Pausing pump and thanks

This forum contains various threads with photos on how to perform various maintenance and repairs on your S1.
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Weska

Pausing pump and thanks

Post by Weska »

My pump faked me out about two weeks ago. I was getting extremely long pours and thought that my grinder had been tampered with by my three year old son, who sometimes assists me to brew and roast. After extensively re-dialing in with puzzling results, I noticed that there was a pause after hitting the brew button and the start of motor and pump sounds. Soon I was getting never less than one-minute pours and once the blinking three yellows that indicate blockage of the pump.

The coffee was better than I expected under these conditions. Quite bearable as cappucino and something like napoletana brews taken straight.

But something had to be done before the pump and/or motor died. The magnificent resources here guided me in a disassembly, lube and reassembly project that, so far, is successful. (Living where I do, access to repairs could be expensive and replacement parts might need a considerable pursuit.) I had to check things out, and found minor corrosion at the pump bearing seam where leaks presumably had sprung. Luckily nothing had backed up enough to touch the bearings of the motor. My pump looked about like JohnB's that was replaced under warranty, and the motor spun very freely with momentum enough to continue a bit on its own. There was a little rust on the mating surfaces of the pump and motor shafts but nothing that would impede operation.

Using what I learned here, I detached the pump, sluiced water through, followed that with silicon lube (but I didn't have scot's courage and left the pump interior uninvestigated). After putting everything back together, I brewed two cups that were completely nominal so far as pump and timing operation.

This may not be a long-term cure, and I'll probably order a replacement pump to have on hand in anticipation of a complete failure some day. But the site has saved me from expensive diagnosis by rapacious professionals and encouraged me to be my own espresso mechanic.

Many thanks to all who guided me.
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