Thanks Herman. Pstat looks like mfg date of 6/12; shouldn't matter but there you go. Chris will give 10% discount on a new one, but still chaps my butt.
I'll try to pull the giemme cover and watch the relay--don't try this at home, kids! I instinctively don't think the PID or element is bad, but will try the p-stat reversal thing and see where that takes me. I'll post again in a bit. b Sent from my apple IIe > On Nov 27, 2015, at 11:07, herman dickens <[email protected]> wrote: > > Ben fwiw it sounds like you have 2 problems. I had the same problem with a > pstat and it only lasted 2 months. The next one worked fine. There should be > a mfg date on the pstat. It seems like my first one was several years old and > the second one was this year. I was having the same symptoms with the relief > valve but no chatter. The chatter sounds like a relay or a solenoid. Can you > pull the cover off and look at the relay while the chattering is going on? > That might help narrow things down. You could have a bad pid or element in > the brew boiler causing that not to get up to temp but honestly I don't work > on these things enough to do anything but guess. I just bought the pid > upgrade for my machine but I may hold off on installing it for a few more > days. Maybe Todd will jump in and give you some ideas. > Herman > >> On Fri, Nov 27, 2015 at 1:57 PM, Benjamin McCafferty <[email protected]> >> wrote: >> Hey all! >> Hope you all had a great thanksgiving and that you're all waking from your >> food comas. I had more pie for breakfast, but alas, with no espresso. >> >> I will be talking to Todd soon about this, but thought I'd also ping the >> collective and see if anyone has any ideas. Unfortunately, I have a >> collection of symptoms at this point that I can't make fit a common cause; >> perhaps they will make sense to one of you. >> >> As you may recall, I had quite a bit of trouble this summer, and during that >> process I replaced: >> >> --Both hi-limit switches >> --One or both boiler elements >> --Giemme controller board with the updated one >> --PID temp probe >> --Main power switch >> --New Jaeger pressure-stat >> >> Also, as with this summer's shenanigans, my mom is visiting in two weeks, >> and dearly loves a good latte. I spent several hundred on overnight >> charges, parts, etc. while she was here in the summer, and managed 2 days of >> lattes for her in her three-week visit. Hoping to get the machine back in >> action fast! >> >> At the same time I did all that work, I totally disassembled everything, >> descaled completely, and cleaned the solenoid until it was shiny, i.e. all >> scale removed, etc. The solenoid functioned fine with power. >> >> The machine worked normally from summer until this week, but with one weird >> symptom. It would occasionally make a machine-gun noise, i.e. something >> mechanical opening and closing very rapidly, 5-10 times per second maybe. >> To me, it is a higher pitched sound than the solenoid, and sounds like it >> originates from the area of the giemme controller. Todd suspected the >> solenoid might be sticking; I was thinking perhaps one of the two relays in >> the giemme controller was misfiring (not sure that they are even relays--but >> I'm referring to the two small sets of contacts in the giemme that look like >> points from a points-and-condensor ignition). At its worst, this symptom >> would continue for 10+ seconds and I'd shut the machine off and back on; it >> would seem to "reset" and stop. At its best, it would last for a few >> seconds and stop on its own. It clearly is related to when the machine goes >> to refill the steam boiler, i.e. when closing the steam wand, dumping hot >> water boiler, etc. is when this would happen, very intermittently. >> >> As of a week ago, the machine-gun thing got really bad, i.e. it happens 4-5 >> times while steaming enough milk for a latte, etc. When shutting off the >> steam wand, when it goes to refill, the machine-gun noise happens every time >> and frequently does not stop. As the machine sits at idle and occasionally >> refills the steam boiler, it also makes the noise every time. >> >> At this point, it would seem to me that the culprit would be the giemme or >> the solenoid, but wait, there's more... >> >> A few other symptoms have happened in the past week, which really confuse >> the issue for me, because I admittedly don't know exactly how electricity >> flows through the machine: >> >> --The Jaeger P-stat has allowed the machine to over-pressure about 3 times >> in 5 months, causing the blowoff to activate. No way this should be >> happening with a new p-stat, but otherwise it has been normal. As an aside, >> Chris Coffee will not warrant the p-stat, stating 30 days is the warranty >> from that manufacturer. So I have a 90-day-old failing part that won't be >> covered. Unexpected. >> >> --The PID display (which I have set to 204F) has stayed at 105F for several >> hours each morning for about four days in a row, and then later in the day, >> has heated to 204F. >> >> --As of two days ago, the PID heated the brew boiler to 105F and stayed >> there all day, never heating to 204F. >> >> --Earlier this week, one day only, the PID display was blank when the >> machine was on. It remained blank for about an hour, then suddenly lit up. >> It showed 105F. Every time the steam boiler fired, the PID screen would >> flicker and get really dim, almost not visible. Then it would brighten >> right back up when the steam boiler turned off. >> >> --Most of the time (and this is an old thing, maybe normal), the PID numbers >> and "dot" will blink every few seconds, i.e. they go off for a split second, >> and then come back on. The dot at this point will not stay on for more than >> a split second also, i.e. it never shows the boiler calling for heat once >> the steam boiler is off. >> >> --The same day the PID display was blank and dim, there was a single time >> where the steam boiler filled, and then shut off (solenoid clicked), but the >> pump kept running indefinitely. I finally had to turn off the machine to >> make it stop. After power cycling the machine, the pump filled and stopped >> normally again. >> >> --At this time, the steam boiler fills and heats normally, with the >> exception of the machine-gun noise, which happens almost every time. >> >> OK--I think that's it. I'm sorry if someone has told me this before, but >> I'm trying to understand first how electricity travels in the machine. So >> far, the only thing that seems like a common point to all of these symptoms >> is the giemme controller, but that's based on my limited understanding. >> >> How I *think* it works is this: main power switch sends current to the >> giemme, which sends current to the pump and to the pressure stat (via the >> two "relays" in the giemme?). If the steam boiler is not up to temp, the >> p-stat sends current to it until it is at pressure, then it sends current >> onward to the PID. The PID sends that onwards in bursts via its solid-state >> relay to heat the brew boiler. Meanwhile, the giemme sends current to the >> pump (via a relay?) and to the solenoid, so the solenoid closes, diverting >> water to the steam boiler, and the steam boiler fills. When water touches >> the probe in the steam boiler, it essentially shorts out and stops the pump, >> and the solenoid opens, sending water line pressure to the brew boiler, >> which is held back by the group. When the lever is lifted, the lever >> mechanically opens the group to let water through, and the switch behind the >> lever sends power to the pump to cause it to run and push water under >> pressure through the group. If, while pulling a shot, the steam boiler >> level drops below its probe, the solenoid closes and interrupts water to the >> brew boiler/group until the steam boiler is filled again. >> >> Does that sound about right? Again, I would really like to understand this >> whole circuit, especially the giemme controller and what the two mechanical >> contacts are for on that board. >> >> --Also, my PID is about 5-6 years old by now; what is the expected service >> life of those? >> >> --Can I safely test the PID by reversing NO/NC terminals on the P-stat? >> Wouldn't that have the effect of prioritizing the PID first? >> >> OK, I'll stop. Enjoy your leftovers, and have a good coffee for me! >> >> best, >> Ben McC >> Sent from my apple IIe >> >> -- >> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups >> "Brewtus" group. >> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an >> email to [email protected]. >> To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. >> Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/brewtus. >> For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "Brewtus" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to [email protected]. > To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. > Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/brewtus. > For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Brewtus" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/brewtus. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
