Well after 10 years of trouble free operation my A3 decided to act up. A couple weeks ago I noticed the group running cold and the system was not responding like it should. Today being a bank holiday I had the day off work so I decided to pop the covers and run a descale on it. When I took the top off there was an immediate realization that there was a bigger issue. Years ago I had insulated the boiler, when I took to top off the insulation was blown all over the inside of the case. The OPV had obviously opened sometime in the past couple weeks and shredded the insulation on the top of the boiler. It was blown out with the boiler over pressure valve being the epicenter of the destruction.







So it was time to do a lot more maintenance to it than simply descale.

The first order of business was turn off the machine and unplug it. The cover on the Sirai's is held on with a single screw, remove it and simply lift the cover up off the pressurestat. Sirai's are near bulletproof, most of the time. The pressurestat has 3 sets of contacts of which the Elektra A3 uses 2. You can see from the photo that the inner and outer points are the ones in use with the far side showing obvious signs of contact arching.



After it had cooled for a bit I removed the Sirai pressurestat. Now do yourself a favor. If you are going to do any kind of work on your machine get the correct tools to do it. Go to the store and get a set of tubing fitting wrenches, do not use a crescent wrench or pliers on tube fittings. Remove the pressurestat supply line from the pressurestat then remove the locking nut.



When you remove it turn it upside down and tap it on the table, the ash will fall out of the pressurestat and you can get a good look at the contacts.




Now if you grew up in the days of the non electronic car you will be familiar with points on a distributor. They needed an occasional cleaning as part of your auto maintenance. They make a little gadget called a distributer point file which is used to clean the contact points on a high voltage distributor. I happen to have a few so off to the tool box. Now if you do not have one, a thin sliver of wood like a Popsicle stick with some 600 or 800 grit sandpaper wrapped around it will also work.

Now that you have it off, simply file both contact points clean.



Once clean inspect the contacts. My right side contact was worn uneven and sitting slightly off center. That leaves a gap on one side of the contact which will cause electrical arching.



Now if you happen to have a rebuild kit laying around you can replace the points but I did not. So, time to use the spare set of contacts. Just unscrew the lug retaining screw (and mark the top wire so you get them back in the correct location) and slide the spades out from under the cover. Move them to the spare contact, problem fixed. There is a torque spec for these screws. There is sticker on the inside of the pressurestat with the torque rating. Make sure you get it tightened back down correctly.



Now it is time to remove the diaphragm. Simply remove the 4 retaining screws and take it off.



I had to put some vinegar in the diaphragm to loosen up the scale. Gently work the diaphragm piston up and down and eventually it will come out of the brass body. It is in obvious need of a cleaning but considering it has been running 24/7 for 10 years you would expect that.




Put the brass base in some descale solution and wash the diaphragm in warm soapy water to clean it all up.



Now reassemble the pressurestat and put it back on the machine. I also removed the vapor line feeding the pressurestat and descaled it for good measure. Now onto the rest of the machine.

I raided my parts drawer for a vacuum breaker valve. Might as well replace it while you are at it. I had an 'upgrade' valve in my parts bin. The weight on the valve is heaver so it drops free better and takes more backpressure to shut it.



Now if you have ever wondered what makes up one of these, there is not much to it. To take it apart for cleaning (which I was not doing) you just remove the E clip from the top and the weight and gasket drop out. This one was gone, the rubber was hard from years of use so it went in the garbage.



Now onto the descale. Another simple process. I mixed up 2 gallons of solution in a stainless pot. You will want hot water to make sure the citric acid powder dissolves into solution. While the water is heating turn the machine back on and let the boiler heat to pressure, also take the opportunity to inspect the tubing for any leaks. Once it is hot, turn off the power and purge the boiler by opening the water tap if your machine does not have a boiler drain plug. Once the boiler is empty, turn off the supply line and unscrew the supply line to the machine. Drop it in your solution.



I overfill my boiler to get the solution well above the normal water line. To do that, disconnect the boiler fill sensor and open the steam wand. Turn on the machine and let it fill the boiler until water spurts out the steam wand. Once it does, turn off the power, close the steam wand valve and re attach the sensor probe. Then power it on. You will also want to flush out the heat exchanger and fill it with solution to descale it. I let it sit at pressure for 2 hours before I purge the boiler.

If your water tap has an aerator on it, remove it. Then put a bucket under the water tap, turn off the power and open the valve to purge out the water. Nice jade green water. Once it is empty I repeat the process a second time, and flush the heat exchanger again for a second 2 hour soak. I use a bucket to purge the water, I had the little pitcher on just for the photo.



Once the second soak is finished and I have purged the boiler I remove the group cap to inspect it. Nice and clean.



Now reconnect the supply line, turn on the water and let the machine fill normally. I purge the heat exchanger 4 or 5 times and the boiler another 4 times to make sure I have all of the descale agent out. Then button it all up once you have confirmed everything is working correctly and there are no leaks. wipe it all down and recalibrate the machine. I had to make a small pump adjustment and verify the flush sequence. Good as new. Now order another set of spare gaskets and parts for the next time.

Nice work, well-documented.

Your points file reminded me of Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance. As I recall, the author used the scratchy part of a matchbook cover to clean the points on his BMW.

Dont forget to remove the group shower screen and clean it up while you are at it. I did not take photos of that but you should know how to clean that as part of your monthly maintenance. So 6 hours later I have replaced the vacuum breaker, cleaned the inside of the machine, rebuilt the pressurestat, changed the contacts, cleaned the diaphragm and supply line, cleaned the group, readjusted the pump and pressurestat and cleaned up the case and espresso bar. I need to order a new group gasket, group cap gasket and steam/water ball valve gaskets but that is another day.

Thank you for this information; the pictures and discussion are excellent. I'm working through a similar cleanup/overhaul myself (on a Rancilio S24).

Well, so much for the recondition. I went down stairs this morning and had a big puddle under the machine. Time for a rebuild kit and some fresh gaskets and spare parts.

Wow! This is well done dave, My son has my old A3 and this job is coming up, This will make it easy. Thanks Jim

I had to pull out my backup machine.


I will be amending this when I get my parts. I am going to replace the pressurestat, rebuild the ball valves and put new seals in them, replace the group gaskets, etc... I figured out how many hours the machine has on it. I guess after 79,000 hours of operation it is due for a few new seals. The Sirai rebuild kit only includes the pressurestat membrane. given the ware on the points I am just going to replace it and this will be a backup spare if ever needed.