Hi all,
This is my first jaunt into the "Forum" world. I appreciate your time and help. I recently acquired an Bezzera BZ40. It looks to be in great condition inside and out. But....When I plumbed it in and fired it up, the heating element burned out after a few minutes. These are supposed to have a safeguard against the element heating up until the boiler is up to level. What I am finding is that there is power to the element (via the p stat of course) while the tank is filling. Mine is the semi-auto model. Basic push button on push button off for a shot. I am wondering if the water level control is not working properly or could it be the relay or the p state. Any thoughts would be great. Also, anyone know where I might get a manual for this machine. Thanks, John

Certainly a parts manual is available here: http://www.bezzera.it/home_ing.html .

Bezzera has been very responsive to some emails I have sent them and I'm sure they could send you an operator's manual and electrical schematic - be sure to include your serial number.

You can simply disconnect the heating elements (both) and the autofill will still work. Remove some easily accessible fitting and check the level with a wooden dowel. Did you check the element(s) with an ohmmeter?

trulynow,

Are you totally sure this particular machine has a safety mechanism to keep the heating element from activating? Many machines I've worked with depend on the manual fill valve (assuming this machine has one) to establish a minimum of water in the boiler before turning on. I would check the fill probe (it should have a wire running to it and be at the top of the boiler) to see if there is scale buildup which would cause the autofill to not read correctly the level of water in the boiler. I hope you figure this out, keep us posted!

Thanks for the input folks! I appreciate that people take the time to advise someone they don't even know. Very kind of you all.
I will email Bezzera. I did check the element with an ohm meter and got no reading at all. I removed it and found it had a spot it has burned through. The autofill does work, so I will dip somthing in there to test the level.
The info that I've read on the machine talks about its safegaurds. I have not found any manual fill on it. It will cycle and fill, but the p state is on the whole time. It is pretty basic though. There is the level control box that reads the sensor probes, a relay box and the pressurestat. It seems the gremlin has to be in one of these.
The probes and the tank are actually very clean. No scale buildup. I will keep you posted. Thanks

On some/most Bezzera's, that relay is controlled by the pstat. The relay, in turn, controls the heating elements. My GUESS would be the relay - simply disconnect one of the leads at the pstat. If the heating element(s) still have power, the relay is stuck closed.

Did you replace the burned out heating element?

I have not replaced it yet. I need to order one. I will try taking the lead off of the pstat and measure th voltage at the element. Thanks

I had the same problem with my NS Oscar due to carbon build up on the pstat terminal. My elements must have stayed on until the wire finally burned through and severed the current. I re-wired and powered another set of terminals to use (my machine has 3 different connections). I do not know your machine and my problem was trouble shot by Jason, a tech at Chris' Coffee service where I bought the machine, through emails.

Here's my situation:

I'm trying to restart my Bezzera BZ40R after it sat out of service for about five years.

It's been used very little (a fairly new machine, I guess), and it worked flawlessly until the day I turned it off. So I've made all the connections and now I have a machine that with a pump that cycles for a few minutes, then aborts. All that remains at that point are flashing lights on the servo panel.

I pulled the probes and cleaned them to a shine. This didn't make an iota of difference. I presume, of course, the boiler has some very old water in it. It does heat, by the way. It's just that the entire machine never makes it to the functional stage. I've tried several times.

Can anyone help?

I forgot to mention that in the stage immediately after energizing the BZ40, the pump is working and the tank heats up, but no pressure is built. I know this because neither the steam wand nor the hot water spigot produce a drop. Furthermore the pressure relief valve on top the tank yields nothing if opened.

Finally, if I'm not mistaken, the pump sounds starved for water. But for sure it IS getting water because I undid the fitting where the fresh water enters the pump fitting, and determined that there's no problem there.

It would have been great to find an on/off switch for the water line and discover that it's simply in the wrong position. Unless I'm mistaken, I don't see any way to shut the water off after it enters the pump (or anywhere in the machine, for that matter), but that would have been a dream come true.