Hi, guys.

Some years ago I rebuilt a Faema Compact S from scratch, and everything worked fine for a long time. Some time ago, though, the pressure started dropping while brewing. This came and went, and I was too busy to take the machine apart and find out what was going on. Then the macine stopped drawing water into the tank, despite having water pressure and the manual filler valve working.

Since the pressure dropped I'm suspecting a clogged up valve or jet somewhere, or a faulty pump. Since I can't get water in, the latter seems likely.

Are there other possible sources to what's going on here? All tips are welcome.

Thanks.

Does the pump get power?

Yeah, the pump gets power. It runs as usual when brewing and on triggered by low water level. The problem is that no water actually goes into the tank.

I used to have one of those, do you still have the internal filter setup? Or has that been removed, if not, have you verified the filter is not blocked?

The filter was the first thing i removed. The water here is pretty soft, so there was no use for it.

It's been a few years since I had that machine and a machine in general with a vibe pump. I actually converted my Faema compact to a rotary pump. On thd vibe pump, is there a need to prime it? Also, I recall the OPV value is right in line... Perhaps that's an item to check

The OPV was a great tip. I just took it out, and the centre is completely stuck. I'll have to find some penetrating oil and try to loosen it.
About your conversion to a rotary pump - was that a big job? Do you have a link to a build process and parts list and so on?

So I managed to get the stainless steel plunger out of the valve, removed some scaling and polished both the plunger and the valve, replaced the O-ring, and put everything back together. I can now easily adjust the brewing pressure, so that's one step in the right direction, but the pump still doesn't fill the tank if the water level goes below the pin in the level indicator.
The machine works perfectly when it comes to everything else, so it's clear that nothing is clogged in the water pipes, at least not the ones also responsible for delivering water to the head or water spout, so there's no crisis (yet), but it's a bit annoying not to be able to trust that the tank fills up or that the pump doesn't run dry for some reason.

Any more tips?

vanilla_ninja wrote:image

The OPV was a great tip. I just took it out, and the centre is completely stuck. I'll have to find some penetrating oil and try to loosen it.
About your conversion to a rotary pump - was that a big job? Do you have a link to a build process and parts list and so on?

It's been a few years on the rotary conversion, but if you search posts under my user name or search Faema C84 it will show up I'm sure (2013 or 2014 timeframe I think) . I also added a PID controller to read the temp near the puck as well as a relay timer for pre-infusion.

Is that a Boba Fett mug, or do my eyes just make it into one?

Also, If your pump bypass was that crusted up, your boiler-fill valve will also be. I believe you've verified that your pump runs in boiler-fill mode, so if the boiler isn't filling it's almost certain that the valve is completely plugged, due for disassembly and citric acid soaking.