Hi folks

When I start up my machine my brew boiler reaches the set temp (200 F) in about 5 minutes or so and then seems to keep rising up until 212 F at about 20 minutes. It then starts to slowly decrease back, but usually by 30 - 40 minutes I'm too impatient and just flush some water through, which then makes the PID read around 180 immediately after flushing. The brew boiler then goes back up to 200 F and seems to stay there just fine the rest of the time. Is this indicative of a faulty part or some maintenance I should be doing? I should mention that it has only recently started doing this, previously it would at most go up to 201 or 202 before the PID would bring it down.

Also, when I first run the pump after turning the machine on (say to flush the machine after turning it on, after water has come up to temp), it seems to need a couple extra seconds to get up to pressure and get the water flowing out of the group head. It also tends to be a bit noisier.

After a flush however it works just fine, and is the typical silent and fast response of the rotary pump. I thought maybe it might be the air in the inlet tubes (I run it from the reservoir) but is this something I should be concerned about? I recently replaced the pump and motor on this machine as I had bought it used, and the pump had leaked into the motor, corroding it out. I checked the new motor and the pump does not seem to be leaking.

Thanks in advance!

Have you checked the PID settings against the default PID settings in the user manual?
Might your machine need a complete descaling?

I agree it sounds like scale buildup. Pull the brew boiler temperature sensor (17mm open end wrench). Be careful of the reset button, as it snaps off its screw very easily if you hit it. It'll give you a chance to clean it and inspect the boiler at the same time. You can use a green scotchbrite pad, 600 grit sand paper or a polishing pad on a dremel. Reinstalling it after a thorough cleaning will allow you to test that the brew boiler temp issues resolve. If so, get an E-61 overhaul kit, then follow the how to guide on www.espressomyespresso.com. You'll probably still want to do a full descale after that, but it should get you up and running.

Thanks for the suggestions. I purchased the machine used, and did descale when I first got it. I removed the steam boiler fill probe to clean recently as the steam wand purges a fair bit of water at first, and the probe didn't show much scale. I think I'll remove the temp probe and check out it's condition.

I do believe the machine PID is set to default settings, I would check, but it appears one of the buttons on the PID doesn't work so I can't get into the menu. The temp settings are default though, 200F and 255F.