creditchris Thank you Dave - I had given the wand tip a good clean and holes were unobstructed. Even with the tip off nothing comes out the end of the pipe.
Take of the steam knob and turn the valve with pliers….you will find it has a flat area like a gas cooker knob….does steam come out?
Hi all, thanks again for all suggestions.
The steam knob is fine and in good condition - it opens and closes the valve no problem and I can replicate the action with the knob off using pliers. Still no steam.
How does one go about removing the wand?
creditchris How does one go about removing the wand?
at the top of the wand there’s a nut. Loosen it, and then carefully undo the nut. The want has a ball joint at the top which is compressed against the tap with a spring. So take care that doesn’t fly out. And, when putting it back, take extra care not to cross thread it.
OK I got the wand off. Water seems to pass through it uninterrupted, so that probably isn’t the issue. Got lid back on and powered up to see if any steam comes out the hole….and nothing still hmm
creditchris any steam comes out the hole….and nothing still hmm
So nothing coming out even with the steam arm completely off?
I suppose the next step is to remove the tap and see if any steam comes out. But without the risk of scalding, I would not know what to do.
As the tubes are all push fit, you could undo them and check if they are not obstructed in any way?
Yes no steam even with arm completely off. I’ll attach some pics to give a view of the current state of things internally - everything looks pretty tight to me
With the machine cold: The other thing you can do is try undoing the tube pointed by the green arrow and blowing onto it. If you have the tap open and nothing comes out, then you could assume there’s a blockage around the tap area. If you then remove the tap (red arrow) and air comes to the other end, then you know there’s a problem around the tap area.
If all is good, then you have a blockage on the boiler fitting which leads to the pipe pointed by the green arrow.
Hi all, I’ve been away so going to have a look tonight at checking the tubes. Dumb question but I’m afraid to mess this up, how does one undo the tube at the green arrow MediumRoastSteam kindly pointed to? Do I undo the nut seen here in the attached pic?
creditchris how does one undo the tube at the green arrow MediumRoastSteam kindly pointed to? Do I undo the nut seen here in the attached pic?
No. Don’t undo the nut. Those tubes are push fit. As far as I know, you press on the holding ring, and gently pull the tube away.
See here, at 3’20”:
Thank you! So the pipe between steam boiler is fine and no blockage. When I open tap and blow nothing came out so I moved down to tap. I’ve undone the tap and I don’t really know what I’m looking for but there does seem to be a blockage inside tap (see white bit on pic).
How does one go about moving this blockage along, do I need to remove the whole tap and try and flush the blockage through?
After some more research it looks like the Teflon end of steam knob has rounded off and snapped inside the steam valve. Pretty clear I need get a new steam knob (BB have some in stock) and be a lot more careful in future. The other problem is how to get the blockage free in steam valve…that seems like the tricky bit!
creditchris - I would:
Undo the nut pointed by the arrow and, with a flexible wire, try to unblock the path.
creditchris After some more research it looks like the Teflon end of steam knob has rounded off and snapped inside the steam valve. Pretty clear I need get a new steam knob (BB have some in stock) and be a lot more careful in future. The other problem is how to get the blockage free in steam valve…that seems like the tricky bit!
When you do replace it…(see if you can dig it our with a dental pick?), make sure you follow the usage guidance in the forums knowledge base for compression valves. Then they can last 10+ years.
That nut won’t budge with my spanner and I’m reluctant to try much harder to undo it! Can i check what way i should be unscrewing? From the attached angle I’ve heen going anti clockwise
Scrap that I got there in the end, but it just seems to loosen - not clear what should come off…
Does this bit come off some how? Machine map suggests so:
Hi all, I fixed the blockage. I had to take the whole steam tap out and nudge the blockage through from the other side - it was very stubborn. Culprit in the picture! Steaming like new now, so I’m chuffed.
Huge thanks for all the guidance!
creditchris Hi all, I fixed the blockage. I had to take the whole steam tap out and nudge the blockage through from the other side - it was very stubborn. Culprit in the picture! Steaming like new now, so I’m chuffed
I had a similar issue with the Teflon pad, which wore too easily. I know how that fitting works and how to ever so gently close and then reclose it, to extend its life, but you really should not have to do that. It’s just bad design. I also encountered steam leaks in other areas of the valve. Their quality control over that valve and also the OPV valve (which had to be swapped out) is not good.
I’m wondering whether Elizabeth owners experiencing steam leak issues can simply replace the Elizabeth’s compression valve with a non-compression one, such as the one used for the Bianca. This may or may not be feasible or mighty be too costly.
