brownbag Senior Member Joined: 10 Apr 2004 Posts: 35 Location: Salt Lake City Expertise: I love coffee
Espresso: Star$ Barista + real PF Grinder: Isomac Gran Macinino Drip: Capresso MT500
Posted Sat Jun 5, 2004, 10:26am Subject: ULKA EX5 pump rebuild
This site is going to end up being another downfall for me. It's started me on the road to espresso geekdom.
I purchased a Starbucks Barista on e-Bay. It was done on a lark. I was just looking around and found it in the wrong category and listed as an expresso machine. I did a low bid not expecting to get it and won. It arrived and didn't work. The pump made noise but didn't pump. To make a longer story short, the seller knew nothing about espresso, got the machine as part of a large lot of restaurant type equipment. He refunded my money and said keep the machine.
At that point, I started searching for information about the pump and found nothing except that it appears that quite a few people have ULKA EX5 pumps that make pumping sounds but don't pump. I wasn't out anything by tearing the thing apart and seeing if I could make it work. As always, it was the hardest to get to piece that was the problem, but I rebuilt it and got it working. I'm thrilled. My first espressos were about the same quality as local coffee shops. Mediocre. Certainly better than the local Borders and Barnes and Nobles. But, I'm happy with that as a start. Others have done a lot worse.
I don't expect to be a major poster, but hopefully I can give something back for all I get reading the forums. It appears that if the pump is chugging, there are not a lot of parts that are going to wear out quickly. I suspect that a thorough teardown and cleaning will get many pumps working again. I took lots of digital pictures of the rebuild and plan on putting up an article on my website on how to rebuild one of these things. It may take a few days, but I'm so happy right now I just had to say something somewhere.
I didn't know it was possible to rebuild these things; they are usually thrown away and replaced. Of course, while coffee equipment manufacturers get them at around $5 to $10 per, we have to pay around $50 for the replacement.
Just out of curiousity, was a sticking pump check valve invloved?
Oh yea. I suspect that this is a major problem with most of the "broken pumps". There are several places where springs with very light pressure are holding what are essentially valves. It does not take much to clog them. As soon as you break it loose, everything starts working.
Oh yea. I suspect that this is a major problem with most of the "broken pumps". There are several places where springs with very light pressure are holding what are essentially valves. It does not take much to clog them. As soon as you break it loose, everything starts working.
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