Hi all, I have a 2.5 year old Mara X that isn't building any steam pressure. After turning on the machine for 1 hour, the steam pressure gauge sits at 0, and it doesn't ever move during warm-up. The machine feels hot to touch. The pump engages when I brew - the water that comes out of the grouphead is hot, but not scalding hot. The temperature light on the front of the machine just keeps blinking the entire time. After 1+ hour or so, I hear and see steam hissing out from the bottom of the drip tray. I opened up the vacuum breaker and replaced the insides (o-ring, teflon seat, & plunger) for good measure, but nothing changed. Still no steam pressure, and I only see some steam hissing out of the drip tray and hear/see the vacuum breaker bubbling. I also took off the top temperature sensor (I believe this is the steam temp probe?) and it looks clean - no signs of scale. Any insights as to what I should check next to fix this? Thanks!

What happens when you open the steam valve?

@"DavecUK"#p72076 Nothing comes out of the steam valve. Nothing out of the hot water tap either.

> @"fl13dl1c3"#p72073 After 1+ hour or so, I hear and see steam hissing out from the bottom of the drip tray. I wonder where this is coming from then?

@"DavecUK"#p72082 Looks like the vacuum breaker tube leads to the drain valve in the front of the machine in the drip tray

> @"fl13dl1c3"#p72083 Looks like the vacuum breaker tube leads to the drain valve in the front of the machine in the drip tray It does, hence my confusion, when you say no steam or hot water? How much is it hissing, very quiet, or loud and lots of steam?

@"DavecUK"#p72085 It’s more on the lower and quiet end. Slowly releasing steam from the drain valve. The water coming out of the group head is hot. Since there is no steam pressure, nothing will come out of the steam wand or hot water wand.

> @"fl13dl1c3"#p72086 It’s more on the lower and quiet end. Slowly releasing steam from the drain valve. If it's definitely releasing this from the vacuum breaker and there is no pressure, it must be super quiet. I would take the case off and make sure. It sounds as if the temp sensor on the boiler is working up to a point and telling the machine it's up to temp when it isn't. This would lead to not super hot brew water which cools quickly as you let it run, a group that doesn't seem as hot as usual. If this sounds correct, **then the best thing to try would be a new temperature sensor.** *P.S. Don't ever remove them to check for scale etc.. as often the act of removal can break the wires leading to the thermistor.*

@"DavecUK"#p72088 Should I look into replacing the thermostat on the top of the boiler or on the bottom? Another new discovery - I changed the mode to the standard HX mode, and set the PID to the highest level. After some time the steam pressure built up to 1.25bars. That seems a bit low to me, I recall the steam pressure to be higher at the max temp for HX mode. In any case, it’s not consistent that I can get the machine to build the steam pressure with HX mode. I’ve turned the machine on and off multiple times and I can’t consistently get it to behave like this. Could something be faulty with the GICAR box?

@"fl13dl1c3"#p72104 Try changing the one at the top of the boiler.

@"DavecUK"#p72111 I just received my replacement part and am sad to report that changing the temperature probe at the top of the boiler did not change anything. Any suggestions next? My reseller doesn't have any lead to check what's next either. I am also planning to email Lelit on the side to see if they may have any thoughts.

Mara X no steam pressure

fl13dl1c3

MediumRoastSteam If the machine gets hot, shouldn’t that mean that the heating element works? It just doesn’t get hot enough to produce enough steam to build pressure.

If I was to check the heating element, I would need to get a multimeter right?

Doram

fl13dl1c3 - did you get any reply from Lelit? (following this with interest and hoping you get it solved!).

MediumRoastSteam

fl13dl1c3 - I’m just going by elimination here. You pretty much changed everything, apart from the heating element. I don’t really understand enough, but I don wonder whether your heating element is not heating up fully.

I think you’ll need a multimeter to check it. But I don’t know how to check it, if that makes sense.

giampiero

In this machine there are any SSR?

