, drain boiler, test pump, test gauges... What should i try, what should i buy? It seems like the unit is always, slowly, filling. We need to make this thing reliable again!
Static pressure is about 3 bar, i can still pull good shots. When its working, it works well. Its just needs a babysitter. The boiler cycles pressure on the gauge between 1-1.4 at idle. Until I walk away of course, then it gets me every time!
I hope you can help us out here! If you need any additional information ill happily supply it. Thanks for reading, have a good day!
-Austin

Ok maybe stupid to ask this - have you checked to see if your water level indicator is installed correctly and working? In the Appia they need to be bent downwards to prevent overfilling of the boiler. This means that they are a bit awkward to manipulate and move in and out, but the downward bend is needed. So says Chris from CCS - and after rebuilding mine, I saw what he meant.

I may be nuts though.

What is your inlet water pressure? I've seen this type of constant boiler fill with no (or faulty) water pressure regulator.

"Water level indicator"- the sight glass? I don't think so. I didn't touch or bend it for fear of breaking the glass, I'll take a look and see if there is anything obviously askew...

Intake pressure is unknown! Estimate 35-45psi? The machine is in a rural Alaska, when I worked with public works at the city, water pressure at the "far end" of the water system averaged 30-40psi. Raw inlet from the dam is regulated to about 90psi. I know there is a pressure regulator installed before the home plumbing, no idea what it's set at...

Water pressure is a little low. It should be around 3-4 bar (the lower gauge) so that is not the issue...the water level indicator (the glass) is not what I am talking about. I am talking about the probe that goes into the boiler that allows the pump to fill the boiler. https://www.coffeegeek.com/images/66989 ... 010627.JPG The water level probe is the one with the red wire on it. If you unscrew the outer and then the inner thread, the probe will come out. This dictates how full the boiler is allowed to be. If it has been knocked and rotated or is corroded, it will not detect (through change in conductivity) if there is water in the boiler. Since the water shuts off, it is likely that it is not bent downwards and is likely installed straight as they are sold.

(sorry for the cross forum reference but this was where I had my pics of my boiler...)

I haven't had to mess with the boiler components, I've drained it to play with solenoids, but haven't been in there. I'll get some pictures going... the static pressure on the lower gauge is dead on three. Brew pressure is about nine.

I would start with the boiler at this point and see...good luck

If the boiler slowly fills to the point that water is coming out of the vacuum breaker valve, that tells me that your boiler fill solenoid valve is leaking. So you need to soak the valve and its internal parts in a container of white vinegar for about an hour or so.

Your pstat deadband of 1.0 to 1.4 bar is greater than what I would normally expect from a Sirai pressurestat. I would inspect the electrical contact surfaces of that pressurestat and possibly swap the wires to an unused terminal(s). Furthermore, that max pressure of 1.4 bar is waaaaay to high. Normal for this machine is in the vicinity of 1.00 to 1.10 bar max.

Parts and operation manuals for this machine are available at the NS website: http://www.nuovadistribution.com/appia.html

Pics of the machine and a date of manufacture would also help.

Phantom problem: we moved the machine to its summertime location two days ago, hooked her up and it hasn't had an issue since. I turned on the cold water supply, hit the power and didn't have to touch anything else until we made a coffee!
Odd. I cannot replicate the symptoms! Machine seems to be working fine without major intervention. I replaced the water softener cartridge and set the boiler to kick on at .8 and off at 1.1, respectively.
Thank you for the suggestions!
In any case, I am sure I'll be back to this thread.
The forums for that matter have been very useful as far as content, excellent site- keep it up!

You might want to check the voltage at the original location when you return.