Oh, and P.S.—your “having it fixed for a couple of weeks” is probably just a coincidence—the solenoid was working (probably intermittently) at the same moment as you having cleaned the vacuum breaker. I swear these machines know when they have been getting attention and try to please. But alas, broken is broken. :) bmc
> On May 15, 2017, at 07:12, Benjamin McCafferty <[email protected]> wrote: > > Hey Howard, > I think you’re mixing up a couple of causes/symptoms. Here’s what happens > (normally) when the machine comes on. > > --It senses whether the steam boiler is full via the ground probe that sticks > into the top of the boiler (and can be adjusted up or down, by the way). > --If not, it opens the solenoid (via relay in the giemme controller, I > believe) and starts the pump, until the water in steam boiler reaches the > ground probe. > --It then stops the pump and the solenoid closes. > --The pump is now available to push pressure on demand through the brew > boiler, which only happens when the lever is lifted to its top position. > --The steam boiler heats first, and when it’s close to pressure, the vacuum > breaker you cleaned closes and makes a seal to let pressure build. > --The brew boiler heats second, to a preset temperature. > > Now then, if you think about it, the vacuum breaker has nothing to do with > startup (it is not engaged until well after the problem you’re having). So > here’s what you check: > —Is the ground probe in the steam boiler connected and clean? > —If so, you would look to either a stuck solenoid or a failing/failed pump. > —Since you are developing 10bar of pressure, and the pump won’t quit, to me > that says two things: > —First, your pump is working, i.e. developing pressure in the brew > boiler > —Second, the pump is trying to fill the steam boiler, and can’t > —Because of these two things, I’d bet dollars to doughnuts that the > solenoid is stuck, and so no water is reaching the > steam boiler, and so the solenoid never closes and shuts off the pump. > > Make sense? > > So, check the easy thing first (ground probe and wire, both ends), and then > move on to ordering a new solenoid and replacing it. > > Others may have additional thoughts, but I’ve been down this road and it > wasn’t this clear cut. The 10bar in the brew boiler is a dead giveaway, in my > opinion. > > Best of luck and keep us posted! > Ben/bmc > >> On May 15, 2017, at 06:48, [email protected] >> <mailto:[email protected]> wrote: >> >> I thought I had this problem solved after I took apart and cleaned the >> vacuum relief valve. It worked fine for the past two week but now the issue >> has recurred. When I turned the machine on yesterday morning the pump began >> to run and the pressure went up to 10 bar. The pump would not stop running >> and the pressure remained at 10 bar. I turned it off and tried starting it >> again several times thoughout the day but the behavior was always the same: >> constantly buzzing pump and pressure at 10 bar. Eventually a high pitched >> squeal developed along with the pump noise and I haven't turned it on again >> for fear of burning out the pump or causing other damage. >> >> Any ideas? I have a brand new vacuum relief valve that I will install >> tonight. If that doesn't help I'm stuck. >> >> Thanks, >> >> Howard >> >> Sent from my iPad >> >> On Apr 26, 2017, at 14:59, Howard Griffin <[email protected] >> <mailto:[email protected]>> wrote: >> >>> I have had my Brewtus III-V (vibration pump) for almost seven years. Its >>> usual behavior upon startup has been to buzz for a few seconds (5-10 >>> seconds) and then start to heat up. The buzzing usually terminates with a >>> very brief uptick in volume before stopping. A typographical representation >>> might look like this: [click on] rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrRRR [noise stops machine >>> begins to heat up]. Sometimes there would be no buzzing at all upon turning >>> it on and it would begin to heat up right away. This was its normal >>> behavior until recently. >>> >>> Now, when I turn it on the buzzing frequently goes on for a very long >>> time—up to three or four minutes before resolving in an uptick in volume, >>> like this: >>> >>> [click on] >>> rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrRRR >>> [noise stops machine begins to heat up]. Sometimes it still starts up with >>> no noise and begins to heat up right away. >>> >>> Is something about to fail on the machine? What should I check? Any advice >>> would be appreciated. >>> >>> Howard >>> >>> >> >> -- >> 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] >> <mailto:[email protected]>. >> To post to this group, send email to [email protected] >> <mailto:[email protected]>. >> Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/group/brewtus >> <https://groups.google.com/group/brewtus>. >> For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout >> <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] > <mailto:[email protected]>. > To post to this group, send email to [email protected] > <mailto:[email protected]>. > Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/group/brewtus > <https://groups.google.com/group/brewtus>. > For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout > <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 https://groups.google.com/group/brewtus. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
