ACS Minima boiler not filling

gingerneil

I’ve had the machine for about 3 years now. Went to use it this morning and all looked fine. However, the pump seemed to make a very subdued noise, and I only got about 2bar of pressure. The water container was empty, although there was no H2O message to refill it! I refilled, but when I put the sensor wires back in, the pump didnt kick in to refill the boiler. I ran the group for about 15 secs, hot water came through, but again no pump to refill the tank.

I turned it off and came to work… and have spent much of the day googling for espresso servicing in East Anglia!

Can anyone please provide any pointers for checking/testing to see what may have developed a fault? @DavecUK - you have helped me in the past with I needed to re-seal the sensor in the steam boiler to stop is leaking. Any guidance again would be very much appreciated.

DavecUK

gingerneil I’ve had the machine for about 3 years now.

Was it new when you got it?

What type of water tank sensing is it using; a sprung platform with a switch under it, or a tube with wires leading to a float type sensor switch submerged in the tank?

Paste a photo if your not sure…it does seem that the machine thinks it’s out of water…but usually you get an H2O message on the display??

It’s only ever going to refill the steam boiler…when you lift the group lever and the pump isn’t running (is this exactly what’s happening?), you will just get some passive dribbling and if you keep doing it with the pump not running…the heating elements might fail if they get exposed.

I’m not totally clear on what your doing, and I may be misunderstanding what your saying: If you read below, you will see the obvious logic conflicts.

No H2O message
Pump not running when you lift E61 group lever
Pump did run when tank was empty and you lifted lever though???
Pump not auto filling service boiler (why would it if the water level is OK and you have not drawn water from the water tap?

gingerneil

Thanks for the quick reply.

I’m not back home yet, but will reply best as I can.

It’s the floating sensor type in the end of the white wire. I’ve had the machine from new.

No H2O message at all, despite the tank being empty.

Ran the group when I didn’t realise the tank was empty and I got water through, but at low pressure (same coffee weight and grind as I always use). Filled the water tank, ran the group again for about 15s to try and prompt the boiler to fill, but it didn’t. I then switched off and came to work.

Ive not used the steam, or the tap, to test if the service boiler fills when I pull water from there.

MediumRoastSteam

gingerneil ran the group again for about 15s to try and prompt the boiler to fill, but it didn’t.

You seem to be misunderstanding a basic concept: the brew boiler is always full. When you demand water from the group, it will draw water from the tank at the same time. Drawing water from the group, I.e.: from the brew boiler, will never trigger a refil the way you are expecting. When you steam, or draw water from the hot water tap, the machine will trigger a refil as soon as the water is below the sensor, as the service boiler is only ¾ full, so it can store steam at the top.

gingerneil

Very bizarre… but seems to be running fine this evening! I’ll keep an eye, and it’ll hopefully behave.

gingerneil

MediumRoastSteam ah, I see. I didn’t realise it filled at the same time. I still can’t explain why the tank was empty and there was no H2O showing on the display. I’ll keep an eye as it gets low this time. I wonder if the floating switch is faulty…

Is there somewhere in the UK that stocks these as spares?

MediumRoastSteam

gingerneil - it’s likely your sensor failed, or the he sensor wire has come undone. Did you check that?

For what’s worth, I had a similar issue a long time ago with a Profitec machine, 1 year into service. In my case, the gicar box had to be replaced.

So do check connections etc to that sensor first, and maybe contact ACS for spare parts.