wgiese Senior Member Joined: 7 Jun 2004 Posts: 5 Location: Pleasant Hill, CA Expertise: I love coffee
Espresso: Isomac Zaffiro Grinder: Mini Mazzer
Posted Thu Mar 13, 2008, 2:16pm Subject: Little help with Isomac Zaffiro repair?
I'm dyin' here...my Isomac Zaffiro bit the dust this morning, and I was forced to drink coffee. I'm sure many of you understand what a dire emergency this is... ;)
The symptom: I can't power the unit on, without tripping the GFI breaker. It happens immediately, so there's got to be a wide open short somewhere. I'm mechanically inclined, but this is all new to me.
I've taken the unit apart, and while there was a minor smell of electrical burning, it wasn't overpowering. I didn't see anything obvious - no burnt/crispy connectors, no external obvious corrosion.
I took a guess, and removed one of the lower connectors from the hearing element. This allowed the unit to be turned on without popping the breaker. Not sure if this is a valid test/clue as to what might be wrong, or not.
Posted Thu Mar 13, 2008, 4:00pm Subject: Re: Little help with Isomac Zaffiro repair?
Hi Bill, Do you have a multimeter? The GFI trips when current is detected to safety ground. (assuming your GFI is working properly) This is not good news for your heater element. (most likely cause...) Unplug the unit, and unplug the connectors to the heater element. Now take a resistance measure from the element to ground (the boiler body will do). This should be very high resistance across here.
Posted Thu Mar 13, 2008, 5:07pm Subject: Re: Little help with Isomac Zaffiro repair?
It would be good to test the GFCI if you don't on a regular basis just to rule that out. I like to plug in a lamp or radio and hit the test button to make sure the power cuts off immediately and make sure it can be reset. If that seems fine, then you'd have to try to find what's causing the issue as mentioned above using a multimeter. If you're not comfortable doing that, it could be time for servicing. The smell sounds like it's an internal machine issue rather than the outlet. It isn't fun to be without morning 'spro...today was one of those for me lol.
wgiese Senior Member Joined: 7 Jun 2004 Posts: 5 Location: Pleasant Hill, CA Expertise: I love coffee
Espresso: Isomac Zaffiro Grinder: Mini Mazzer
Posted Thu Mar 13, 2008, 5:41pm Subject: Re: Little help with Isomac Zaffiro repair?
Thanks much for the quick feedback.
Sorry, should have mentioned when I posted initially - the GFI has been tested. Well, sort of - I plugged the machine into two other GFI's, and it tripped all of them immediately. And all of them handle other high load devices without tripping (toaster, blender, etc.)
Now...I was careful to state I was mechanically inclined, but I'll fess right up about my electrical ignorance.
Still, I do have a good multimeter, and when set to ohms in autorange with a fresh battery, it registers 4.778M. But, I've no idea what that reading means.
Also, I'm assuming I understood Frost's instructions correctly - I placed the red lead on one of the two now bare tabs at the bottom of the boiler, and the black lead on the side (body) of the boiler. Tried the red lead on both tabs, and the reading was identical.
So...is anything above useful in figuring this out?
Posted Thu Mar 13, 2008, 6:07pm Subject: Re: Little help with Isomac Zaffiro repair?
I'm sorry Bill, I read your post 3 times and I'm not sure I understand your reading: 4.778M. .... Do you read 4.778M with the meter on and probes touching nothing? (or do you get an open infinite reading?) ....Just want to make sure of that.... If this is the case and you only get the 4.778M when testing the element, then that would likely be enough to trip a GFI, and sounds like water has gotten into the element case. Time for a new heater.
wgiese Senior Member Joined: 7 Jun 2004 Posts: 5 Location: Pleasant Hill, CA Expertise: I love coffee
Espresso: Isomac Zaffiro Grinder: Mini Mazzer
Posted Thu Mar 13, 2008, 6:37pm Subject: Re: Little help with Isomac Zaffiro repair?
Hey Gary - sorry for the confusion.
Meter was on - it's a Fluke 112 fancy-schmancy autoranging unit. It's far smarter than me.
When in the ohm setting with probes not touching anything, it reads "OL", which I'm assuming is the "open infinite" reading you mentioned. If I touch the probes together, the reading is very near zero - 0.1 - 0.2.
The 4.778M reading was with the probes touching as I described - one to the heating element tab, one to the boiler body. Everything unplugged and disconnected as you advised.
Thanks much for the info, I do appreciate it. I'll tear things apart to make sure there are no more surprises, and order up a heating element and replacement gasket.
Speaking of which - any tips on disassembly? I'm assuming the boiler needs to come out, in order to remove the heating element. It looks like nothing is holding the boiler in place, other than several compression fittings.
Posted Thu Mar 13, 2008, 6:53pm Subject: Re: Little help with Isomac Zaffiro repair?
Sorry I can't help on the disassembly: I'm not familiar with the Zaffiro internals. Maybe see if you can find an 'exploded diagram' at Espressotec or somewhere online. That might help.... Or just have at it! Good luck and please update on how your repair went, parts availability, etc. to help others who may end up here someday.
Posted Thu Mar 13, 2008, 8:43pm Subject: Re: Little help with Isomac Zaffiro repair?
On my Zaffiro the resistance of the boiler heating element is 8 Ohm (I measured the resistance between the two lower connectors of the heating element). I=V/R, so the current through the boiler element is 110V/8Ohm=14A. So the the Zaffiro needs P=V*I = 110V*14A=1500W. If the resistance of the heater element is 0OHM it will trip any breaker due to very high current.
stefano65 Senior Member Joined: 30 Oct 2004 Posts: 1,334 Location: Eugene OR Expertise: Professional
Espresso: Vibiemme,Elektra, Grinder: Vario,Macap, Vac Pot: not Drip: not Roaster: not
Posted Fri Mar 14, 2008, 4:21pm Subject: Re: Little help with Isomac Zaffiro repair?
If the gfci is not tripping with the heating element disconnected could well be that you have a small crack in the coil and is dispersing current in the boiler which the return current will be different the the incoming and will make the gfci do her job
ohm reading on those should be between 8-11 for the records isomac had originally a 1350 w heating element changed to 1400 w later on
cafewest_tech Senior Member Joined: 22 Aug 2003 Posts: 270 Location: Medford Expertise: Professional
Posted Fri Mar 14, 2008, 6:27pm Subject: Re: Little help with Isomac Zaffiro repair?
Hi wgiese
If you touch one of the element terminals with one lead and then touch the other lead to ground (boiler body) you should get no reading if the element is good. Touching a lead to each element you should get a reading of 12-16 ohms. You need a new element. Jerry
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