Hi Everyone

First post, tried CoffeeGeek as well but havent found a solution yet, hoping there might be some junior owners that have encountered a similar issue with their machines. Bought it used in April (2004/newer style with the touchpad), has a great documented history including full service in February. Haven't had any issues until the other day.

Two days ago, went to make my morning coffee. The boiler pressure, which is usually around 0.9-1.0 bar, was sitting at about 1.7 (just in to the red on the gauge). Didn't think a lot about it at the time, went to bleed off the steam and pull a shot, but there was no steam. And no steam on the steam arm, and not really anything happening on the hot water tap either. I found that the anti suction valve (the valve on the top of the boiler, closest to the left side) had water in it and had leaked a little.

At this point, I looked around a little, and saw a suggestion that the boiler might be overfilled and unable to make steam. I drew some more water out through the grouphead, and let things heat up. I was able to get some steam on the steam arm and to get a mediocre shot.

The next day, I found the same thing in the morning. 1.7 bar, no steam. Followed the same procedure. The anti suction valve started to leak steam and continued to do so really until I turned the power off again.

I'm hoping someone here has had a similar situation with their cimbali and could provide a little advice. I'm not sure if it's simply a matter of a new anti suction valve, is the auto fill system to blame, or something else? Before I pull the auto fill probe, do I need to drain the boiler (machine is off of course, and cool).

Thanks

If the boiler is over-filled, drawing water through the grouphead isn't going to do anything. Unless I'm reading that part wrong?

I don't really know. I'm new to trying to diagnose machine issues, I was moreso just seeing what would happen. So I am guessing I would need to use the drain then to empty the boiler more?

I have a machine that does that. It's a leaky boiler fill solenoid in my case. Water slowly leaks past the solenoid and overfills the boiler until there's no room for air at the top. I have my machine plumbed in to a tap and just turn the water off when not in use, but I could replace the solenoid of polish it and replace the spring I suppose. I expect it's similar in your machine.

Hi, I have a 2009MY Junior that had a similar problem recently. In my case it was a combination of a very lightly scaled water fill probe and a sticking vacuum breaker valve. Power off and boiler cold remove and clean fill level probe without bending out of shape. Probe tip should point down. Remove vac breaker and clean stem pref with compressed air and brake cleaner then smear a tiny amount of silicone grease on o ring face to stop it sticking. Mine now working perfectly. Hope this helps.


Great machine built like a tank!

This sounds like a straight vacuum break failure. The lack of water coming out of the hot water spigot suggests pressure beneath about 1 bar. The telltale for the stuck vacuum valve is a sudden drop in pressure when you try to get steam, followed by a normal heating process. The lack of time coming up to temperature would explain the mediocre shot. It's also a really cheap fix part to replace (and needs it) every couple of years or so anyway. The "leak" around the valve is probably just evidence of it struggling to close properly.

Might as well start there. You can also leave it on 24/7 for now as the vacuum is used only when coming up to temperature from cold. A broken fill solenoid is a little more involved of a repair.