ira wrote:Or you could just use that element, replace the original thermal fuse and ignore the third tube.

Ira

I guess I'll first have to find out if it's only the fuse causing the malfunction or the whole heating element. Or am I missing something?

Doesn't seem like it. Until you know what's causing the problem, it's tough to know how to fix it.

Ira

Why not simply bypass the existing thermal safety (TEMPORARILY) and hook the wiring to the heating element?

Turn the machine on its side, fill the boiler with approximately 1 litre of water and install the heating element. Assuming that the heating element is OK and my original diagnosis of a leaking brew valve was incorrect, you should be in business.

Later on, install a regular thermal safety and all should be well.

I have a Bric that had the exact same problem.
I descaled and opened the mushroom, took apart the lever controls.
I even removed the heating element.
Nothing changed the problem.
At this point I was pretty good at taking the thing apart.
My problem was the upper copper tube supplying the thermosiphon was clogged at the connection to the boiler.
No amount of descaler was going to touch that.
I removed all of the tubes to the boiler, after taking a few photos, and cleaned each one out.
Once back together it worked like a champ once again.
I hope that helps.

erics wrote:Why not simply bypass the existing thermal safety (TEMPORARILY) and hook the wiring to the heating element?

How do you do that? I'm not sure I understand what you mean by "hook the wiring to the HE". Thanks for the suggestion anyway.

Zircote wrote:I have a Bric that had the exact same problem.
I descaled and opened the mushroom, took apart the lever controls.
I even removed the heating element.
Nothing changed the problem.
At this point I was pretty good at taking the thing apart.
My problem was the upper copper tube supplying the thermosiphon was clogged at the connection to the boiler.
No amount of descaler was going to touch that.
I removed all of the tubes to the boiler, after taking a few photos, and cleaned each one out.
Once back together it worked like a champ once again.
I hope that helps.

That sounds exactly like the problem I had. The tube was really clogged, the hole was down to 1mm or so.

How do you do that? I'm not sure I understand what you mean by "hook the wiring to the HE". Thanks for the suggestion anyway.

Your electrical friend that was going to teach you about a multimeter should understand.

Connect the orange wire from your pressurestat directly to the terminal on the heating element that has the existing safety thermostat connected. The wiring from your existing safety thermostat should be connected to nothing.

OK, HE's working. Thanks. Now hoping the coffee will be good ...

It seems to all be working again. Thanks again, guys, for the helpful pointers