Hi Stuart,

" I would go as far as to say 100% of the excess water is produced only when pulling a shot because other than then the machine powers up, reaches the correct pressures, etc and looks and acts completely normal."

"Making a single cup now uses about 3/4 of the reservoir and of course the coffee's undrinkable because the water is now only lukewarm."

"Before using it there were no leaks of any kind, no hissing or strange noises. I saw no leaks while pulling a shot although the entire water reservoir was still used to make one cup - all of the water discharged through the single overflow pipe."

"I collected the water in a tray underneath and it was cold."

It sounds to me like the OPV Safety Pressure release valve (12-bar) or the Sirai Auto Fill Solenoid might be defective (stuck). Does the PID indicate that the set temperature of the brew boiler is OK; is the water coming out of the group, even without a portafilter, as hot as it should be?

Keep me posted.

Steve

Brio Espresso permanently closed a few years ago. They used to distribute Lelit too.

Thanks for the advice, Steve et al. Plenty there for me to work on which I hope to do over the next few days.

Paul: I bought my machine 3 years ago through ebay from a seller in Italy after seeing an older Duetto II for sale in a small coffee shop in Kwun Tong for HK$4,000 more than mine. They would have been useful but they've since moved unfortunately. I'll see how I get on fixing these problems myself but either way it's probably a good idea to email the company in Italy and see what other options I have, just in case.

Cheers

Well, well, Izzo got back to me and said they had just appointed their first HK Distributor and to give them a call. If anyone needs it: Stephen Wong, Hong Kong & Pacific Group Ltd

Hi Stuart,

I think your fix will likely be quite simple once properly diagnosed. A previous poster suggested a stuck (solenoid) valve, that or an OPV or some other 1-way check valve.

Do the pressure gauges indicate anything abnormal?

Steve

stivesstu wrote:Well, well, Izzo got back to me and said they had just appointed their first HK Distributor and to give them a call. If anyone needs it: Stephen Wong, Hong Kong & Pacific Group Ltd

I know them. They distribute Gaggia and
I get my spare parts from them. They are located in Sheung Wan. An area where you can find numerous specialty coffee shops in HK.

Hi Steve,

I think you're absolutely right. I do love the challenge of fixing it (just finished wiring up a Gibson guitar with two single coil/humbucker pickups - 50 different solder points in a 2inch square hole - took me three days and sent me nuts. But fun nevertheless )

I'm definitely going to give the machine a few days of my time but my sensible side and the wife's/friends moaning is telling me I've got three problems: the steam wand, the refill alarm and the water leak, then when I find out what's wrong I've got to order the parts and wait perhaps three weeks. I probably caused at least one of these problems And to cap it all I've had it for three years, left switched on for most of that time, and shouldn't I really get a professional to give it the once over? Once in 3 years doesn't seem excessive and if I'm going to service it, now would be the time. The stars all seemed to have aligned..We'll see... the less sensible side of me is skeptical of what "servicing" actually entails and says I should fix it because it doesn't seem that hard and the professionals won't do much more than me (without belittling their skills of course)

The pressure gauges all look normal. The machine looks and acts completely normally until you use it. The water seems to be pumped straight from the reservoir to the spill tray...it's that fast. At least there are only two or three things that it could be and I'll be looking at them today.

JojoS: Good to know. At least they're on Hong Kong Island and not Tsuen Wan or Tuen Mun. That whole area around Sheung Wan is changing fast and becoming really quite gentrified. Might be a good excuse to visit some of the brew pubs that are sprouting up in Kennedy Town (now that the abattoir's gone )

Giampiero wrote:Hi Stivesstu, my 2 cents opinion, i will first try to check the steam valve, if the big brass washer has gone loose, ( it should be firmly screwed to the knob) it will keep the shaft pulled off.
Remove the clip from the shaft and unscrews the knob from the valve, then try to activate the steam boiler and check if the steam wand still leaking, if still leaking obviously there is some problem in the seal valve itself

Have you tried the above?

This solved a steam leak of mine in the past. This is the first thing Chris coffee will suggest. Very common issue and free/easy fix.