MediumRoastSteam

Pretty sure all machines have one these days. At the end of the day, something needs to turn the heating element on and off. 👍

For the MaraX, Clive shows how to locate/replace if you ever need to:

https://support.clivecoffee.com/en/lelit-mara-x-ssr-replacement

fl13dl1c3

Would checking the SSR be a good next step? Any tips to check if it’s working properly before I try to order a new one for replacement?

giampiero

Checking the SSR could give you some clue even about the gicar board functionality, and you don’t even need a multimeter for this simple test.

If the SSR led does stay lit but the temperature wont increase, the gicar board is ok, but probably the SSR has a problem in the section where the brown wires are connected, if the SSR led it goes out during the warm up period but the temperature remain too low , could be a problem of the gicar board or maybe the temperature probe.

fl13dl1c3

giampiero In my case, the SSR light is on, and the machine does get hot. Just very very slowly and not hot enough to build steam pressure in the boiler. Could that still indicate something wrong with the SSR?

I’ve replaced the gicar and temperature probe already.

giampiero

Ok, at this point, maybe is more cheap to buy a multimeter and measure the voltage value supplied at the heating element.

MediumRoastSteam

giampiero Ok, at this point, maybe is more cheap to buy a multimeter and measure the voltage value supplied at the heating element.

I am no expert, but from what I read is that one would need to check the resistance of the heating element - with the machine completely switch off and unplugged!

fl13dl1c3

MediumRoastSteam I checked the resistance of the heating element while it was unplugged and off. It shows about 13ohms for my 1200w/120v heating element, which indicates that it’s within spec. I’ve been cross referencing other posts from forums for Lelit Mara X and Bianca heating issues, and the ones that have similar behaviors to mine (slow heat up time, lackluster steam) resolved their issues by replacing the SSR.

I just ordered a new SSR, hoping it’ll come this week and that it’ll resolve this. Crossing my fingers!

MediumRoastSteam

fl13dl1c3 👍 - did you see this thread?

https://coffeetime.freeflarum.com/d/2881-lelit-mara-x-pl62x-steam-overpressure/21

fl13dl1c3

Happy to report that replacing the SSR fixed my issue. It’s an easy replacement, just have to make sure you clean off the old thermal paste on the SSR bracket before installing the new one. Thanks for everyone’s help.

Doram

fl13dl1c3 Happy to report that replacing the SSR fixed my issue.

Great to hear you managed to fix it!

Can you maybe link to the SSR you got and let us know where you got it, in case it helps anyone with the same issue?

fl13dl1c3

Doram I ordered it from lamacchinadelcaffe - they ship from Italy. The part number is 9600028. Make sure the SSR is from the brand Carlo Gavazzi.

MediumRoastSteam

fl13dl1c3 I ordered it from lamacchinadelcaffe - they ship from Italy.

Are you in the UK?

Elcarajillo

I presume he is not as he mentions 110 volt heating element.

MediumRoastSteam

Elcarajillo - Thanks. As far as i know they won’t ship to the UK unless the shipment is of £135 or more. CAn’t remember if they have changed their policy.

Doram

MediumRoastSteam Thanks. As far as i know they won’t ship to the UK unless the shipment is of £135 or more. CAn’t remember if they have changed their policy.

In the UK it seems it’s available here: https://www.coffeesparesdirect.co.uk/lelit-mara-relay-rf1023m25-9600028-lelit-9600028

fl13dl1c3

MediumRoastSteam when I was at checkout and choosing shipping, the options were either €8 for shipping within Italy, or €20 for international.

MediumRoastSteam

fl13dl1c3 or €20 for international.

Maybe they have changed things. The UK has some peculiar rules when it comes to importing where if the consignment is under £135 the seller needs to pay any taxes due directly with HMRC (His Majesty’s Revenue and Customs) - for anything above that, then the buyer pays any taxes due to the courier company in order to release the goods.

Before the UK left the European Union, this wasn’t necessary for counties within the EU (UK, Italy). It was a customs union and goods could transit freely with the EU - so ordering something from Germany was no different from ordering something from the UK. This has since changed, and a lot of EU countries cannot be bothered to deal with the extra bureaucracy and simply can’t be bothered with the UK anymore (I had personal experience with this when trying to order a watch strap from Germany). It will take a while to adjust, and maybe some companies are adjusting themselves if the UK is a significant market for them.

🤷‍♂️

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