I haven't seen one, but apparently it's electronically controlled and heated like the BDB. Chris's Coffee uses a Scace on the machines they sell to set the offset.

pcrussell50 wrote:Well done, Steve'o. I knew you could do it. Some of the stuff you described, told me you had the skills. You just had to apply it right.

Now, you should still get yourself a meter or two of 4mm PTFE tubing, some silicone grease, and some 4mm push connectors. Just to keep in your tool kit.

-Peter

Thanks Peter. What I didn't mention is that I was trying to look after my 7-yr old, 4-yr old and 2-yr old kids for the day while my wife went out. Not the best plan to choose that day to fix the BDB!

Hello,

I've been experiencing a leaky hot water spout on my BDB. From what I've read, that might require a removal and descale of the needle valve to resolve.

My issue is I'm having a hard time separating the needle valve assembly from the hot water knob. I have removed the cover off of the hot water knob and removed the screw inside the knob that seems to be what attaches to the needle valve, very similarly to how the screw in the steam handle releases the ball valve for the machine chassis. I have removed the two screws holding the needle valve to the chassis of the machine, but the valve is still locked in there pretty good. There seems to be a white plastic thumb screw sort of thing that the needle valve runs through that attaches to the side of the machine chassis, but I haven't been able to determine if that piece moves, or is a screw of some sort that I need to remove.

I'm having a hard time finding a document or video that describes how to remove that valve. Would anyone have anything I can reference?

Thanks in advance!

Before you do something as drastic as removing the valve and descaling, the usual suspect is that it simply isn't closing far enough any more. The easy fix is to just remove the gray cap, remove the screw in the middle, slip off the knob, then slip it back on a couple of splines counter clockwise, so you can tighten it more. What I did with mine was simply remove the knob and grind off the tabs that limit how far you can open and close it. So I can always shut it off.

-Peter

Hi Peter,

Thanks for your response. I'm having a hard time making it compute though. The hot water knob doesn't come off, despite having removed the middle screw. This was one of the reasons I was asking for documentation or a video to describe how to remove the knob from the valve. The fact that removing the steam knob was more or less straightforward, but the hot water knob doesn't budge, and seems handily attached in some way to or by the white thumb screw looking thing inside the chassis, suggested to me that there was something I was missing.

Refer to the attached images and let me know if I'm missing anything.

Excellent pictures, Jason. All I can say is that the main inner structure of the knob, the part still on the machine in your first pic, will come off. Once the screw is out, there is nothing else holding it on, it just slides off. There may be some stiction from having sat there for years. So you might have pry or wiggle and pull... IOW, you are going to have to "mechanic" it.

You do not have to take off the cream colored bit on the inside of the machine unless you need to remove the valve, which you should not have to unless you are doing the Slayer mod and want to use the "Jake valve" instead of the stock valve.

-Peter

jlixfeld wrote:Hi Peter,

Thanks for your response. I'm having a hard time making it compute though. The hot water knob doesn't come off, despite having removed the middle screw. This was one of the reasons I was asking for documentation or a video to describe how to remove the knob from the valve. The fact that removing the steam knob was more or less straightforward, but the hot water knob doesn't budge, and seems handily attached in some way to or by the white thumb screw looking thing inside the chassis, suggested to me that there was something I was missing.

Refer to the attached images and let me know if I'm missing anything.

image
image

You could try using some force to pull the gray actuator straight out once you have the screw inside removed. It is like a radio button knob. Here is a picture of my actuator with a part of the needle valve (broken during shipping).

By way of comparison, here's mine:


Note on mine, I have ground the tabs off that hook in radially towards the center. That way, I can turn my knob as far as I want, in any direction without limit besides the internal limits on the needle itself. Also, I did not put the screw back in, so I can slip the knob off any time. And you can see that mine does not have the spline shaft broken off inside it like poor AT Hoang.

-Peter

Indeed, I was able to get it off. Unfortunately though, adjusting the knob on the spline didn't have any effect on the dripping issue.

When the machine is cold, it doesn't start dripping until after it's heated up and the knob has been used to start hot water flow. Once the water is shut off, it starts dripping a couple of drops per second.

If removing and cleaning the valve won't resolve the issue, is there another way to resolve it?

pcrussell50 wrote:Excellent pictures, Jason. All I can say is that the main inner structure of the knob, the part still on the machine in your first pic, will come off. Once the screw is out, there is nothing else holding it on, it just slides off. There may be some stiction from having sat there for years. So you might have pry or wiggle and pull... IOW, you are going to have to "mechanic" it.

You do not have to take off the cream colored bit on the inside of the machine unless you need to remove the valve, which you should not have to unless you are doing the Slayer mod and want to use the "Jake valve" instead of the stock valve.

-Peter

jlixfeld wrote:Indeed, I was able to get it off. Unfortunately though, adjusting the knob on the spline didn't have any effect on the dripping issue.

When the machine is cold, it doesn't start dripping until after it's heated up and the knob has been used to start hot water flow. Once the water is shut off, it starts dripping a couple of drops per second.

If removing and cleaning the valve won't resolve the issue, is there another way to resolve it?

Are your sure you are hitting valve-stop and not the mechanical stop that is part of the knob-chassis interface? Also, how long does it continue dripping after valve closure? Remember, without the pump running, there should be nothing driving water flow. That means, it should stop dripping when whatever is in the tube has dripped it's way out.

-Peter