The_Mighty_Bean Senior Member Joined: 24 Feb 2006 Posts: 458 Location: Bowie, MD Expertise: I love coffee
Espresso: "Beauty" (the gentle and... Grinder: Tiny, loud & mean Italsomac,... Vac Pot: I just got lectured about... Drip: French press purist, have a... Roaster: Borrowed HearthWare...
Posted Fri May 9, 2008, 6:50pm Subject: The HX that hissed (Diagnose the Miniwega)
This is the thread I did NOT want to start.
I have a Miniwega. Age unknown, maybe 10 years maybe more. Got it from Ebay, seller promised it worked when tested, but it does look like it took a hard knock to the side during shipping (dented sidewall, broken front knob.)
Anyway, I just fired it up today. The pressure meter does not have numbers, just a yellow band for insufficient pressure, and then a green band for the acceptable pressure range.
Well in about 10 minutes from cold start the needle was about 1/4 way into the green zone and climbing.
BUT....
throughout the needle's climb into yellow and green, there was a loud continuous hiss of escaping steam coming out the top vent. I took off half the top and peered in and could see regular puffs of steam coming out what seemed like some sort of pressure release valve (?) atop the boiler. I couldn't quite tell where that steady sound was coming from.
I got a steady water flow out the grouphead and hot water wand, and beautiful steam out of the other wand.
Sooo,
I've never had an HX, I've never had a commercial machine, but my guess is I have a pinhole leak in the boiler? Which essentially means that I have a giant boiling water bomb in my living room, correct? And I should never turn this thing on again and back to the seller it goes and I claim the insurance money...
That is my fear.
I really hope somebody comes along and tells me that Wegas are supposed to hiss (okay, I don't believe that...). Or, failing that, tell me that this is an easily correctable problem with some sort of valve. I mean, the pressure did get into the correct zone and the needle wasn't wavering and the water/steam came out of the right places.
Heeeeeeelp, please!
Okay, I am calmer, I did some reading, I see that others have been hissed at by their machines. My pet cockatiel hisses too. So does my sister's hedgehog. My point is, I can deal with small, ornery things that hiss.
I now need some advice from the Wega experts- I understand this could be a valve issue, or the pressurestat, or the soleniod. Can anybody walk me through a diagnostic? I'm really annoyed and thinking of demanding that the seller reimburse me for professional diagnosis and repair, given that the machine was warranted to work. But maybe I can just tweak the pressurestat and have it running again.
DavecUK Senior Member Joined: 21 Sep 2005 Posts: 156 Location: UK Expertise: I love coffee
Espresso: Izzo Alex, Fracino Heavenly,... Grinder: Mazzer Mini E Roaster: Toper 1kg (sold) Gene Cafe
Posted Fri May 9, 2008, 7:04pm Subject: Re: The HX that hissed (Diagnose the Miniwega)
I really hope somebody comes along and tells me that Wegas are supposed to hiss (okay, I don't believe that...). Or, failing that, tell me that this is an easily correctable problem with some sort of valve. I mean, the pressure did get into the correct zone and the needle wasn't wavering and the water/steam came out of the right places.
Tehy are not meant to hiss. As you say it was coming from one of the valves, fortunately it's likely to be a problem that you can easily and cheaply fix for less than $20. Take a picture of the valves including the one that's hissing and identify which one is leaking. This will make it easy to tell you what sort of valve it is, so you can buy a replacement....an initial guess it is likely to be the vacuum breaker, or the pressure relief (safety valve)....in that order of probability..
The_Mighty_Bean Senior Member Joined: 24 Feb 2006 Posts: 458 Location: Bowie, MD Expertise: I love coffee
Espresso: "Beauty" (the gentle and... Grinder: Tiny, loud & mean Italsomac,... Vac Pot: I just got lectured about... Drip: French press purist, have a... Roaster: Borrowed HearthWare...
Posted Fri May 9, 2008, 11:14pm Subject: Re: The HX that hissed (Diagnose the Miniwega)
Thanks, it's the vacuum breaker. Just a strong, steady hiss of escaping steam. Pressure goes up about halfway into the green zone, lowers some ,wavers, then settles in at about 1/3 of the way through green.
How on earth do I take this thing apart? I looked at the photo in the wikidot link- I guess I have to pry those two top nuts apart? My wrench just kept slipping off the top one. It's going to be a royal pain to get another wrench in there to hold the lower nut steady. I really have no idea how I am going to accomplish this... I wonder if I could just squirt some JoeGlo solution in there to try to dissolve any buildup.
alanfrew Senior Member Joined: 19 Dec 2001 Posts: 437 Location: Melbourne Expertise: Professional
Posted Sat May 10, 2008, 1:51am Subject: Re: The HX that hissed (Diagnose the Miniwega)
The_Mighty_Bean Said:
Thanks, it's the vacuum breaker. Just a strong, steady hiss of escaping steam. Pressure goes up about halfway into the green zone, lowers some ,wavers, then settles in at about 1/3 of the way through green.
How on earth do I take this thing apart? I looked at the photo in the wikidot link- I guess I have to pry those two top nuts apart? My wrench just kept slipping off the top one. It's going to be a royal pain to get another wrench in there to hold the lower nut steady. I really have no idea how I am going to accomplish this... I wonder if I could just squirt some JoeGlo solution in there to try to dissolve any buildup.
