Arrrrgh! No steam 3-beeps is back!

Hi all - replaced the pump in my machine this past weekend thanks to some helpful posts on HB. Unfortunately, the water in line to the old pump was so stuck that I had to cut it off.

Can anyone point me in the right direction of where to buy a replacement? It seems to be about 1/4" inner diameter, braided Teflon, about an inch long.

Cheers!

I recently won an online auction for a used BDB - when it got here, first thing I did was fill it and test its functions to make sure it was in full working order (which it was) next step was to flush the system, and my wife insisted we descale the boilers (even after reading the many posts not to do that) - Well, so I did the next best thing which was to empty the boilers, and refill using a solution of Dezcal (2 oz per 16 oz of water) Let it heat up and sit for 20 minutes, then I drained both boilers, flushed twice with filtered tap water... (still using the pump to fill, not pouring directly into the boilers using the probe holes) and draining using the drain screws at the bottom...

That's when the troubles began. I could tell that the steam boiler was not filling completely because the pump was only on for a short time... and the right drainage screw only gave me a small trickle of water... the final hint something was wrong was when I got the dreaded 3 beeps when I tried to use the steam wand.... Oh, S___T. Too tired to think, I turned the machine off and went to sleep. The next morning another flush and still 3 beeps, no steam. Now I was on a mission. Top panel came off, retainer pins came off, probes came off, (dropped about 3 or 4 pins into the machine even using pliers, BTW - got them out by turning the whole thing upside down with the cover loosely held in place, and peered inside till I saw each pin resting on the inside face of the cover ) All in all, not too bad this far. Getting the clips back-in was tougher than getting them out... The o-rings had a flatter side and a rounder side... and finding the flatter side to allow me to push the probes back far enough to get the clips on required patience and careful application of pressure.

The probes were spotless, and peering inside the boilers through the probe holes (with my phone LED light) showed a clean SS interior. Great! - so I refilled the boilers with filtered water again manually this time using a 12 oz chefs sauce (ketchup) dispenser from Target. I closed the boilers and let come up to temperature, and manually drained them several more times, (lost count, 2 or 3?) just to make sure all the Dezcal was flushed... and Voila! - steam lever worked fine with no beeps!!! (this took both days of the weekend...letting the machine cool-off between flushes, and testing the steam wand each time... not something I recommend if one is rushed...)

The second challenge was getting enough pressure during the brew process... my previous machine would clog-up if I ground too fine or pressed too hard, but with the BDB, it took me a while to figure out my Rancilio Rocky doserless grinder was not setup right. Time to take apart the grinder and see why I could not get the beans fine enough to build more than 5 bars of pressure no matter how hard I tamped! Well, it turns out the entire works from the burrs to the chute was pretty gummed up with oily residue..AND the set screw location with the dial at 0 would not allow me to tighten the burrs all the way... The burrs were sharp enough to keep, and after a thorough cleaning (2 hr) and a reset of the dial (so now fully tightened burrs are at dial 10 ..., the grinder slowly ground my beans to a degree of fineness I had never experienced before... and again, Success! - the BDB delivered a beautiful, if not (YET) great tasting shot of espresso with lots of crema and body...and hit 9 bar with light tamping.

Now I can start experimenting with different beans, pre-infusion, pressure profiling, and shot duration... the higher pressure gave me about 1/2 as much liquid in 30 seconds as I had gotten with the coarser grind, so I'll need to play with shot duration... Oh, and Bonus! - after learning how to access the advanced menu and decipher the part Number, it turns out the machine was made in June of 2016 (5 years) and only had 280 shots on the clock! (Maybe the previous owners tried to descale it, got the 3 beeps, and couldn't deal with it?). Lucky me!

Looking forward to even better coffee in the next few weeks... (amazing how adaptable humans are... I've been happily drinking what my old machine produced for over 7 years)... now there are new horizons to explore. Thank you all for contributing your experiences on HB... I feel like a beginner again, but hope to give back as much as I've learned.

Sixto - Minneapolis.

Guys,
I couldn't find the thread I was posting to back when. My issue:
As normal, I cleaned my reservoir with mild vinegar and distilled water to remove the "film." Rinsed for several minutes. Done.
Meanwhile, I ran the machine for maybe 30 seconds spaced a minute apart to empty old water out of the boilers...opening the steam wand as well.
I filled the reservoir via the top, till I reached nearly to the fill line. Turned on the machine. Pump started...as I expected, to refill the boilers..though they weren't empty...I don't believe. Now, it appears they are not filling, as the water line on the reservoir hasn't moved. I had this issue when I first got my machine. I believe opening the steam wand fixed. Not this time. The boiler noise will stop then restart. No temperature reading is fine. I've done the 1st part of the Slayer mod...disconnecting the electronics from the water knob...works when I was pulling a shot prior to this. I using Third Wave water...just to see if I prefer taste over the Pavlis Potassium Bicarb alone. Thoughts....fixes?

Thanks and happy fathers day to all. EDIT...at programmed temp, the brew boiler light isn't coming on. Looks like the brew boiler is not getting water.
RJ

Back working. Unplugged the BDB. Shut her down for 3 hours. Turned on again. short boiler on..maybe 506 seconds, then off. Pulled a shot, all normal.
No explanation other than a sort of reset when the machine cools down.

You had me stumped. I'm glad it resolved for you.

Moka 1 Cup wrote:I ordered those parts. They are a special order so it would take up to 20 days for the solenoid before shipping, I would not want to wait that time in case of a failure. Thank you again.


(by the way, this is a 0.5 Oz NSF 61 certified silicone https://www.amazon.com/Waterproof-Silic ... 000DZFUPC/ that I use when replacing the seals on my faucets)

PSA: after five months the solenoid valve is still on back order.

Do you mean the solenoids from ereplacementparts?

My solenoid started buzzing again and am about to order another from there. It's bad news if I wanted to replace from ereplacement parts. I may just decide to source another Lucifer Base solenoid.

Correct. From ereplacementparts.

Can't pull a shot, which I think might be 3 things together:

• Brew head only drips, no pressure when pulling a shot (probably a solenoid issue, I've replaced the gasket because it was rotted)

• Gurgling sounds after trying to pull shot (replaced all O rings and still have it)

• Steam comes out of the flow meter

Really interested in hearing if anyone has ideas about 3, because it's driving me mad! Haven't seen anyone talk about it before.

In more detail, the elbow that comes out of the flow meter above the water tank lets out a lot of steam after I try to pull a shot, and steams up the whole inside of the machine. See pics for part I'm talking about. Definitely shouldn't be steam in the machine - anyone got any ideas??




First time posting, long time lurking, so hope this is the right place to ask! Thanks gang