Probably 2 weeks ago my Minima started screeching when the pressure ramped to full pressure. Going a little coarser has eliminated it but was on my to do list to investigate. A few days ago when using it, think I was flushing the steam wand, it tripped the electricity. I was investigating this morning and noticed that I now have water bubbling and hissing on top of the service boiler. I’ll take the case off later to look but any pointers on what to look for and what to tighten or importantly not touch would be appreciated. Could this be the opv? I am overdue a descale I think.

simonc Could this be the opv? I am overdue a descale I think. That would be the safety valve or the vacuum breaker. Best to make a video of what’s happening when you get to open the machine. What water are you using?

Also depends if it is leaking from a thread or from a (malfunctioning) part. A video would be most helpful to see what is going on.

MediumRoastSteam third wave water espresso blend.

simonc thanks. Let’s see more when you do a video of the machine’s internal showing the issue.

Typically it’s behaving itself now. Thinking about it, it might hace been when I noticed the steam wand was putting out a lot of water into my cloth and so I ran it into a jug of water for maybe 30 seconds to stop any spluttering or weirdness. Still think I should descale the service boiler just to be safe. Is it drain boiler, 1-2tbs per liter citric acid into tank, turn on let boiler fill? How long do I leave it in for before then draining and rinsing? Thanks

Apologies to @DavecUK I’ve just realised it’s in the user manual!

So no more leaks but the screeching is back, is when I go slightly finer and push a shot past 40 seconds. You can hear it when it first ramps to 9.5 bar then stops as presumably it gets a bit easier through the puck, but the pressure doesn’t drop much. If I were to run this 20g shot at 1:2 in 35 seconds it w normally doesn’t make this noise. Any ideas. This has the Lelit quiet pump in it now. Video

simonc Just slight “reeding” via the expansion valve, nothing to worry about, can happen on all machines with vibe pumps if it bothers you adjusting pressure up or down even 0.2 bar can often stop it. That’s a very tight shot…

DavecUK cheers. Yes I deliberately went finer to emphasise it, normally only get it when dialling in as would go coarser and it then disappears. Might try dropping it down to 9 anyway. Or been tempted for a while to try the 5 bars that Store Street espresso do which I love, maybe now the time to play

simonc The other noise I thought I heard is the glass vibrating on the drip tray…

Leaking Minima.

DavecUK

simonc Good handy to know, because if the boiler is just overfilling, there might be a simple solution.

The tests to do in logical order

make the video
When steam boiler is up to temp, switch off how much water can you get out of the hot water tap
take the case off and locate the very thin black water sensing ground wire from the Gicar box…photograph what it’s attached to.

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