Hello!

I recently purchased a Rocket R58 and noticed that it is producing loud rattling noise every time it refills steam boiler. The noise is quiet and sounds more like humming when brewing. The machine was transported to me partly disassembled and I had to install rotary pump and motor by myself.

I checked this with a dealer and they say it is normal. But every time I hear that noise I don't think so

I researched the web and started to suspect cavitation in the pump because of restricted water flow. But then I have a question: how do I diagnose it? What could have gone wrong? Maybe I reassembled the pump incorrectly?

The machine is in water tank mode. The tank is fitted snug and nicely. I don't see that any silicon pipes are blocked. Otherwise the noise, the machine is working beautifully.

I made a video to demonstrate that: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akMBeBR-VQA

It sounds fine to me, but I may be missing something via video.

Your water hardness ok?

Water is softened with an ion exchanger.
Machine is 2 weeks old, I doubt there's any significant scale that could form so fast.

I wasn't thinking about scale but whether your machine has a water hardness sensor. I have a La Spaziale Dream T and when I started using softened water ( whole house water softener ) I would sometimes get a Boiler refill error and the machine would rumble. The place I bought it from suggested bottled water. When I used that the error messages went away and the rumbling sound abated. I've subsequently switched to a 50-50 mixture of softened tap water and water from our RO system with good results. My conclusion after doing some online reading is that the softened water has a high salt content due to the softening process even though its technically softer due to the removal of calcium and other elements. You might try some bottled water just to see if there's a difference. My consultant suggested Crystal Geyser which is what I used.

Hmm, very interesting, thanks! I also use water that comes from whole house water softener. Yeah, it's true that they just substitute calcium for sodium. I never had errors and I doubt that Rocket has hardness sensor... but will try some bottled water, thanks!

I also don't hear anything unusual



Randy

That's completely normal for a Rocket. I owned a Rocket Evoluzione for 6 years and the sound when filling the boiler was noticeably louder than pulling a shot. The sound in your recording seems quieter than the noise my Evoluzione made, so I don't believe there's an issue. Go enjoy your machine!

Sounds pretty normal. Some machines like Profitec Mount their pumps on rubber dampers, which attenuates the noise a little. Not sure if the R58 has this.

Do you recall seeing rubber mounts when you installed the pump? Also check that the pump isn't touching the inside of the machine casing. That would amplify the noise a bit.

Thanks for the replies! Seems like I just should be a little more relaxed

Yeah, the pump is mounted using four rubber pads. They seem to work.

The only question that bugs me is why is this noise louder when refilling boilers?