Keep it as a spare and you may never need it. Send it back and Murphy will have you needing it just before you host a party with people expecting your espressos.

Thanks guys, I feel really bad. Actually it happened that someone I met last weekend suggested that solenoids are simple and I should attempt to strip it down and clean before going the expense of replacing it (but that advice was already too late...lol). Ash at Espresso Workshop Sydney is a great guy and he supplies coffee and machines as well as parts for Elektra. I wouldn't upset him for the sake of a minor thing and he was happy for me to return the parts thus the orignal post. But if these things rarely go belly up (solenoid and coil - $90) then is there value in keeping it in the drawer?

No idea how often they go out, but mine has likely been running for decades (I'm not the first owner). Be good to your espresso parts merchant, he sounds top notch.

Solenoid coils fail on a regular basis. I go through about 30 a year, spread over something like 2500 machines. I've had machines where the coil failed out of the box, on its third or fourth shot, so service life is unpredictable to say the least.

The good part is that they either work or they don't, and they are cheap to replace.

Alan

Ok, when in doubt, do nothing I guess. I'll keep the part handy since I also have a 3 group Elektra Barlume coming soon which presumably has the same solenoids. Are you a machine technician Alan? I am interested since I will be commencing an esspresso bar business shortly, thus the purchase of the Barlume and Nino (far too big for my kitchen bench..). If you do service the south eastern suburbs of Melbourne, please send me your details to my email as I will be running the business independently of any lease or arrangements with coffee supplier and will require a good technician. My email is ekaram3@bigpond.com