I had problems with the flow, so I applied the back flush with Cafiza, as proposed in many posts. After that the flow was even worse. I put in a new pump (EX5) as that was the first thing I suspected was wrong. After that didn't help, I took the boiler apart and did a thorough descale including the solenoid valve bit, which didn't even seem to have any limescale. Overall the boiler had very little lime scale. Same with the brew head section. I also checked the tubes and they seem fine. After putting everything back together, I primed as per instructions and the flow through the wand is fine as can be seen in the video. As you can see in the video there is barely any flow through the head. What else could be wrong? What else can I try?

I used the following fantastic video for the take part guide and to understand more about the machine.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N9i-EH7qXOc

Thank you for your suggestions.

You can clean the OPV.

airlock? My GC had that sometimes after cleaning, either blowing a mouthful of water through the water inlet hose with the pump running or flushing with the pump runnning and the steamwand also opened used to cure that.

You can clean the OPV.

Will take boiler out and try that.

airlock?

flushed it a few times, not any better.


Thanks, will investigate further.

SOLVED!
It was the solenoid. Even though I descaled, there must have been something stuck. I used a needle to poke through the small hole. Now it works, flow is excellent. Just waiting to get my pressure gauge, so I can adjust the pressure properly. It's all over the place now, after I played around with the OVP.

Thanks.

There is a youtube video out there showing how to adjust the OPV measuring flow rather than pressure, they are linked (P and V), a pressure gauge is simpler though. I only used the flow method to adjust the OPV on my GC and leaving aside the temp instability the thing produced some great shots when I hit the temp sweet spot!

youtube video out there showing how to adjust the OPV measuring flow rather than pressure

Thanks for the tip, but all I could find was with pressure gauge. Anyway, it's arriving on Monday.
How do you hit the temperature sweet spot?

usually by sheer luck, that is what killed it for me And then looking for a new Londinium or Strega the Faemina came across my path and see where that ended...beware , watch out...the upgraditis bug will get you.

MisterQ wrote:
I took the boiler apart and did a thorough descale including the solenoid valve bit, which didn't even seem to have any limescale. Overall the boiler had very little lime scale. Same with the brew head section. What else could be wrong? What else can I try?

I have encountered threads similar to this before where the usual suspect like the solenoid valve is claimed to have been throroughly cleaned.