When I turned on the machine recently it was not heating or heating slowly even though the red light was illuminated. I walked away for about 30 to 45 minutes and discovered it had finally got hot. When I opened up the steam valve it was super pressurized. Way up in the red band - maybe 2.5 bar.

The following day the machine did not heat at all. I thought there might be a problem with the pressure stat but I need some help with troubleshooting before I order the wrong part.

With the machine plugged in and the power switch on, the green light is on and the red light is on. (I placed a small magnet on the water tank level switch)
The water pump will run if I lift the handle.
The Safety Thermostat red button is depressed.
The green led near the 4/A2 terminal of the Crouzet relay is illuminated.

I found the electrical schematic in another post. I thought I knew how to read a schematic but now I am not sure because terminal 1/L1 of the SSR relay always has line voltage even if the power switch is off. In fact, all 4 terminals have line voltage with the power switch off. So now I think the power switch might also be faulty but that doesn't explain the not heating problem.

When I turn the power switch on, the green power light comes on. When I satisfy the water level switch the green led near terminal 4 comes on, the red heating light comes on, terminals 1 and 3 have line voltage but terminals 2 and 4 do not.

If I disconnect 2/T1 from the heater element and measure the voltage between the blue neutral wire and the 2/T1 wire I read 27 volts with the power switch off and 45 volts with the power switch on.

Are there some other simple tests I can accomplish with the voltmeter to determine where the problem is?

While I wait for advice from those who have some experience, I will plod along with some more tests.

This morning I powered the heating element directly using the 2/T1 terminal for the hot lead and using the double pole side of the Safety Thermostat for the neutral lead. The boiler began to heat up and was using 13 amps. This means the heating element and the Safety Thermostat are both good.

See my experiance here: Fun with wacky wiring, and heating element death

Essentially a combination of hot and neutral reversed at the power input (an error that I believe had been there since I received it) and a failed heating element (causing a path to earth that shouldn't have been there) created an "always on" condition.

Actually I can tell from your picture that hot and neutral are reversed on your machine. The terminal that says "L" should have the black wire, and the terminal that says "N" should have the white wire. It is a confusing aspect of American wire codes for mains power that the black wire is in fact hot, whereas experiance with digital electronics would suggest black to indicate neutral or ground.

So, you should swap your black and white wires. BUT, that isn't the only problem. An Anita will work just fine with hot and neutral swapped (mine did for years) but something else has to fail to cause it to create an obvious issue.

That was a good catch, Nathan.

I would fix the wiring situation first and we can go from there.

Nate42, Wow! I am the original owner and have never touched the wiring before today. This probably also explains why the kitchens ground fault breaker would trip occasionally when the vacuum breaker valve would spurt some steam and water as the boiler was heating up.
I switched the wires. Two problems solved. Thanks!
I will continue to look for the failure.

g_c wrote:Nate42, Wow! I am the original owner and have never touched the wiring before today.

I had the exact same issue, was the original owner of my machine and it came swapped out of the box. Didn't notice it until my heating element shorted to ground years later.

Anyway, now that the wiring is corrected you should repeat your troubleshooting process, you should be able to trace the schematic in a more sane manner. If the main green light turns on and off with the switch than power switch is probably fine. Next things I would suspect are pressurestat, SSR, and heater in that order, but sounds like you have verified heater.

If you need an SSR I have one I'll give you in exchange for postage costs.

Correct me if I am wrong but it looks like the wires on control terminals 3 and 4 of the SSR are reversed. The blue should be on number 4 and go to the Boiler Fill Solenoid Valve and the black should be number 3 and go to the NC terminal of the Pressurestat.

Hesitatingly, yes.

I hesitate because it would be easy for you to simply trace the wiring and not necessarily depend on wire color. The wire from 4/A2 should go to the boiler fill solenoid valve. The wire from 3/A1 should go to the NC (normally closed terminal on the pstat.

Thanks Eric you are correct. The wire color makes them easier to find and trace, but making sure the wires originate and terminate at the correct location is what is important.

I checked the pressure stat and it seems like it is working perfectly. I connected the boiler to line voltage with a separate cord and unplugged it when the pressure reached 1.5 bar. The red and green temperature lights worked correctly and I adjusted the cutoff temperature to about 1.25 bar.

If I am reading the schematic correctly, I see the line voltage entering the Water Tank Level Switch, continuing to the PSTAT COM, if the pressure is low departing the PSTAT at the NC terminal, and continuing to the SSR 3/A1. This would provide the control voltage to "close" the relay and provide line voltage to terminal 2/T1 then off to the boiler. My SSR is reading nearly zero volts at 2/T1. I suspect the the SSR is faulty. Nathan thank you for the generous offer! I will contact you.

While tracing wires I found another one not connected correctly.
The GICAR has 10 spots. #3,#5 and #7 are blank. The wires at #4 and #6 are reversed. I reconnected green/yellow so it travels from #4 to ground. I reconnected black so it connects #6 with the water level probe. Do you think the Quick Mill employees have wine with lunch?