Well, woke up this morning and was greeted by solid 19-21 warning lights, the timer having turned the machine on hours earlier. Fancy that, now I get warning lights !!!???. Machine was blocked. Started pushing buttons without really paying attention, turnining machine on and off, trying to go into economy mode and the like. I can't remember the sequence of pushes, but, I think, after pressing boiler button twice (on the off), all the lights lit, boiler light started flashing, fan started whirring, and steamer got up to pressure, and like magic, I had hot water and steam again. Very cool you're thinking?? Well, so was I, but...short lived, as I'll explain.
Ground some bean, loaded the machine, was about to steam some milk, and... three solid warning lights again, machine blocked
So, my thinking was, once boiler got up to pressure and temp, sensor craps out, blocks machine, and then when boiler cools down, I can get machine going again, at least for a few minutes. But, that hypothesis is false. I turned the machine off for 30min, boiler cool to touch, but as soon as I turn machine on, I get boiler light for 1/2 sec, fan whirring for 1/2 sec, and then three solid warning lights again, machine blocked. If I turn off steam boiler, my group boiler works fine. I only experienced three flashing lights once and can't reproduce the flashing.
As far as follow-up to Roger's suggestions, NiKo (see earlier part of thread):
I can't see the two sheathed wires that are zipped together. I see them in Chas' pictures, however. They have probably fallen behind the boiler and I haven't had the clarity of thought to take the back off yet. I don't know which wire to disconnect on the boiler to test Roger's theory, although, given what I've experienced this morning, it's moot. When I spoke to him a couple days ago, I told him I would be available in front of my machine this coming Monday afternoon. He said he'll be waiting for my call.
It is my destiny, I'm afraid, to purchase high end products that fall short of advertised quality and longevity. It is an expected truth for me; not quite sure who I pissed off earlier in life. HOWEVER, with that in mind, because of this site and all the accolades ChrisCoffee has received through it, I am glad I purchased the way I did. My philosphy in the past has been to buy the best and then I would never need customer service. I feel I prepared well for this. I have taken the top off the machine, and am quite impressed with the quality of wire runs, copper bends, and neat arrangements. More to follow...
Addendum: my machine has been off for 2 hrs now, around 68 degrees F in the room. Things definately had time to cool down. Turned on machine and boiler light flashing, brew group lights on, all is a go... but I'm off to church now so didn't wait for 19-21 warning lights to go solid, but, based on this mornings findings, that would have occured once boiler got to temp/pressure plus a few minutes. I'll try again when I come home...