Good day,

have owned my pro 800 a few years now, purchased from Clive in March 2018.

Use and operation has been so enjoyable and (for the most part) trouble free.

Maintenance has included Regular cleaning and annual group and head gasket seal replacement (Cafelat Silicone).

About two weeks ago, I noticed the following symptoms:

boiler/pump does not initialize upon power up. Must power cycle a time or two for it to finally switch on. (Green light comes on, red light and PID Display remain off). This happens every time, and is different each time.

Once finally initialized, Pump draws water from water tank for an unusually long time. Normally Upon start up, the pump draws water for a longer time than when in normal use, but lately it has been extra extra long. In one instance, the pump continued to draw until the tank was nearly empty, not automatically shutting off when the auto shut off switch/float should have been triggered. Is the boiler really that empty?

Once the boiler heating element (red light) does decide to turn on after cycling power at least once, it does so intermittently. The red light appears to flicker, or stay on for only a few seconds, and repeats this 20 to 30 seconds until the red light and boiler/heating element do finally come on and remaining on until the machine is turned off.

Despite these symptoms, the machine would eventually come on and heat up as normal. And operation thereafter would be as normal. Rotary pump triggered usually after one shot/steam/cleaning flush cycle to top off boiler.



July 27, 2002. Prepared to do my power cycle/boiler flicker dance, I powered on the machine in the morning. As has been symptomatic the past two weeks or so, the pump drew nearly an entire tank of water into the boiler. This time, however, towards the end of the draw the pump began to labor for a second or two and there was a semi loud, dull thudding pop, followed by a decently large splash/spray/splatter of water from the top of the machine, though the venting at top (likely at top of boiler).

I powered off the machine, remove the top plate, and observed the anti vacuum valve with collected water around it, and water splatter around. The source of the pop/splash, according to my observation, could've been the anti-vacuum valve or the safety valve.

With the top plate removed, I reinstalled the water tank, powered on the machine and it began to heat up as normal, while I observed.

As the boiler heated, only for about five minutes, I noticed a small stream of water leaking from the safety valve's right side atop the boiler down the boiler insulation jacket. I then noticed the pressure gauge in front of the machine read way higher than usual, outside of the green zone, near 1.5 bar.

At this point I turned off the machine. I then opened the hot water valve and the pressure instantly dropped near zero.

Looking inside the machine from above, I noticed a small amount of water at the bottom around various components, probably from the leaking safety valve. I further observed the top label of the Gicar unit on the back by the counterweight is a dark/black color, almost scorched looking?

One final observation, as the machine was powered off and began to cool down, the pressure gauge remains just above Zero.

Photos attached to further illustrate latest symptoms.

Please advise if y'all have any idea what might be going on the the Pro800. Could one faulty component cause such mayhem? Maybe one failure has triggered a cascade of failures down the line?

Think that's about it. If anything else comes to light I'll pass it on.

And, please, if I can provide any further info, photos, or even video clips, please let me know.

I look forward to your reply.

Sincerely,
-Richard Blatt

Hi Richard,

Sorry to hear about all of the issues that you have been having with your Pro 800!

It sounds like most of which are water/electrical related. Our guess is that you have had a water or steam leak for some time and that water/steam has come in contact with some electrial components, and that has caused the electical system to short out. Most notably, the main CPU (the box with the Cigar label), has come into contact with moisture and shorted. This would explain the flickering lights, the need to power cycle, and the delays in acutation of the pump, heating element, and PID display.

What you heard yesterday, was most likely your safety valve popping and a release of pressure due to an overfilled boiler. This is usually because the boiler fill probe is in need of cleaning and it cannot sense that the boiler is properly filled. When this happens the boiler will continue to fill, which increases pressure in the tank, until the point that the safety valve opens (the Pop you heard), and water is pushed out of the valve. This would also explain why it was taking so much water to fill the boiler.

We can try and troubleshoot all the parts and components that could possibly be in need of replacement, but considering the extent of electrical components that may be in need of testing or replacement it could be worth your while to have your machine serviced by a technician.

If you are interested in bringing or sending it to us, we can absolutely assist you with that process, or if you would like a techician recommendation in your area we can look at our list to see if there is one close by.

Let us know.

CSME9 wrote:Just a guess, boiler overfilling ( boiler probe dirty remove clean ) or bad vacuum breaker /remove replace.

JRising wrote:I agree with Will completely.
Additionally, once the probe has the boiler filling to the proper level and the vacuum breaker is functioning properly, watch the Safety Valve closely for the first couple of times the boiler comes up to temperature. They can catch a piece of crud and be held open if they're ever allowed to blow, If it is leaking at less than 1.5 Bar it should be replaced. A safety valve with a very slight leak will quickly get worse. They're not durable, they're intended to never actually be used, they only blow if there's something wrong with the machine. They're supposed to reseat after relieving, but make sure they have done so the next time you heat the boiler.