Hi,

My Elizabeth, which is not even a year old, has started to release steam in very regular intervals of around 5 seconds or so when idle. I have opened it up to see if I can detect anything but it doesn’t look like its from the inside. I realised its coming into the tray.

Is this a big problem? Should I talk to Bella Barista or is it something I can fix myself?

Thanks!

    erkal - That is likely a faulty vacuum breaker (The safety valve goes to the tank). Easy and cheap to repair.

    If it’s under warranty, please let your retainer know and they should be able to deal with the problem for you.

        MediumRoastSteam

        Thanks for the help!

        So I need both these valves replaced as shown in the video?

        It is under warranty and I have just written to BB but sending the machine to them is a whole operation. I hope they will let me do it instead and without voiding the warranty.

          Just another question.

          Mine is still on all day long and I am using it. Is this state damaging to the machine in any way?

            My Bianca had that after about 6 months too and I only had it switched on for 2 hours a day so it’s not only down to leaving it on all the time.

            It was the vacuum breaker. Very common issue.

            La Marzocco Linea Mini - Mazzer Philos

            Ikawa Roaster

            erkal - You only replace the vacuum breaker. Leave the safety valve alone.

            My Elizabeth is 4 years old, and I only turn the machine on when I need it.

                You can always turn off the steam boiler if you want the machine on all day

                erkal Do you not recommend keeping it on all day long?

                Well, I have two coffees a day. The machine takes 20m to warm up. It seems silly, for me at least, to have the machine on all day for that. Now, if you are serving coffees all day long, then why not.

                  a month later

                  Hello again,

                  So I have replaced the antivac valve I received from BB (it was what they recommended I do after sending them some videos etc.), I think it was pretty straightforward to do and all seems to work OK so far but the regular hissing is still there, the sound has changed but still happening. It’s now a longer “pssssssshhh”.

                  I can no longer remember if this was a normal or was it something that started later. Is this machine supposed to be totally silent when idle or does it audibly release pressure regularly?

                  edit: I just realised it’s also making tiny “psst” sounds non stop every second, I only noticed when I got close to it.

                  OK ignore the above, I think the new antivac valve is leaking even though it feels fully tightened.

                  BB told me there was no need for any sealant so I I just followed their advice.

                  Clearly there needs to be something in there.

                  Are normal teflon tapes suitable for this or do I need something specific to seal the thread?

                  I cannot find what the guy is using in the video, which looks like normal teflon tape but he says its for “high temperature”. All the ones I find on Amazon which mentions “high temp” are brown and used for wires.

                  Thanks

                    MediumRoastSteam

                    Hi, thanks for the video, you posted it above and I have used it as a guide to change it. But I am no expert so I was not sure if I used the correct type of teflon tape, which is not very clear in the video.

                    Nevertheless I have just applied whatever teflon tape I had at home (PTFE Thread Seal Tape) which I hope was fit for purpose.

                    I turned it on just now and am waiting to see if it will explode or not.

                        always ominous when you get a post like

                        erkal I turned it on just now and am waiting to see if it will explode or not.

                        and then nothing for 3 days!

                            Milko

                            You are right, sorry I didn’t think anyone was interested :D

                            Nothing exploded yet and teflon seems to have fixed it. It is now a very very quiet machine when idle, I hope it will stay that way.