Greetings all. I purchased a second hand isomac millenium a few months ago and it just started to malfunction. When I turn the machine on, the pump runs continuously and does not shut off. The sound of the pump running seems somewhat muted. I believe water is running back into the reservoir and water will come out of the group head if I lift the lever. The machine is unable to come up to temperature. I opened up the case to find some scorching of the wires around one of the heating element's leads. I tried reconnecting the leads and turning the machine on, and I saw some small sparking at the heating element lead so I immediately shut it off. Have I killed the heating element? Any ideas how to troubleshoot this? I am feeling a bit over my head. Thanks in advance,
Will

Could be a few things. Sparks are never good but your pump could be a couple things. The water level sensor could be scaled up so the machine thinks the boiler is always empty so it tries to fill it non stop. If that was the case the boiler would fill with water until it started spraying out the steam wand if you had the wand open or spraying out the boiler pressure release valve. It could also have a stuck boiler fill solenoid if it never actually fills up. So the boiler is empty and never fills because the water path to the boiler never opens. Could be a broken brew switch. I would start with checking the boiler fill probe and see if the boiler is actually getting water in it.

Thank you for the reply. I will try the fill sensor and fill solenoids first. What are the easiest ways to accomplish these?

I believe the fill sensor is working properly so I moved onto the solenoid. I took the coil off and am left with:

Is the silver bit supposed to come out of the brass one?

willroc7 wrote:Greetings all. I purchased a second hand isomac millenium a few months ago and it just started to malfunction...

For future reference, please don't cross-post your questions to this site. Why is cross-posting strongly discouraged? provides the rationale for this policy. Those replying to this thread may wish to review responses to willroc7's post on CoffeeGeek to avoid needlessly repeating suggestions already offered by others.

My mistake.

willroc7 wrote:... I opened up the case to find some scorching of the wires around one of the heating element's leads. I tried reconnecting the leads and turning the machine on, and I saw some small sparking at the heating element lead so I immediately shut it off. Have I killed the heating element? ...

Electrical clips on the Isomacs need to be monitored over time since they will sometimes corrode and overheat - where upon things start to melt and fry. If cleaning the leads doesn't allow them to operate without a lot of extra heat, you will need to cut off the clips and any damaged wire, and install some new ones. Try to get your hands on a good quality crimping tool if you try this.
If you have any heat in the boiler at all, your element is probably fine.