Hello,

My Silvia is less than one year old and I'm religious when it comes to cleaning and maintenance. In the last few months I noticed that the steam coming out of the steam wand cuts off. In other words it's dry steam but not smooth it's like the machine is spitting out a steam. What can that be? I already tried using the Pallo group head brush pin to clear any possible clogs and I soaked and the steam wand in RINZA. Any help is appreciated

I'm not sure if this will help your particular issue, but one thing I always do when steaming with my Silvia is to make sure the boiler is heating when I begin to steam. To do this I:

(1) flip the steam switch on just as I begin pulling the shot;
(2) pull the shot;
(3) wait for the boiler to reach steam temperature, i.e., wait for the boiler light to switch off;
(4) open the steam wand up until the boiler begins heating again, i.e., when the boiler indicator light comes back on; THEN
(5) begin steaming.

Frankly I never could make microfoam on Silvia until I started doing this. Hope this helps.

(Credit to this page http://www.coffeekid.com/archived/rancilio/cheatsilvia for the technique.

The issue really is not the inability to create microfoam because I can and I do latte art. The issue is that the steam even when coming out strong is intermittent. It feels like something is stuck inside and the steam is not coming out smoothly in a consistent steady flow.

Take off the tip and build up good head of steam, then open the valve all the way. Maybe something in the area of the valve is blocking the flow. From there, the steam valve might need to be removed, disassembled, and checked.

What kind of water do you use? How is the hardness of the water?
Have you tried descaling?

I descale regularly and the water I use is Poland Spring. It's not hard and I tested it using a water hardness test strip

Ok, then I think Randy's suggestion is the next step to do. It seems likely that there is some kind of a blockage between the boiler and the steam tip.

Randy G. wrote:Take off the tip and build up good head of steam, then open the valve all the way. Maybe something in the area of the valve is blocking the flow. From there, the steam valve might need to be removed, disassembled, and checked.

I will give that a shot thank you