Replacement of Boiler heating element for the Isomac Mondiale:

I am pretty sure that many of the other Isomac home espresso machines take the same heating element, so this rant may apply to other Isomac machines. I determined that the heating element was bad: 1) the boiler wasn't producing any heat (duh, not too hard to miss) and 2) The resistance between the two external electrical contact points of the heating element showed an open circuit verifying that the element is indeed bad.

Time for new parts from Stefano's Espresso Care:
• Item: Isomac Heating Element 115v 1400w - SKU: 50921 - $58.00
• Item: Teflon Heating Element Gasket - SKU: 50922 - $6.00

Turn-off the machine and unplug

Turn-off the water from the source and relieve any boiler pressure / drain off a little water. I did not empty the boiler as there is enough headspace in the boiler so that if you lay the unit on its side no water spills out.

Remove the front feet & sheet metal to expose the hidden hood screws

Remove the Hood

Now the tricky part................

Remove the old heating element. I found it easiest to lay the unit on its side with the heating element facing up. I tried using a simple adjustable wrench and trying to hold the boiler with my other hand, but it just wasn't working and I was afraid I would bend something or torque something that would create a leak. So after some discussion over espresso in the lab at Counter Culture Coffee with Dan Kehn, I arrived at a good solution. Dan advised using a manual impact driver to break the cement bond between the heating element and the threaded orifice of the boiler. These old Isomacs, (My boiler is stamped 2003!), used some hard bonded pipe-dope to cement the fittings to the boiler, so between the factory cement and the caked on mineral deposits this thing wasn't gonna budge without some persuasion. I taped some large rubber bumpers on the other end of the boiler extending down to the countertop to support the boiler during the impacts. I installed a 30mm socket wrench into the 1/2in drive of the impact wrench, fitted the 30mm socket on to the nut of the old heating element, and then started "gently" wailing away on the wrench with a rubber mallet.....after 2-3 mins, the bond was free and I could use a standard 1/2in drive handle & socket wrench combo to completely un-thread the old heating element. Easy!

Oh yeah......I bought the impact wrench from my local Northern Tool
• Item#15825 - $12


Clean the area in and around the boiler's heating element orifice....pay particular attention to the face of the orifice so that there is a clean smooth surface for the Teflon washer to seal.

Install the new Teflon washer and new heating element.

Stefano recommends tightening the new unit until very snug, and then stepping away from it for awhile and then retightening. The Teflon washer is really well contained by the flange of the new heating element and has very little compressibility, so it is quite difficult to over tighten as opposed to say a rubber gasket. I used a chain-loop vise-grip to hold the boiler still while I used the 1/2in drive handle & socket wrench combo to tighten the heating element (see pic).



Reassemble the unit and reconnect plumbing and electrical.

Whoo-hoo!........espresso again!

The nice thing was that I did not need to remove the boiler, I did not need to drain the boiler, I did not need to disconnect any plumbing, or disconnect electrical wiring from inside the beast.

Finito!

Congratulations! I glad that worked out. Thanks actually are to Eric Svendson, since he's the one who suggested in another thread using tapping/impact driver to loosen a boiler fittings. He and Randy G. are experts on removing reluctant nuts and bolts.

Thanks for posting this beta14ok. Nice to get some previews of coming challenges.

Your experience is a little different than that of our friend Paulo :

My Isomac Millennium is leaking - any advice please?

Did they put the old nickled copper boiler in yours or did they have the stainless ones back then?

Nice to see too that you're still taking care of the "mother of HB" machine!

My Mondiale really it has been a very good machine and I continue to be happy using it, but I have done a fair amount of maintenance over the years......and I have had my fair share of leaks. If you have an ISOMAC, you MUST have it on a GFI circuit. These things are not built with the highest level of rigor. As I mentioned above, they used some kind of thread cement to seat all of the fittings on the boiler. Some of those had crapped out and I have needed to clean and replace w/ Teflon tape in a few cases. With every leak you get the potential of a short because the electronics sit underneath the boiler. I cut down a piece of polyethylene to be a tent over the circuitry...probably would be better if I used teflon. I have also replaced a lot of those plastic connector insulators with heatshrink, because the plastic was never designed to hold-up under the heat of the boiler.

A brief list of replacement parts so far:
- By Pass Valve
- Boiler Safety valve
- SSR Relay
- E61 complete tear-down and re-fit with new internals
- other tubing & wires...replaced as needed.
- not to mention standard stuff like portafilter gaskets and shower screen

This beast still has a very cool look & style that I like.....and still makes great espresso......Mine has a rotary rather than the vibe pump, so some day I'll relocate the pump under the cabinet to reduce noise further. I'll probably just keep fixing it, because its really pretty simple and relatively cheap to do so, ............and the cost of a new machine of better quality would be a big stack of coins.

I think the boiler in mine seems to be Stainless steel.....I'll check-it the next time I take it apart. Hopefully that won't be for awhile.

Cheers,
dmm

The Mondiale is a nice machine. The ball steam/water controls they used nice. One of very few machines that used them especially back then. Nice tamper collection as well. I see you have a La Forza tamper. I dont see many people with those. I got one from the tamper roadshow several years ago then they fell off the planet. Still one of my favorite tampers.

Tampers.....yes the hunt continues, it's a sickness.






A couple of these are my daughter Aubrey's.....she has mad skills with that pink RB.

I feel about the same way concerning the Mondiale as you do, beta14. My machine is approaching it's 5th anniversary in daily service.

No major parts replaced yet. It is on a GFI and a timer. The e-61 is beginning to drip, so an overhaul is getting due. I've had to replace a couple of spade clips due to overheating, and two elbows off the boiler developed slow weeps that built up a mineral bloom around their bases. Tried pipe dope to fix that initially, but failed miserably. Teflon tape put the problem to bed. I haven't seen any trace of sealant on mine, which has the SS boiler, so I'm thinking the newer ones may be a little easier to work on when something has to be unscrewed.

Everybody likes the wands and their switches. They have a very fast and positive action. A fellow HB'er who comes over for a cup or two occasionally always enthuses over them.

I remember the E61 overhaul was a bit intimidating...but Stefano sells a very nice kit and spare brass parts in case something gets broken......and there are plenty of good diagrams around. If it's dripping....it's time.

Yeah, I'm in procrastination mode. I've had the e-61 mostly apart to inspect it, so the procedure won't be a big deal. I've considered converting the thing from vibe to rotary. There's no doubt about having enough room...