The General ACS Minima Thread

mjswooper - it that chrome plating flaking?

Do you get the same from the hot water tap? Or is that from the group?

mjswooper Googling around has some similar cases, but im still pretty concerned. I had about 5-6x the amount in the photo.

I wrote that article…

MediumRoastSteam

This was from the service boiler, via the tap/hot water. Much the same was out the brew boiler/group head as well.

Whip the mushroom out to check. Quickest way

The boilers are stainless

I discovered flaking chrome on a mushroom in a Minima, picture on the first post in this thread. https://coffeetime.freeflarum.com/d/1016-acs-minima-with-lelit-bianca-flow-contol

Norvin Holy shit that is a lot of chrome flakes. Did the flaking eventually stop? I guess there wasn’t much left eh?

My Minima has been happily making great coffee for a few years now, thanks to help from this forum. This morning I decided to give its regular flush clean.

I put in the blind filter and with 3g of cleaner in it I turned it on for 10 seconds, then let it rest for 20 seconds and turned it on again planning for 10 seconds. However, it blew the house electricity fuse after 3 seconds and I had to reset. Reset done I tried again with the same result.

So, I gave up, thinking it might be related to the perhaps higher pressure of the blind filter. I took out the blind filter and thought I’d run it a few times to clear the cleaning agent from the porta-filter. Once again it blew the fuse in the house fusebox. It now blows as soon as I try to pull any shot, virtually instantly.

Might anyone have any ideas what’s causing the problem and how to fix it. At the moment, apart from the worry of not having a working machine, I’m concerned about a Sunday morning with no coffee!!!.

Unplug machine, pen front cover under group (2 allen bolts) check solenoid connections not wet or touching case..

If nothing unusual remove case.

DavecUK Just did that, and when I took off the cover I found the bolt at the bottom of the portafilter run off had fallen off! I don’t know how that could have happened, might backflushing have caused it do you think?

Reassembled and it’s working. Let joy be unconfined, Sunday morning coffee here we come.

Thanks Dave for the suggestion.

DavecUK I guess it will be the vent bolt, it’s a bolt that attaches to the bottom of the tube which points vertically downwards found behind the cover you said to remove.

they will be laser etched

Quick question about storage.

We’re having some building work done which means the Minima will be going into storage for potentially 4 months.

I am thinking I should drain the boilers before boxing it back up.

Is this absolutely necessary, or am I being over-cautious?

Thanks

PortafilterProcrastinator I am thinking I should drain the boilers before boxing it back up.

Is this absolutely necessary, or am I being over-cautious?

Probably not necessary, unless you have one of the newer models with drain taps, where it is very easy to do.

DavecUK Thanks, no drain taps on mine.

I’ll see how we go, how long it’s looking like once it all kicks off and whether I get nervous!

Or simply heat both boilers up fully every month…

Thanks Dave, I’ll take that into consideration when working out storage arrangements.

Afternoon all,

I recently bought the Minima that was for sale here as a repair project, and while i wait for it to arrive I thought I would start info gathering as I’m completely new to this level of machine. If anyone is able to provide and guidance or point me to guides etc I would be most grateful Below are the all important details:

The post said:

"Minima has now started producing watery steam which I guess is from the boiler overfilling.

Just to compound the fault the steam boiler has also started overheating which I have no clue about.

It was bought new from Bella Barista in April 2019 and used solely for me and my partner a couple of times per day

As its become faulty I have recognised that I do not havethe technic al knowledge to fix it and also I lack the inclination to get involved with it. I should add that the brew side of the machine is working perfectly so for an espresso fan it might just be perfect"

And Dave’s kind advice on said post was:

"The boiler over filling was an issue due to I think electrical interference . in the early models e.g. 2019, the Gicar box autofill probe has a wire to the probe and a wire (black) that needs to be grounded. They did this on the boiler and not the frame. The electrical interreference meant it sometimes overheated. That wire was later moved to a grounding on the frame and the problem went away.

The overheating will almost certainly be a temperature sensor requiring replacement

So it probably needs just a temperature sensor and the earthing wire moved to the frame. At absolute worst, it could be a faulty Gicar Box where one of the triacs has failed closed…it all depends on how it overheats."

So if anyone is able to assist with any videos, guides, etc on how to approach these jobs as a first stop that would be great. I am told the earthing query has been addressed. Also to find out the different ways in which these can overheat as mentioned above, will help me.

Thanks in advance. Mark