Steam Boiler is not refilling

[BrewHaHa]

Hi, all...

A sad day for me. My steam boiler isn't refilling. No pump action, no error lights - nothing.

I searched the forum, and I can't seem to find this exact issue. I wrote to Chris' Coffee Service this morning, but haven't received an answer yet. I thought I'd post here, even if just to document the issue.

Here's the scoop:

- I have a Vivaldi S1, manufactured in 2004. If I understand the chronology correctly, this is second version of the machine, having a swivel steam arm, and a "corrected" controller board that adjusts temperature correctly. The controller board is not in a plastic case.
- I operate the machine in 20A mode, plugged into a surge suppressor, which in turn is plugged into a 20A GFCI receptacle.
- It's plumbed in, with softened and filtered water, using the kit purchased from Chris' Coffee Service.


There were several events leading up to the current state of the steam boiler not refilling:

1. The machine had been fully on (i.e., brew and steam boilers on). I normally leave the machine on 24/7.

2. Yesterday, I noticed the machine had lost power, and found that the GFCI had tripped. I reset the GFCI, and turned the Vivaldi back on. Everything appeared to be normal, but I left it warming up, and did not use it at that point, so I didn't notice whether the steam boiler would fill at that point.

3. Later yesterday, I noticed a quantity of water on the counter.
- It's hard to say exactly how much, since it got under other things on the counter. It was several ounces, at least - not just a few dribbles.
- I don't know when or how the water got there. It must have come from the Vivaldi, but apparently it was a one-time event, rather than a constant leak, since by the time I noticed the water I could not tell exactly where it came from.
- I SUSPECT the water was released some time after I reset the GFCI and turned the machine back on, but I'm not sure. The water MAY have already been there when I noticed the GFCI had tripped. (It seems like I would have noticed the water at that point, but I can't be absolutely sure.)

4. This morning I realized there was something wrong with the steam boiler. I could pull shots without a problem (i.e., the pump works fine for the brew group), but the steam came out of the steam arm with greater than normal force. The steam pressure gauge was not abnormally high, reading a bit over 1 bar. But drawing some water from the hot water tap did not cause the boiler to refill. At that point I turned the boiler off.

5. I unplugged the machine for about 30 seconds, plugged it back in, and turned it on. The steam boiler still wouldn't refill. (And the pump did operate normally for the brew group.)

(6. Fired up the forlorn Gaggia Coffee, and made a cappuccino. Oh, how I've forgotten how much easier the Vivaldi makes the espresso experience!)

If anyone's got an ideas, I'm all ears. Otherwise, I'll just let you know what happens.

[BrewHaHa]

Update: Jason at Chris' Coffee Service emailed me some excellent instructions. Turns out the boiler over-filled. Fortunately, it seems like a one-time incident. (Once I found out the boiler had over-filled, I noticed that other people here have had more trouble and/or expense fixing over-filling issues.)

In a nutshell, Jason had me warm up the machine, unplug it, disconnect one of the heater element wires (so the element wouldn't be on in case the boiler drained and would not refill), then fire the machine back up and drain water from the boiler via the hot water tap. The pump finally kicked in (it took longer than normal since the boiler was already so full), and operation seems back to normal.

Whew!