Pump not turning on- help!

[scully]

I just bought a vii on craigslist for a ridiculously low price (cafe going out of business and owners were moving out of state) and i now have some questions...
i figured we were probably taking a risk since the price was so low, but also figured it would be worth it. please bear with me since i know very little about machines and although i was a barista for years, it has been a long time since i pulled a shot. my husband plumbed it in and put a regulator in the line set at 30 psi. we turned the machine on as per the instructions and all seemed to be fine except that the group boiler pressure reading was really low (like 2-3) and when we pulled a shot it went down almost to 0 and the espresso was practically trickling out of the portafilter. we then pulled a shot with an empty group and it was a slow stream of water with interruptions of air sputtering out. we decided to open the front panel and adjust the pressure adjustment screw to see if that made a difference. it didn't. we realised that the pump wasn't coming on at all. the solenoid was directing current to the pump, but the pump was not rotating. i'm afraid it is going to need a new motor.
does anyone have any idea what is wrong and how much $$$ we're looking at to fix it???
thank you!

[Niko]

I think a motor runs about $369 USD and the pump would be at least $150-200. Don't quote me on this but last time I priced these things were over a year or two ago.

[JohnB]

Does the motor hmm or make any sound like its trying to turn the pump? If so the pump or motor could be seized & you might be able to free it up if you separate the two. There is a bearing that can seize up if the seal goes & this can be replaced cheaply if thats the problem. Check out this thread: viewtopic.php?f=28&t=486

[scully]

thanks for responding.
we separated the pump and the motor and the pump is barely turning by hand. put some mineral oil in the shaft and that didn't help, so we think it's the fins inside that maybe have some sort of buildup. off to get some descaler to see if that might loosen things. the motor seemed fine once the pump wasn't preventing it from spinning (don't know how my husband checked that and not sure i want to know!) i'm hoping that, at worst, the pump needs to be replaced as that is cheaper and easier and would not negate the deal we got! we were joking that either the people selling it to us had no idea what they owned (it came with the cafe they bought) or it was going to blow up as soon as we plugged it in...
i'll show my husband the link once he returns.
i can barely contain my excitement at the idea of pulling good shots myself again (the only decent espresso bar is 30 mins away and i've been like a prisoner of crappy espresso for 5 years). it's such a tease to have this beautiful machine peeking out of the pantry at me. ugh.
thanks again. we'd be completely lost without this site!

[JohnB]

Well worse case you spring for one of these: http://www.chriscoffee.com/products/hom ... proconpump I would consider checking the boilers for scale/ect. viewtopic.php?f=26&t=872

[scully]

Thanks for all your advice Niko and John. The pump was indeed shot and we ordered one from CC online (and showed amazing self-restraint by not adding on the new tamper i wanted =)). I think it just sat idle long enough that the fins on the pump stuck. Oh well.
The link for descaling the boiler was great. We'll try to tackle that while we're waiting for the pump to arrive.
As soon as it's up and running, I'm then going to turn my attention toward a new grinder. Then I'll be done spending- I promise!

[JohnB]

The link for descaling the boiler was great. We'll try to tackle that while we're waiting for the pump to arrive.
As soon as it's up and running, I'm then going to turn my attention toward a new grinder. Then I'll be done spending- I promise!

Add a new steam boiler gasket to your CC order as it is not reusable. The group boiler uses an o'ring which you "might" be able to reuse but why take a chance.