I re-used the title of cannonfodder's thread The Faema rebuild project which helped me a lot. Quite a long time ago me and my wife decided to open a small cafe in the unused basement of our house. So as to quickly solve one of rising heap of problems connected to that we bought a secondhand espresso machine over internet not knowing ANYTHING about it. Well, we deserved it, I guess...

We bought something, the documents and the posting was reading FAEMA ENOVA, however it is FAEMA DUE for sure. Which type exactly I still am not sure as the type label is missing. The pricetag was nice, 20k CZK, which is roughly 1k USD, including the FAEMA FM grinder. We requested to see it in operation so we got a couple of espressos which tasted ok and we took it home.

My plan was to clean the case so it would look nice and perhaps replace the level meter as it was leaking. Tightening couple of screws could also do the trick perhaps. No big deal, right ? Wrong. After removing the covering sheets the horror emerged and this was still not all. I include a couple of photos from the disassembly. My intention is to document the process I went though, perhaps it helps someone. Or even learn I could do something better from your comments. I am open comments and questions you could have.

The first lesson I learned it there is something in the espresso machine that leaks for a longer time, it is always a big problem. Rust was eating through the frame and I ended up stripping the frame, drilling the rivets out and having it sanded and painted with komaxit (dust coating).

For newbies like me, drilling the rivets is easy, having the frame sanded and painted about 2k CZK, i.e. 100 USD. If your frame looks bad or is rusty, do it and don't mind being called a crazy perfecionist. Avoid rust, when assembling the frame back, seal the bottom where the water can leak between sheets with silicone.

If you need thin brass brush for pipes and outlets, try your local weaponsmith Mine turned out to be a coffee lover himself For larger pipes and holes, use a hard toothbrush.

For polishing the brass parts, use a fine steel brush, it looks great with a minimal effort.

The greatest nightmare was the scale in the boiler. First two weeks or so constant changing of descale in the boiler was not helping or it seemed at least so. I ordered citric acid 100% from the chemistry e-shop, looks like a crystal sugar, and put two full cups (3dcl) into 8 liter boiler and finally the scale started to dissolve. Btw I couldn't find the "correct" concentration anywhere so I just increased it gradually till started to "do something" - to hiss I connected the power line directly to the heating element to heat it up, as it is apparently an endothermic reaction.

When I first removed the boiler I couldn't even pull the heating out. I had to use quite a strong pull and I was sure it will destroy the spiral, but thankfully it didn't.


The trash I got after I put the heating out. I got several such heaps in coming days out yet.


The thickness was astonishing. And I was really drinking espresso from this machine. Yuk !

For today I seem to be stuck. The machine seems to be working great, steam and hot water ok, pressure at the boiler about 1.5 bar also great thanks to the new pressurestat. The HX is full of hot water as well.

However when I try to pull a shot, the pump starts, the pressure goes up to 3 bars and nowhere near to 9 bars and there is no water going from the group at all ! Not a sip.

During assembly I lost the spring to the Lucifer solenoid valve at the group. I got a replacement one from a service shop but no way I can tell it is from the same valve or not. Perhaps the spring is too stiff and the solenoid not strong enough to pull the valve open ? And 3 bars pressure despite clogged group due to old pump ?

I should get a new valve tomorrow but I have a bad feeling it is not about it. If only I could find an operation scheme of the E91 head somewhere - E61 is similar but not same.

prom wrote:I re-used the title of cannonfodder's thread The Faema rebuild project which helped me a lot. Quite a long time ago me and my wife decided to open a small cafe in the unused basement of our house. So as to quickly solve one of rising heap of problems connected to that we bought a secondhand espresso machine over internet not knowing ANYTHING about it. Well, we deserved it, I guess...

If you need thin brass brush for pipes and outlets, try your local weaponsmith Mine turned out to be a coffee lover himself For larger pipes and holes, use a hard toothbrush.

For polishing the brass parts, use a fine steel brush, it looks great with a minimal effort.

I use to use brass bore brushes to clean tubing. A 22 caliber brush fits steam wands nicely and a brass or stainless toothbrush works well for cleaning threads.

Today I installed the new valve including the solenoid. I replaced Lucifer with Parker, as my parts supplier runs only these and he also claimed Parker is definitely higher quality. From what I read they are more less equal so why not. And it actually worked ! Note the past tense. I even managed to actually do a couple of shots from the testing pre-ground coffee from local 24/7 shop so not suitable for drinking.

I wanted to run the whole routine just to check all is well. I tried to clean the head with backflushing. I used blind portafilter, fastened it and pressed extraction. The pressure peak about 12 bar. I pressed stop in about 2-3 seconds. The pressure dropped to 3 bar. I repeated the action about 5 times and then the machine turned into sprinkler. Now swearing and wiping...

The pump was the cause of the flood. It is not leaking, it is sprinkling even with no portafilter at all. That is the end for the old pump and the reduction for the new pump with round shaft is not to be here before Monday.

The question is did I do something wrong ? Moreover, should there not be some safety for such case, when portafilter is blocked that the pump does not rupture ? I loosened substantially the expansion valve after the incident to avoid (perhaps) such problem next time but I have to way to test it now.

There is an emergency pressure release valve in the hydraulics of the machine to prevent the internal pressure from getting to high. It is like the over pressure valve used on vibe pump machines with a spring loaded ball vlave. When the internal pressure gets up around 12 bar that should open and vent water into the drip tray. Sounds like it is cranked down too tight or just scaled shut.

I believe it is the expansion valve I have mentioned. Yes it was too tight - I was cleaning that and just assembled it back but perhaps too tight. I haven't identified any other suitable emergency release valve in the system.

My pump says Manufactured by CF, but I can't find the company on net to ask for refurbishing. Google replaces it by centrifugal pumps. I will have to wait for the reduction to arrive. Perhaps next Monday, I have hope.

On related matter, I have watched this video how to setup the expansion valve.
Well, when I turn off the machine, the pressure drops immediately to zero. No way staying over 10 bars ! I wonder whether this is type-related and I should not expect that from my Faema.

Hi there.
Did you manage to get the pump replaced? If you wouldn't mind I would live to know where from as I've just wrecked mine