Hmmm... The constant stream of water returning to the reservoir just means that your OPV is open, not necessarily stuck. With a blind PF, this should happen at the set pressure in any case, or else the OPV would allow things to overpressurize and therefore wouldn't be doing its job of regulating brew pressure and also protecting lines from bursting.
To me, this indicates that you have the OPV set to 10+ bar, which is too high in my opinion. I wonder if this pressure is also outside the design parameters of that particular OPV or something--but the ones I've worked with have easily handled set points at 12 bar, for example. In any case, set it back to 9 bar with the blind PF before you go any further. Try pulling a shot and then continue. Also, be sure you understand that you can only adjust UP in pressure with the pump running, not DOWN. To adjust down, you need to drop the lever and release pressure, then dial your OPV counterclockwise and repressurize to get an accurate reading. Going up, you can just dial it up and watch the gauge until you're where you want to be. I would just back the OPV out a couple turns, pressurize, and dial it up to 9. Shut it off and back on to be sure it is still at 9. I also wonder about your water supply--really this can't be much else when you think about it. If the pump is new and developing pressure, and the OPV is OPV-ing, then all I can think is that the pump can't *maintain* pressure when a blind PF isn't in play, i.e. when constant water supply is needed and not just a little water to pressurize against the blind PF. So perhaps have a look at the intake hose, which is the one that has the softener on it (see if you can blow through it freely). I'd also recommend removing the softener if you haven't already for the purpose of testing, i.e. to be sure it isn't causing a restriction (I personally would leave it off permanently, which I did with mine three years ago). Beyond that, I wonder if you have a bit of scale in the lines between the pump and boiler, or boiler and group, etc. Did you open up the large hex on top of the group and have a look there too? That can also build up scale, but I don't think it would necessarily cause such a drastic problem. The "sound getting quieter" symptom is exactly what I saw when my OPVs were having problems. Three pumps later, I finally figured out that it was the OPV and not the pump. But a new pump, with no wear, would overcome the OPV problem briefly (weeks or months) before making me crazy again. Do let us know what you find... best, bmc On Mar 17, 2011, at 5:59 PM, dustin wrote: > I searched the previous posts and could not find an answer to my > issue...hopefully the wisdom of this group can prevail. My brew > pressure is erratic. I replaced the pump, deaerator, and OPV. Problem > was fixed for a day. I disassembled the OPV and reinstalled. Fixed for > a couple hours. With a blind portafilter pressure builds to 10+ > bar...not a pump problem. There is a constant stream of water from the > second hose into the resevoir. I think this is indicative of an OPV > problem (stuck?). The OPV is brand new. Upon disassembly it looked in > pristine condition. The brew pressure when pulling a shot will not > climb over 7 and will rise and fall. The vibration sounds normal upon > engaging but after a moment gets quieter. I'm not sure where to go > from here. Thoughts? > > Thank you all. > > Kind Regards, > Dustin > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "Brewtus" group. > To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to > [email protected]. > For more options, visit this group at > http://groups.google.com/group/brewtus?hl=en. > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Brewtus" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/brewtus?hl=en.
