Hi everyone,

I’m having the following problem with my 2022 ACS Minima. After pulling the first shot of the day and preparing for another, suddenly the pump went on by itself (the brew switch was off and the 3-point switch was in the “both boilers” position), followed by the smell of a burnt plastic. No water was dripping from the group while the pump was running, and the shot timer wasn’t shown on the display.

I took the covers off and noticed two things: brew boiler leaks and scorch marks on both red ferrules of the Gicar’s pump connector. Please note that I wiped the burn marks clean prior to taking the picture (just forgot to take a photo of them right away).

I’m guessing what happened is that the leak went under the boiler insulation and managed to short the cables on the connector. I didn’t see any leaks below the boiler.

I left the machine unplugged for a week or so, to let it dry properly. Plugged in today, the pump starts running when I hit the 3-position on/off switch, but no water is drawn from the tank. The pump sounds “dry” (the pitch is different when it’s filled with water). The display goes through the usual power-on sequence (displaying the firmware version number and then the temperature of the boilers). I didn’t leave it on long enough to see if the boilers start heating. Oh, and also the burnt electronics/plastic smell is back, hard to say exactly which part it is coming from as everything is crammed together but I’d assume from the bigger Gicar box.

I am currently about 1kkm from the closest repair shop (no kidding) so would like to try fixing this myself. My homestead workshop is pretty well equipped, what I’m lacking is knowledge of diagnosing and troubleshooting espresso machines. It seems ACS Minima technical documentation is scarce, so I’m hoping to find some guidance from the technicians and experienced users on the forum. I’d appreciate any suggestions / instructions on how to diagnose which parts went awry, so I can order replacements from ACS of elsewhere.

Thanks in advance!