Hi all,
My Anita has been acting a little flaky for a week or so. Every few days when powered on, it would run the pump to top off the boiler an especially long time. This was suspicious by itself, as I had no signs of a leak. In addition, it would occasionally trip my GFCI outlet while filling the boiler, but I never had it happen while brewing. I started digging in to it today and noticed significant flow out of the return hose leading away from the OPV while trying to fill the boiler. I drained the machine and am trying to refill (with the element disabled, of course). It's acting like it's never getting full and I'm still getting significant flow from the OPV. Makes me think that the boiler fill solenoid may be shot. Is there any other way to test this?

Mike

. . . and noticed significant flow out of the return hose leading away from the OPV while trying to fill the boiler.

Your diagnosis is correct as this is an indication that the boiler fill valve is NOT opening. Be sure to note the make of the fill solenoid before you order one but this may be cured another way.

Syphon as much water out of the boiler as possible using the steam wand connection at the boiler. Remove the solenoid coil and unscrew the top portion of the fill solenoid valve. Soak the valve and valve housing in some white vinegar for 30-45 minutes. Reassemble and cross your fingers

Thanks, Eric. I'll give that a shot. I'm afraid it might be electrical, since it's tripping the gfci outlet when refilling too.

Thanks!

I agree on the GFCI issue.

Just for info, take a pic of the terminal block where the incoming power feeds the machine's circuitry.

Hi Eric,

Here's a couple of pictures.

Thanks for the pics. Don't forget to note the make and model of that boiler fill valve because you may very well be able to replace the guts and the coil assuming it is a Parker and NOT an OLAB.

I have a Quickmill Andreja Premium that has been having a similar issue. It has been behaving erratically for the past couple of months when starting up cold in the morning. Lately, I've just left the machine stay on 24/7 in order to use it. Once it is started and hot, I dont see any issues at all.

The symptoms when I start up the machine are:
a) 95% of the time, it has the same clicking/flicking behavior as this post: Quickmill Andreja Premium trouble when turning on

b) Then once in a while, the machine will after couple of seconds to a minute, trip the GFCI breaker where it will continue tripping it even with the machine in the off position, by simply plugging in the power cord into the socket. If I let the machine rest for some random amount of time, I can eventually get it to stay on. But sometimes, it takes a few attempt before getting there. I even drained the boiler a few times when it would not come back and that seemed to have help. But could have been also purely coincidental.

My intuition and limited electronics experience leads me to believe that this is an electronic problem maybe related to that Gicar controller. But I guess it could be the boiler fill solenoid. I've already drained the boiler and removed the fill solenoid. But I only soaked the metal piston/spring. Maybe I should have removed the entire valve?

Maybe I should have removed the entire valve?

You should have also soaked the part (cylinder) that the piston/spring travel in.

Removing the ENTIRE valve is typically not necessary. On the terminal strip where the incoming power leads attach, ensure that the incoming black is connected to the outgoing brown and the incoming white is connected to the outgoing blue.