Hi All,

This post follows on from this thread: How do you reset the red safety switch on an Olympia Cremina?

The 'mystery' I refer to in the title to this thread is that my Cremina is now up and running perfectly, but I don't know what I have done to fix it. I haven't installed the new thermal safety switch I ordered form OE because it hasn't arrived yet. Whether I do install it when it arrives depends on whether it is really necessary to do so.

So the story is as follows. As I said in the original thread I ran the Cremina without water causing it short circuit. Well, at least, that's what I thought because upon refilling the Cremina and turning it on the fuse kept blowing, turning off not only the Cremina but the whole kitchen, forcing me to reset the fuse at my apartment's fuse box. Testing the safety switch and the element on the machine according to Doug's instructions at http://www.orphanespresso.com/Olympia-C...565-1.html indicated that something was wrong.

So, with a bit of help from a friend who knows how to repair electrical gadgets I then took out the element and tested it and found, lo and behold, that it was working. It did heat up some water. So, the element itself was good in that it worked out of the Cremina but wouldn't work when installed in the machine. This lead me to believe the problem lay with the thermal safety switch.

Next, I took out the safety switch, which wasn't easy because the screw was frozen. I had to break the screw that held the safety switch in as well as holding the yellow earth wire in place. (See photo of my machine BEFORE I did this and compare to the photo below).



The safety didn't looked fried so I then put it back but now had to hold it in place with a metal piece connected to one of the six cap bolts (see upper cap bolt in photo) I also reattached the earth wire but not as before to the safety switch, but to another cap bolt (see lower cap bolt in photo)



Now the bottom of the Cremina looks like this



Whereas originally it looked like this



In the midst of all this I took the time to replace the old boiler gasket which must have been the original one; that is, a mere 38 years old! Anyway, after reassembling the machine and filling with water I reluctantly turned it on, expecting another short circuit. But no, the machine works fine and has been doing so for the past couple of days. I've tested it under all conditions including leaving it on for hours. It idles between 0.6 and .08 bar so the pressurestat is working as before since this is sweet spot as far as I am concerned.

So I ask what did I do to fix the original problem? Clearly the element is OK, so if there is an issue it must be (or have been) with the thermal safety switch. Either that switch has reset itself, or isn't working at all. If it isn't working at all, then what stops the machine from overheating? The pressurestat? As I said before, the pressurestat does work and the machines idles within my desired range.

Robert

Hi Robert: I am just another amateur restorer, and one thing I notice from your pictures of your boiler/element base plate, is that one of your element terminals(bottom one) is missing the insulation that surrounds the post, to keep it from shorting out with the base. Just a shot in the dark, but maybe before you removed the base plate there was something that was shorting the element to the base plate? and when you took out the element, whatever was shorting, fell out? Like I say, just a thought. I have a 1974/75 Cremina that I just cleaned up, and when I was first firing her up, I had some issue with the Thermo switch and the circuit was not complete. I took out the thermoswitch, and re-installed it, and it worked....... could it be that it just needed the dust and crust knocked off it? I don't know. I ordered a back up thermo switch just in case the original dies sometime when I least expect it. Did your thermoswitch have the thin sheet of Mica in the hole in the base plate?

It would be good to repack your element terminal post with some of that putty epoxy that Doug has at Orphan Espresso, and then seal it up with the red goo called Glyptal, then you will take that variable out of the equation.

I see the ceramic on one side of the element is broken away & in the before picture there is dark coloured scale around both ends. It is possible that this scale, especially when damp ( from leakage) will provide a sufficient path to ground for the electric current to flow, thus tripping the breaker. The after picture shows that you have cleaned up this area thus removing the path to ground (until the scale builds up again). This is my theory.

Robert,

If you ran it out of water and tripped the thermal fuse it could take hours for it to reset. So, what did you do to fix it? You probably gave it time to totally cool down, allowing a reset with the push of the center button. As to whether or not the thermal fuse works...take the thermal fuse out, leave it wired up, and place a flame against the underside metal portion to simulate a high temp on the boiler. If it trips, it works; if not, it doesn't.

Now for the bad news. Since you tripped it, I can almost assure you that your thermal fuse will start tripping too easily over the coming year, necessitating a replacement. US pennies (3) work perfectly to shim up the new thermal fuse to the previous depth of the old one while not impacting functionality.

As for the missing insulation, IF your machine was tripping prior to running it out of water that would be suspect. But it wasn't, or at least you never mentioned it on your previous posts, so at this point, that's more of a maintenance issue, not a culprit of the trip. This is easily verified with a multimeter checking the resistance on the element terminals. If you are ordering parts from OE, add the terminal repair kit to your order to put your mind at ease once you make the repair.

Cheers.

Thanks for your replies.

So, what you are saying is that the problem fixed itself because either the thermal safety took ages to reset, or the thing causing the short circuit was somehow fixed by my rearranging the components on the base. Interesting.

Also thanks for pointing out the issues with the ceramic insulation. I will have to address that issue sometime, maybe when I install the new thermal safety switch from OE.

But I must say my Cremina has not missed a beat since I got it up and running again. So whatever the problem is/was it doesn't seem too serious.

I would guess that in your original setup that one of the terminals on the switch was a bit close to the base metal (the edge of the hole) and arced to short. (this is part of the reason that they changed the clip that holds the switch in the hole, and changed the hole as well for that matter...the new style clip and hole centers the switch and makes it nearly impossible for the terminal to short to the edge of the hole). When you redid the mount...nice job by the way figuring out a new switch holding clip...you got it installed in the center and solved the problem.

Yes the element terminal is looking a bit gnarly and you could repack and seal them without taking the plate off again...just turn it upside down on a bench or table edge and clamp it so it doesn't fall off and do the work with the element in place...it will look a lot tidier and possibly avoid a water short if you have some random incident.

Glad it worked out.

Thanks Doug. It's a relief to have the OE seal of approval. I only get the credit for choosing the person to help me fix it. It was my mechanically-mind friend who came up with all the solutions you refer to. In my 15 years of Europiccolas and Creminas I've come to realise that to maintain an old espresso machine you either have to be a mechanic, know a mechanic, or become a mechanic.

(PS I just picked up a not so old Elektra Microcasa a leva on ebay so I think I better continue my development from knowing a mechanic to becoming one...But more on that beautiful machine when it arrives from Germany and I have to come to terms with it's quirks).