Mpotoka Senior Member Joined: 6 Jun 2012 Posts: 18 Location: Chicago Expertise: Just starting
Espresso: Gaggia deluxe & Nuova Mac... Grinder: Preciso
Posted Thu Jun 7, 2012, 11:08am Subject: Restoring a Nuova Simonelli Mac 2000 S 1 Group
Well, I picked up a 2003 Nuova Simonelli Mac 2000 S off craigslist. It was looking pretty tough and I almost walked away--we couldn't even get the portafilter to fit the head. A couple obvious issues were the portafilter, the sight glass was broken, and the dual pressure gauge looks to be bad. Talked down the price some and decided to take a chance.
Mpotoka Senior Member Joined: 6 Jun 2012 Posts: 18 Location: Chicago Expertise: Just starting
Espresso: Gaggia deluxe & Nuova Mac... Grinder: Preciso
Posted Thu Jun 7, 2012, 11:16am Subject: Re: Restoring a Nuova Simonelli Mac 2000 S 1 Group
First steps:
Took off the shower screen and dispersion nut, but I think the gasket and head cap are stuck in there. Is that common?
I disassembled the sight glass assembly and put a couple compression caps on the boiler--I will order the replacement glass and o-rings if the machine deems worthy of repairing.
I took off the steam wand and put the parts in some vinegar/water solution--I don't have any descaling product and for now hope this will suffice.
I also had to replace the shutoff valve and run a water line since I currently use a pour-over machine, a lowly Gaggia Espresso Deluxe.
Finally, I was ready to fill it up and see what happened.
Mpotoka Senior Member Joined: 6 Jun 2012 Posts: 18 Location: Chicago Expertise: Just starting
Espresso: Gaggia deluxe & Nuova Mac... Grinder: Preciso
Posted Thu Jun 7, 2012, 11:19am Subject: Re: Restoring a Nuova Simonelli Mac 2000 S 1 Group
Well--I started getting water everywhere. My problem was that the boiler was overfilling and popping the safety valve even with the machine unplugged. I first pulled and cleaned the fill valve. When I put it back on I tested it by leaving the boiler side unconnected to the valve. When I turned on the water the valve held, but pretty soon water started coming out of the tube on the boiler side of the valve. Uhoh. Next step, I reconnected the boiler side of the valve and disconnected the water supply side of the valve. With my mouth I blew into the water supply line (water off obviously) and sure enough I got bubbles in the boiler (took the boiler cap off, sound like a water bong). So I knew that water was freely flowing into the boiler--pulled out the heat exchanger just under the group head and sure enough--looked just like a straw.
Since I still didn't know about many of the machine functions--I left the boiler full and shut the water supply off. I crossed my fingers and plugged it in.
Mpotoka Senior Member Joined: 6 Jun 2012 Posts: 18 Location: Chicago Expertise: Just starting
Espresso: Gaggia deluxe & Nuova Mac... Grinder: Preciso
Posted Thu Jun 7, 2012, 11:27am Subject: Re: Restoring a Nuova Simonelli Mac 2000 S 1 Group
Electrically, things were much more promising. Once the safety valve quit spewing the excess water, the machine was happy and started to heat up--I let it go until steam just started and turned it back off. The hot water tap was quite hot (did not measure temp. yet). I turned the pump on and received a disappointing sound--it was very sluggishly attempting to spin. I took off the back brace and gave the motor a few spins with a screwdriver, then turned the power back on and assisted it in starting up and it began spinning again. The problem is the water supply was off so I didn't want to run it much--I draped a rag over the safety valve and turned the water and pump back on--I was rewarded with some pretty violent bursts from the safety valve so for now I'm going to consider most of these items "OK".
At this point I decided that the replacement heat exchanger was a worthwhile investment--I added the sight glass and o-rings to the order as well, so here's another $65 hopefully not going down the drain. When they arrive I will re-assemble and do some more testing. In the meantime I will try to get some photos up.
Are you talking about the Vacuum breaker? There is a safety valve and a vacuum breaker. The beaker is open until the boiler starts to develop pressure and it will "spit" a spray or drops of water until it seals.
It is there to prevent false pressure in the system from turning off the heater too soon. If the boiler is sealed and starting from cold, it will compress the air in the boiler and the pressure stat will turn the heater off as it thinks it is at operating temp when it really isn't. Once this pressure is released, it will turn the heater back on, the vacuum breaker, prevents this as it allows the pressure to escape the system until the pressure is strong enough to push the vacuum breaker closed.
It does sound like there may be issues with the inlet valve and the broken sight glass points to a hard life. If you are handy though, these machines are not rockets to the moon and are fairly easy to work on. If the electronics are bad, that could get expensive but mechanical things like valves, vacuum breakers etc are not too bad.
Good luck and keep us in the loop as you go, we might be able to help you.
In real life, my name is Wayne P.
Feed the newbs, starve the trolls and above all enjoy what you drink!
Mpotoka Senior Member Joined: 6 Jun 2012 Posts: 18 Location: Chicago Expertise: Just starting
Espresso: Gaggia deluxe & Nuova Mac... Grinder: Preciso
Posted Sun Jun 10, 2012, 1:23pm Subject: Re: Restoring a Nuova Simonelli Mac 2000 S 1 Group
The first time I turned on the water the anti-vacuum valve was stuck and dripped non-stop. I cleaned it out and now it closes properly, but now the safety valve just below it spews water/steam. I should get the new heat exchanger on Wednesday.
calblacksmith Moderator Joined: 25 Nov 2007 Posts: 5,642 Location: Riverside, Ca, U.S.A. Expertise: I live coffee
Espresso: ECM Veneziano A1 Grinder: Many different commercial Vac Pot: 40s era Silex Drip: Milita, Bunn&Curtis... Roaster: Cast iron pan, gas burner
Posted Mon Jun 11, 2012, 6:30am Subject: Re: Restoring a Nuova Simonelli Mac 2000 S 1 Group
Unless there is a lot missing, the pic is not a heat exchanger. The HX is a solid tube that does not have any connection to the boiler except for running through the boiler but the water never in it never mixes with the boiler. The tube you show is open on one end so is this the end of the safety valve?
Most HX tubes are soldered in place but a few have screw connections so they can be replaced. If you can open the side of the boiler for access, you often are able to braze the HX tube sealed if it has a leak but I have never seen one like your picture. Hey, I have not seen every possible combo out there so I might be wrong about the tube. Keep us informed about your project, we love to see pics and what people do to repair their equipment.
In real life, my name is Wayne P.
Feed the newbs, starve the trolls and above all enjoy what you drink!
On page 6 part 75030068 called M8 heat exchanger brass tube. Maybe it is just the connection point to something integrated to the boiler, which was/is my biggest fear-since that is a $625 part. I saw another thread where someone had their exchanger removed and repaired and it looked similar, however there wasn't anything in their photo to show scale. I guess I will see what the new one looks like when it comes and go from there.
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