Hoping someone can help me out. Just moved this out of the garage where it's been collecting dust for a while as it's now time to sell it. Just tried to get it to work. Steam comes out fine from the steam wand. But there's no water coming through the group head.

I took off the group head but still no water comes through.

Does anyone have any idea how to fix this? Is it difficult to do as I basically just want to get rid of it as sadly i've moved on from fine coffee

thanks

In the process of rebuilding one right now. Looked like it was put away without decommissioning and was hopelessly scaled up. Plus had baked on coffee in the group and 3 way. Took many days of vinegar and citric acid soaks to eliminate the scale, and same with JoeGlo on the coffee bits. The pump had to be completely disassembled and descaled. All seals and gaskets have to be replaced. Thread is here - Array/forums/84-pasquini-livietta-refurb-parts-t30654.html.

If you decide to abandon the project, I'd be interested in it for parts.

Thanks Cuppajoe - I'll take a look at your thread. It is a slight exaggeration on my part that the machine has been sitting around for so long. It has been in the garage for the best part of 3 years. But I did get water flowing fine out of the group head last month when i initially dusted it down.

Today just a few milliliters of water came through... just a little shot of steam and then nothing. So strange. I'm so surprised that no water is coming out now. Do you think the pump has gone? It sounds noisier than usual I think.

You probably just need to prime the pump.

91 Livietta - Steam but no water out of grouphead

Also, if you heat the machine up without filling the HX circuit first, you'll get a vapor lock in the HX.

Ah cool. I'll give that a go. Thanks.

If it has the Fluid-O-Tech pump ands it was run 'dry', priming is a PIA. I disconnected the feed hose to the inlet, squirted water in there, then filled the feed line with water before attaching. Then put the feed line in a water source that was higher than the pump. Then turned the pump on and off in short bursts, as you can burn it out pumping dry. There will probably be air bubbles in the supply line, so you can watch them to verify that water is moving. The pump will get quite hot until water starts flowing through it, so if there is no movement after a dozen or so pulses stop the test.

You can essentially do the same thing with the pump in place. Make sure the water tank is filled and the valve is working where it connects to the line. Pulse the pump on and off a bunch of times, may take awhile. If the pump doesn't prime, you'll have to pull things apart to see where it's blocked. My pump was completely cemented together with scale. It's easier to check the pump with the outlet line disconnected and running into a catch basin. Blockages upstream from the pump can override the pump pressure and cause it to appear defective.

Same goes for Ulkas, but what I've read they seem to prime easier.

It's definitely just a priming issue. The pump quite loud and it sounds like that when there is no pressure on the piston. My machines sounded like that when they were shipped to me. With water in the pump, it won't be loud like that.

I found a segment of 3/4" (ID) flex PVC pipe that fits easily over filter at the bottom of the tank. I just filled the reservoir tank halfway. Then slide the tube over the filter and blew on it while the pump is running to force water into the pump inlet. Worked like a charm.

Neat trick, thanks for that nutty.

Thanks everyone for your advice. I have put it up on ebay as broken. But in the meantime i've purchased the flex pipe to see if i can fix this myself.

Thanks for all your advice.