AVS Vesuvius Stopped Working/How to troubleshoot?

DavecUK

kafeidis Could it be as simple as the main switch on the side is broken?!?

Yup, fortunately the wires leading to it are not short, so you should be able to lever it out…which will break the clips…otherwise you have to open up the machine and remove the plate holding the electronics to get to the back of it I think.

Something like this should be fine. I believe the panel cut out is a standard 22 × 30 mm. I bought these ages ago for a few pounds from China

But these are available

and you can get different colours

kafeidis

Just managed to pull the main/side switch out. The live side is melted and it’s not making any contact. I hope that was it. Got to go find one now. Plenty to order online, but I hope to find one locally (the perks of living in a city). wish me luck. Thanks! I need my caffeine :)

kafeidis

Leaving this here in case someone else finds it helpful. Thank you also to DavecUK.

It was the main switch. The plastic was melted around the pins for the live side and it was not making any connection (had to test it with a multimeter). I bypassed it temporarily while waiting for a replacement switch to arrive. The machine “boots up” and works fine now.

DavecUK

kafeidis . I bypassed it temporarily while waiting for a replacement switch to arrive. The machine “boots up” and works fine now.

Yes, I didn’t want to say, but that’s what I would have done. As I’ve never switched mine off at that switch…I used to use it on it’s internal timer.

JahLaza

For the more electrically minded here please - if the switch plastic melted was there too much current causing it to overheat? -how come the fuse didn’t blow before the melting? Or could it be simply that the internal electrical contact got bad and this caused the overheating around it? Apologies if this is nonsense I’m not electrically trained but I find these things very interesting!

DavecUK

JahLaza Or could it be simply that the internal electrical contact got bad and this caused the overheating around it? Apologies if this is nonsense I’m not electrically trained but I find these things very interesting!

It could be exactly this…it happens sometimes…it could be the contact to the spade, or a bad contact inside the switch that started arcing. I replaced a switch on my roaster, same time due to very ocassional intermittent operation…which is the prelude to arcing.

pakthorn

kafeidis Hi, I have total the same problem with side switch, I follow your solution and bypass it, It does not came out so right. would you mind share how you bypass the switch?

I bypassed the switch by connecting the same colored wires together.

After this, the machine shows these symptoms:

When I switch it on, it immediately starts drawing water directly into the tray.

The display lights up but shows no message.

DavecUK

pakthorn

If water is flowing into the tray, where exactly is is coming from
So the display is lighting up and showing normal things?

pakthorn

DavecUK Hi Davec
Water is drawn directly from the reservoir when I turn the machine on.

The display has been broken for some time, ever since the power switch failed(Blow up).

My current guess is that I may have bypassed the switch incorrectly.
Could you please share how the switch should be properly connected or configured?

Thank you very much for your help.

DavecUK

pakthorn I know that if water is going into the tray, it comes from the reservoir…that is a given. What I meant was from what point is the water entering the tray, is it the group?

There is nothing in the switch that can cause the pump to run continuously, it’s only job is to provide power.

pakthorn

DavecUK hi Davec

thank you very much for your time.

To confirm, the water is not coming from the group head. It is entering the tray through the overflow pipe.

When the machine powers on, it immediately starts drawing water from the reservoir and expels it through the overflow into the drip tray.

this is how it look like >

DavecUK

pakthorn It’s not playing for me, I think it’s trying to download the entire video rather than stream it, it might even be in heic or whatever apple format. Upload it to YouTube (as unlisted), past the YT link into the forum and the forum will take care of everything.

have a read of the section for new members and how to place images on the forum as well.

Then when I’ve listened to and watched the video, I can go through some diagnostics with you.

pakthorn

DavecUK

Hi Davec

My apologies >

this is the Youtube link.

thanks

DavecUK

So a few questions before we starts diagnostics, I know they might seem silly, but you would be amazed at what people don’t tell us, and what I know so far is very limited.

How old is the machine, construction date should be inside the tank door on a sticker
how do you treat the water for the machine and are you in a hard water area
Is this a UK or US machine
Have you (or anyone else) performed any recent maintenance on the machine apart from the power switch
which switch, was it the one inside the tank door?
has the machine ever exhibited any strange behaviour prior to this happening
has the display ever lost any of it’s colours
When the top is off, check the ribbon cable to the back of the display is not disconnected, or loose, use a chopstick or something to press it into the display connecter a bit, if this doesn’t help you may want to check the cable isn’t loose in the control box (these displays rarely fail)

next actions to take:

Remove top lid and photo inside the machine so I can see the top (refer to how to post photos on the forum https://coffeetime.freeflarum.com/d/3509-images-important/2 )
how many tubes are in the tank, supply a photograph of the tank tubes (remove the tank to do this (you can clean tank while it’s out)

Look forward to your replies, please number them to make it easier for both of us.