macbeath Senior Member Joined: 5 Jan 2013 Posts: 3 Location: Belgium Expertise: I love coffee
Posted Sat Jan 5, 2013, 6:17am Subject: Elektra Microcasa a leva: steam wand pressure gone
My new Microcasa a leva worked great for about one month. Now, suddenly, the steam wand gives out only a fraction of the pressure, making it essentially useless.
I assume it is blocked internally. But with only steam coming out, you would think it would eventually unblock if you let it blow off some steam. No luck. I also tried clearing the 3 small holes, using a pin. There does not seem to be any obstruction. Yet the same behaviour continues: hardly any pressure from the wand.
I assume the problem is not global, because the rest of the system seems to operate the same.
I continue to enjoy espresso shots, but I want to get the cappuccinos going again asap.
macbeath Senior Member Joined: 5 Jan 2013 Posts: 3 Location: Belgium Expertise: I love coffee
Posted Tue Jan 8, 2013, 7:35am Subject: Re: Elektra Microcasa a leva: steam wand pressure gone
Great minds think alike - indeed, I did try exactly that. I removed it, and blew in the one end to see what kind of back-pressure there might be. It seemed to be unobstructed. Of course, I have no point of comparison, so maybe I would have noticed a difference in the back-pressure when comparing with a normal unit. All I can say is, I poked the pin into the 3 small holes and verified that they are not obstructed. And unless I am missing something, there is not much that can obviously go wrong in the rest of the sequence, starting from the main boiler. (The only one possible point of failure is inside the ball-bearing in the tap. It is hard to imagine that becoming obstructed. Also, I was unable to remove that portion of the unit for testing; I can't see how to do it. I tried unscrewing it at the bolt to the left of it, but that didn't work.)
macbeath Senior Member Joined: 5 Jan 2013 Posts: 3 Location: Belgium Expertise: I love coffee
Posted Wed Jan 9, 2013, 3:48am Subject: Re: Elektra Microcasa a leva: steam wand pressure gone
Problem solved!
JB, indeed, the obstruction was in the wand. It was hard to determine that, and hard to find. But I unscrewed the wand again, immersed the business end in a glass of water, and sucked through it like sucking through a straw. Eventually, up came a speck the size of a small splinter, which I assume was the offending obstruction.
pstam Senior Member Joined: 27 Jan 2004 Posts: 2,298 Location: Beijing Expertise: Professional
Espresso: ECM, SAN MARCO, EURO 2000 Grinder: MAZZER Vac Pot: YES Drip: YES Roaster: YES, HOME STYLE
Posted Wed Jan 30, 2013, 8:19pm Subject: Re: Elektra Microcasa a leva: steam wand pressure gone
macbeath Said:
Problem solved!
JB, indeed, the obstruction was in the wand. It was hard to determine that, and hard to find. But I unscrewed the wand again, immersed the business end in a glass of water, and sucked through it like sucking through a straw. Eventually, up came a speck the size of a small splinter, which I assume was the offending obstruction.
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