Well after a long night plumbing my new VII, no coffee Saturday morning
My problems started with an incorrect J. Guest fitting that was included and neither Lowe's or the Depot had the right part.
Now that I've got the plumbing in and flushed the filter units, hear the boilers fill up, the VII comes up to temp and is ready - but no water out the brew group. Now hot water either.
I do get steam but that is all.
When I try a single shot I get the 14-15-16 flashing lights....
If the boilers filled then I take it you heard the pump running? The brew boiler will heat before the steam one. Is the brew head hot? Have you tried unplugging the machine & restarting? Removed front & top covers to look for loose wires/plugs?
Which JG fitting do you need? The Depot carries them under the Watts brand. I was able to find the JG fitting that screws into the 3 way Max Adaptor at the local Depot.
JohnB wrote:If the boilers filled then I take it you heard the pump running? The brew boiler will heat before the steam one. Is the brew head hot? Have you tried unplugging the machine & restarting? Removed front & top covers to look for loose wires/plugs?
I did hear the pump running. The brew head does not seem hot. I did try unplugging and restarting.
Just removed the front covers and I found two hanging plugs:
Which JG fitting do you need? The Depot carries them under the Watts brand. I was able to find the JG fitting that screws into the 3 way Max Adaptor at the local Depot.
The JG fitting was the T that connects off my sink water line. They shipped a 1/4" JG fitting on the T when it needed to be 3/8". All others are 3/8". When I tried to remove the JG fitting from the T to swap it with a 3/8" one from the Depot it broke off. They must use some sealant when they assemble them because it wouldn't budge.
So then it was back to the Depot at 10 pm to try and get a new T. All they had was 3/8" male and I needed female. This morning it was two trips to Lowe's and FINALLY I have the correct parts.
Imagine how I'm doing now that the VII isn't working. I really need some coffee!
I also am hearing a constant hissing when the VII is hot which makes me think there is a loose fitting somewhere inside ''
Those arrows look like they are pointing at the two plugs hanging down that are the electrical connections for the solenoids that controls the group valve and the hot water valve, respectively. Looks like you are now #3 in the last 10 days with this problem. Someone at Chris Coffee dropped the ball! Perhaps they had several of them set up to bench test for delivery and spaced the replacement of these connectors on all of them. (This is discussed in two other threads - one in the V2 section and one in the Mini-V2 section)
Chris tells me they open up those valves and blow them out with compressed air after bench testing. Otherwise, the cold temperatures in transit might freeze the water and burst the valves.
You need to check out that hissing. It could be coming from any number of places. There is only one place that should hiss. There is a vacuum breaker valve on top of the boiler. When it is just about to a boil the pressure will pop it up and close the valve. For up to a minute before that, the valve hisses, sputters, and spits steam. Occasionally when first put into service they won't close automatically the first time until you manually pull them up and give it some help. Usually after that, it doesn't happen again. Hopefully this is all that is happening.
Chas LM GS/3 & LaSpaziale Dream v 1.25 (US 120V) Mazzer Kony E, Customized Rocky Hottop P/B
Sorry you are having a hard time integrating the Vivaldi into your home. Not have the right fittings would be significant nuisance to starting up. Your wiring connectors probably bounced off in shipping. Still, to discover that is another nuisance.
The hissing is not right, however. You should hear only occasional boiler sounds--something like you hear when an electric teapot comes near the boil. Maybe a cooling fan whine on top of that while the boiler is heating up. You are right to think that to hear any other kind of noise at all times from it would be abnormal.
Chris's Coffee called me back and walked me through the repairs. I really do appreciate them calling on Saturday within about an hour of me emailing them.
I think some people would be totally pissed off at this point but I really just want to get it working and I do appreciate them helping me getting it sorted out.
All in all there were a few problems.
First was the incorrect plumbing fitting but hey, sometimes I'll grab a 1/4" fitting when I should have grabbed a 3/8". I just had no idea it was so hard to get the same parts at the local Depot or Lowes. I also didn't get much help at either store. Sometimes you find the local plumbing hero, other times not. The leak ended up being at 3/8" fine thread male that did not seat with a 3/8" flare female. I ended up going 3/8" flare to brass flare and I'd have to show you the parts to explain it properly but it works.
I needed to remove the warmer tray which ended up being the biggest PITA. The one screw that holds it in place had a loose sleeve. It must have a a little tack weld that broke loose because when I try and remove the small screw it just turned and turned. I finally got up under there with a pair of needle nose vice grips and was able to grab onto the sleeve. Serious PITA!!!! The boiler was still hot and constantly reminded me
With the top off I could easily re-seat the plugs.
This is the screw I am talking about. BTW - I'm not going to put it back in!!!
Now that I have these minor things behind me, I need to learn how to pull a good shot. My first attempts are not that great but I have to figure out how to use my new grinder, tamp properly, and adjust the VII.
I think I am going to be going through some beans to figure this out. My first shots are coming out way too fast.
Chris's Coffee was on the phone with me for most of the repairs and I really appreciate them helping me getting the machine up and running. They really know it inside and out. If I ever have to open it up again, at least I'll know what I'm doing.
Its nice that CC calls back so quickly but it would be even nicer if they checked these machines over a little closer when they set them up. The leak at my pump fitting should have been caught when they set the pump pressure as I saw it as soon as the front cover came off.
I had a similar issue with that JG fitting breaking off but I just replaced it with one from the Depot. If you heat the threaded portion of the JG fitting that gets stuck in the Max Adaptor with a heat gun or torch you can pop it right out & install a new one.
The screw on my cover did the same thing when I removed it yesterday but at least my machine worked when I first hooked it up.
Good luck with the "learning curve". I've been going through the same thing the past 2 weeks. Just started to get the Vetrano figured out & then I swapped it for the S1. Yesterday was all sour shots but that turned out to be brew temp. Doing multiple flushes to warm up the brew head as advised by Niko solved that problem & I had several nice Espressos today.
Blaine, that was a long passage to reach normal operation. I'm glad your patience and skill held out. I hope that your brew tweaking compensates by going quickly and smoothly.
And thanks very much for documenting all your moves, including with photos. That makes something of value for the whole communityout of your experience.
Not to answer for Blaine, but what the heck, I will. Looks like a MACAP M4 to me.
And on that note, Blaine, remove the finger guard!!! It just gets in the way, and life is so much more exciting when the loss of appendages looms over every espresso shot.
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