ECM Technika IV Wouldn't Heat Up

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jacy.clare
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#1: Post by jacy.clare »

Hey everyone,

I've been lurking for a while, but I finally made an account to ask this question.

This morning, I woke up and tried to make some espresso to no avail. Despite being on, my machine was stone cold. After researching the problem, I found a few other users on this forum with the same issue. Thankfully, none of the wires leading to the boiler look corroded or damaged in any way, despite others having this problem. One of the replies to another post mentioned the two safety thermostats on top of the boiler. I found one of them had tripped, pressed it down, and the machine started heating again. Problem solved!

My question, however, is this: Is there anything I should be worried about given the tripped thermostat? Should I check anything else before using my machine again? I turned it off as soon as I could tell it was starting to heat up, and I don't want to let it get hot until I know it's safe.

Thanks in advance,
Jacy

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erics
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#2: Post by erics »

Proceeding along the line of extreme caution . . .

Undress your machine and take a pic of the boiler top and post same. Remove one of the leads from either one of the safety thermo-switches as this will then take the heating element "out of the picture". Remove the anti-vacuum valve from the boiler and measure the boiler water level with a small wooden dowel. It SHOULD BE about 2/3's of the boiler diameter.

Syphon about a cup or two of water from the boiler and then turn the machine on. The boiler fill circuit will activate and fill the boiler to the proper level. Measure this and compare to your previous measurement.

Assuming all is correct, reconnect the lead to the safety thermo-switch and proceed ahead. APPARENTLY, there have been several instances of thermal-switch "popping" for no apparent reason.
Skål,

Eric S.
http://users.rcn.com/erics/
E-mail: erics at rcn dot com

jacy.clare (original poster)
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#3: Post by jacy.clare (original poster) »

Thanks for your reply. Based on one of your previous responses, I measured the water level in the boiler and it was about half full. However, this was after I turned the group head on for a few seconds this morning to see what was going on (before any troubleshooting).

Should I still proceed with the siphoning off some water and waiting to see if the boiler refills?

Here's a photo of the top of the boiler:

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erics
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#4: Post by erics »

Again, proceeding along the lines of caution, yes, I would syphon some water out of the boiler.

This almost seems as a spurious trip of one of the thermal switches but . . . better safe than sorry.
Skål,

Eric S.
http://users.rcn.com/erics/
E-mail: erics at rcn dot com

jacy.clare (original poster)
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#5: Post by jacy.clare (original poster) »

I will try that and get back to you.

Out of curiosity, if it wasn't just a spurious trip of the thermal switch, what would be the larger issue?

DaveC
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#6: Post by DaveC replying to jacy.clare »

1. A thermal switch can be faulty, if so you may get the problem again e.g. goes off at a lower pressure than it should

2. A thermal switch can sometimes be sprayed with steam/water from a leaky vacuum breaker or safety valve (often might only happen for a minute or so when switched on and is up to temp...this causes them to track, fail and/or short

3. You have had a high temperature event (caused by sticky pressurestat, or some fault)...often though the safety valve lets by first then the thermal breaker. your safety valve (thing with blue top) is a 2 bar one, so it vents at around 134C, the thermal breakers are usually set to trip around 140C or 145C. However, it doesn't look like your safety valve vented, it all looks clean around there. Also if you had had a high temperature event and both limit stats were fault free...both would probably have tripped! The tripping is purely a mechanical function.

4. Sometimes a loose connection on one (thermal breaker) can heat up the inside to the point where they trip, check for loose connectors and keep an eye on it for any connector that starts to go brown

What they don't tend to do is spuriously trip, there is always an underlying problem, that usually gets worse.. keep an eye on it, see if the pressure remains within a normal range when it's on. If the same limit stat fails again and again, you could either replace it...or simply bridge the circuit and run on the remaining good limit stat. not many machines have 2 on the same boiler, it's really belt and braces stuff and probably necessary TBH.

P.S. If I was designing a machine with 2 limit stats, I certainly wouldn't put them beside each other one would be on the top....the other on the bottom, or near the heating element base.

jacy.clare (original poster)
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#7: Post by jacy.clare (original poster) »

Thanks again for all the information. I just siphoned some water out and turned the machine on (after unplugging one of the thermal switches, of course). When I turned the machine back on, it filled the boiler back up normally. The water level was roughly the same as before, although it's a little more than half but not quite 2/3rds. Am I good to go?

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erics
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#8: Post by erics »

Am I good to go?
Yes.

The 2/3's water level was just a ballpark estimate. Certainly the correct water level is more than 1/2 and less than 3/4. It will slightly creep up over time as the level sensor becomes scaled over,
Skål,

Eric S.
http://users.rcn.com/erics/
E-mail: erics at rcn dot com

jacy.clare (original poster)
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#9: Post by jacy.clare (original poster) »

I put everything back together and let it heat up and it seems to be working flawlessly. Thanks again for your assistance, Eric!