Home-Barista is this an ALL-HANDS mayday SOS call to all BDB modders (Peter, Lance, et. al.). My poor 5 year old BDB (that I got secondhand less than a year ago and have lovingly cared for and maintained) has caught the 'rona!

Specifically, I'm getting a consistent and persistent Err2 on my machine. I've followed the various guides I've found online for cleaning the NTC sensors, but the error persists. Particularly, when I go into the maintenance menu I am seeing 2 faults in particular:

• 01 (Steam Boiler NTC)
• 11 (Steam NTC over temp)

I'm REALLY hoping there's some way to fix these errors.
It's too soon to say goodbye to my baby. I'm willing to get into the machine and take it apart and replace components if needs be (although soldering is probably above my capabilities).

There's also the option of doing the $400 repair/exchange with Breville, but I would need some guidance on how to put back the old vibe pump and OPV since I cut the tube away from the stock OPV as part of that mod. Would Breville refuse to repair (or more likely replace) my machine if they opened it up and saw the cut tube?

Did you descale recently? This has been seen in the past post descale and might be the boiler not filling up. I think if you can determine if the boiler is filling up and if not why not it would help isolate the problem. Could be the fill sensor, the pump or electronics.
Do not turn on the machine until you have a few experts chime in as folks have been to known to fry their fuse this way.

I have not descaled (I know better) and I use scaleless water. That being said, I did notice a few interesting things that might be relevant to what you're suggesting here.

First, when I turned it on to test things out tonight, there was basically no steam coming out of the wand. Also, when I touched the steam boiler (after it supposedly heated up) it was not particularly hot (you could touch it for a second or so without having to remove your finger).

There were also weird noises coming from the machine the other week before these errors started throwing, so I'm wondering if maybe the pump that feeds water to the steam boiler is just kapoot. If so, does anyone know what pump to get to replace that one (and how to install it)?

Here is a good article on the issue and troubleshooting it. His case turned out to be the controller but he also discusses the other common causes. You can also order the pump from him if you determine that is the issue.
https://outwestcoffee.com.au/index.php/ ... -thinking/

Quick question, how many of each error codes is the machine giving? It should display the code and then a number, this number is the number of instances that the machine has logged the code.

How comfortable are you working with and testing electronics? If you open the white electronics box, there are three connectors that are labeled NTC1, NTC2, NTC3. These are the NTC's that read the temps. You can pull the pin connectors and use a meter to check their resistance. They should all have a similar resistance. If you find that NTC 1 has infinite resistance, it is open, then it is broke and it will need to be replaced. You can buy spares from outwest coffee. Be sure to unplug your machine first.

Off the top of my head, I think it works like this: The NTC is part of the heater control circuit. The resistance in the NTC is constantly measured and the computer uses an algorithm to correlate the resistance in the NTC to boiler water temperature. Translated: It tells the computer what the temperature of the boiler is. The computer uses this information to turn the boiler's heating element On and OFF to bring the boiler to the correct temperature. If the NTC is broken, then the computer can't know what to do with the boiler's heating element and you get a machine that doesn't work.

I had this same problem, Err2 and the NTC1 code. There were some other error codes involved but I forget which ones. First, I fiddled with the wires going into the NTC and got it to spring back to life. Then several weeks later it would not work and gave me the Err2. I tested things and for sure it was the NTC. I did not want to wait for spares from outwest so I sent it back to Breville. When I got it back, I opened it up to see what they did and, what do you know, there was a new NTC installed.

Now, all this said, it could be something else. That is why we need you to test the NTC's to see if this one is out.

Good luck, please let us know what you find.

There are 8 errors for code 1 and 17 errors for code 11.

I'm not super comfortable working with electronics, but I'm probably good enough to test resistance using a meter.

In terms of sending it in to Breville. Is it going to be a problem if they open it up and it's clear that I had modded the vibe pump? Like will they still fix it? Because if so, I'm thinking it might just be worthwhile paying the $400 and sending it to them.

Well, I have something new to report here. I stuck a camera down into the steam boiler today and sure enough, the water level was LOW (like 1/3 full). I think the next thing I'm going to do is manually fill it back up and then see if the errors stop. If they do, then my next step will be to check to see if the steam boiler vibe pump is starting up.

My biggest worry is that the problem is going to be what was in the article @topcat2001 linked. If it is then the fix is replacing the PCB and I might be beyond my capabilities at that point.

Any thoughts on how I can/should go about testing to see if it's the steam boiler vibe pump? And if it is that, where to find a replacement for that pump (I'm in the US, btw)?

Any failure in the control circuit or fault in the thermal protection could result in the pump not filling the boiler. without testing the components in those systems, you cant know whats going on for sure.

Sorry i cant help you more with testing instructions, i got into a little accident with the pavement on my road bike yesterday. Im typing with one hand

When i sent my machine in for warranty work, i reversed the mods first and sent my machine in stock.

^^^
Yes indeed, if possible take off all mods and rework changes back to stock, if you can before sending it back to Breville. On the chance they send you a new machine, you will want those spare or custom parts.

lancealot wrote:Any failure in the control circuit or fault in the thermal protection could result in the pump not filling the boiler. without testing the components in those systems, you cant know whats going on for sure.

Sorry i cant help you more with testing instructions, i got into a little accident with the pavement on my road bike yesterday. Im typing with one hand

When i sent my machine in for warranty work, i reversed the mods first and sent my machine in stock.

My only problem is: how do you reverse the brass OPV mod? I cut the Teflon tube that ran from the plastic OPV to the HX input on the steam boiler.