Duetto 1 sirai steam tank autofill leaking?

floydo

Haven’t found anything on this searching the web, but overnight the steam boiler overfills on the plumbed in (2bar regulated) Duetto. Suspect the
sirai valve is not completely sealing. This is flange mounted with a spring clip on top. Overfill after removing hot water from steam tank operates normally. Can I pull clip, disassemble and clean, remove and replace, or?

I thought there might be some knowledge on the process here :)

Suggestions?

Thanks

DavecUK

floydo

To overfill overnight, it would be leaking when plumbed in…this means a clean could well solve the problem of it not sealing completely. The clip and coil can be removed and the solenoid opened for cleaning, or simply buy a replacement from BB etc.. if that doesn’t work.

Cleaming it would be far easier of course, as removal is…cramped….and Izzo loved doing two things which really ticked me off:

Using permanent strength threadlocker
preassembling component groups and then fitting them, making removal difficult sometimes without removing an awful lot of things. A 10 minute job turning into a mountain of disassembly and hours of work.

floydo

Took it apart and cleaned it, but the seat was a bit pocked. burnished that with a pencil erasure, but it still leaked (maybe less). Ended up replacing the Sirai, using teflon tape as the pipe thread seal….No more leaking. Not bad after 15 years….Also replaced brew OPV gasket which lessened the refilling of the water tank over time….That had not been replaced since new.

Pics of Sirai seat before and after burnishing..

Disassembly was not bad but took several hours between the two.

Thx!

DavecUK

Thay can last a very long time, the coils in my Pinball table solenoids are 60 years old.

floydo

The coil was perfect, as one would expect, but the hardened seal and seat didn’t seal in the end. Interesting in the US one cannot find Sirai, they seem to have been replaced with Parker brand…not sure why…somewhere there might be a replacement plunger/seal, but it is fixed!

DavecUK

floydo next time, realise that for that type of solenoid, you can buy a thing called a nucleus, which is a slug of metal with a new spring and seat…much cheaper than the solenoid.

floydo

Thanks for the comment, here in the US I was unable to find a nucleus for a Sirai, and the one found for a Parker was almost as $$ as a new solenoid….odd…That would have saved a bunch of assembly…..

DavecUK

floydo the one found for a Parker was almost as $$ as a new solenoid….odd…That would have saved a bunch of assembly…..

That’s just profiteering, they are very cheap.