Take off the side & back panels. Use a properly sized spanner (NOT adjustable wrench) to hold the bottom part of the valve in place, and a correctly sized socket spanner to fit over and undo the top part of the valve. As Dave said, teflon tape rather than thread sealant makes it easier next time.
The_Mighty_Bean Senior Member Joined: 24 Feb 2006 Posts: 458 Location: Bowie, MD Expertise: I love coffee
Espresso: "Beauty" (the gentle and... Grinder: Tiny, loud & mean Italsomac,... Vac Pot: I just got lectured about... Drip: French press purist, have a... Roaster: Borrowed HearthWare...
Posted Sat May 10, 2008, 11:35am Subject: Re: The HX that hissed (Diagnose the Miniwega)
Thanks guys, the beast lives. I had a correctly sized socket wrench to get the top nut off of the vacuum breaker, along with its embedded rubber seal, but I have no spanner, and a variety of tools failed to get to the next one. So, I poured about 1/2 teaspoon of joeglo solution into the open pipe nipple, over the top of the little plastic ball, and also briefly soaked the top nut and rubber seal in solution. That cleared up about 95% of the problem and I think the joeglo residue should continue working for a while. I can always repeat the treatment tomorrow if need be.
Now this is all well and good in minute quantities, but does anyone know if joeglo solution is safe to use by the liter as a boiler cleaner? Can I just run it through the intake valve and flush it out through the grouphead and wands? (BTW the boiler looks to be stainless steel... I am dismayed at that discovery in a commercial machine.)
Thanks,
The Bean, handling more nipples, balls, nuts and rubbers than he ever anticipated.
The_Mighty_Bean Senior Member Joined: 24 Feb 2006 Posts: 458 Location: Bowie, MD Expertise: I love coffee
Espresso: "Beauty" (the gentle and... Grinder: Tiny, loud & mean Italsomac,... Vac Pot: I just got lectured about... Drip: French press purist, have a... Roaster: Borrowed HearthWare...
Posted Sat May 10, 2008, 12:16pm Subject: Re: The HX that hissed (Diagnose the Miniwega)
By the way, this is unrelated so I apologize for my sloppiness, but I have a temp-surfing question. On this machine, the needle takes 10 seconds to fall from its peak point in the green zone to its lowest point in the zone, before the heater kicks in. Then it takes 21 seconds to heat back up... and then the cycle starts over.
So I'm guessing that I will have to test temps and construct a flushing routine based upon that 21-second rise? It seems like i will have a difficult time controlling temp- I mean how much can it really cool off within ten seconds? Seems like this machine is set up to pull at a constant temp (probably somewhere around 202-203) amd given that it is only 10s before the heater kicks in, I doubt I could ever pull a shot at 198.
mitchellb Senior Member Joined: 20 Jul 2007 Posts: 596 Location: Houston, TX Expertise: I love coffee
Espresso: Astra Pro, SAMA Lever Grinder: Mazzer Major Vac Pot: Cory DKG-S Drip: Bodum French Press Roaster: HGDB
Posted Sat May 10, 2008, 2:56pm Subject: Re: The HX that hissed (Diagnose the Miniwega)
I don't think the pressure stat band matters so much in regards to the flush routine.. I don't pay much attention to it..
if i can time it easily i usually like to pull the shot with the heating element off.. just for voltage consideration because i live in a crumby apartment.. but i don't think the temperature fluctuates that much, especially in a boiler as big as miniwegas
The_Mighty_Bean Senior Member Joined: 24 Feb 2006 Posts: 458 Location: Bowie, MD Expertise: I love coffee
Espresso: "Beauty" (the gentle and... Grinder: Tiny, loud & mean Italsomac,... Vac Pot: I just got lectured about... Drip: French press purist, have a... Roaster: Borrowed HearthWare...
Posted Sat May 10, 2008, 6:48pm Subject: Re: The HX that hissed (Diagnose the Miniwega)
I'm confused. No matter how long the thing sits I never get steam out of the group. That flash-boil thing does not happen on this machine. Nonetheless the shots are appropriately hot, in direct comparison to my Audrey, and not at all underextracted.
The boiler is actually a bit of a disappointment. Only 1 L and stainless steel. Still, I would bet it's significantly more stable than Audrey's smaller copper boiler.
Anyway, if anyone has further tips on the water dance for this machine , please let me know.
Symbols: = New Posts since your last visit = No New Posts since last visit = Newest post
Forum Rules: No profanity, illegal acts or personal attacks will be tolerated in these discussion boards. No commercial posting of any nature will be tolerated; only private sales by private individuals, in the "Buy and Sell" forum. No cross posting allowed - do not post your topic to more than one forum, nor repost a topic to the same forum. Who Can Read The Forum? Anyone can read posts in these discussion boards. Who Can Post New Topics? Any registered CoffeeGeek member can post new topics. Who Can Post Replies? Any registered CoffeeGeek member can post replies. Can Photos be posted? Anyone can post photos in their new topics or replies. Who can change or delete posts? Any CoffeeGeek member can edit their own posts. Only moderators can delete posts. Probationary Period: If you are a new signup for CoffeeGeek, you cannot promote, endorse, criticise or otherwise post an unsolicited endorsement for any company, product or service in your first five postings.
= No New Posts since last visit 