Failed water line

If you have any problems with your plumbed Dream machine where it worked fine out of the box but sometime later something happened during the 2-Year warranty period, ask about it here. Once fixed please keep us posted on what had to be done to resolve the problem.
Post Reply
goodboyr
Barista
Posts: 255
Joined: Thu Jan 10, 2013 10:05 pm
Location: Canada

Failed water line

Post by goodboyr »

Yesterday, while sitting idle, there was a high pitched whistling sound, followed by lots of steam. Machine had no alarms, steam boiler was intact and no overpressure. Top side of steam boiler was dry. But there was a steady flow of water running down the side of the steam boiler until I closed the water supply. Turns out that there was a failure of the tiny teflon clear plastic line connecting the brew boiler to the flow meter. The hole in the line just happened to be facing the side of the steam boiler so when the water hit the side of the hot boiler, lots of steam. A super quick repair by my retailer Espresso Planet put me back in service! Awesome response again by them!

Here's a picture of the failure. Looks like there was a defect in the tube, and the pressure caused it to open up.

Image
Bob
La Spaziale Dream and Baratza Sette 270W
goodboyr
Barista
Posts: 255
Joined: Thu Jan 10, 2013 10:05 pm
Location: Canada

Re: Failed water line

Post by goodboyr »

Followup on this problem. The line was replaced successfully, (dream uses teflon tubing and push in fittings instead of copper lines as used on the previous models). A few weeks have gone by, and I now have leakage at the push in fittings on the volumetric flowmeter. As well, I had a flowmeter failure alarm, so I removed the flowmeter, dismantled it and found that there was a bit of plastic "flashing" extending from the tip of one of the vanes of the flowmeter that kept it from rotating. I removed this bit of plastic, and reinstalled. This was a good opportunity to remove and reinstall the lines to the flowmeter to see if I could stop the leakage (slight drips at both fittings that go away if you wiggle on the lines, but then reappear after pulling a shot). I looked inside the fittings, and they looked fine with no debris. Hard to see the tiny o-rings inside but I think they looked fine. Checked that the ends of the tubing were cut square, reinserted the tubing into the fittings and ensured they went all the way in, started up the machine, and the leaks remained, just as before. So, does anyone have any other ideas on how to solve these leaks? I will be asking my retailer for some new tubing and perhaps a new flowmeter in the hopes that its just the tiny o-rings in the fittings that have been damaged. I can't see a way to remove the fittings from the flowmeter.
Bob
La Spaziale Dream and Baratza Sette 270W
User avatar
chas
Vivaldi Dreamer
Posts: 3044
Joined: Wed Jun 02, 2004 11:52 pm
Location: Central Maryland
Contact:

Re: Failed water line

Post by chas »

In the 9+ years this site's been running since the original S1 was introduced, you have had multiple problems no one else has ever reported. Lucky you! Don't you feel special?

Many folks that owned the V2 had issues with the flow meter sticking but all those were due to metal flakes jamming the vanes because the boilers were not being cleaned out well during manufacturing. However, yours sounds like a true flow meter manufacturing defect.
Chas
LM GS/3 & LaSpaziale Dream v 1.25 (US 120V)
Mazzer Kony E, Customized Rocky
Hottop P/B
goodboyr
Barista
Posts: 255
Joined: Thu Jan 10, 2013 10:05 pm
Location: Canada

Re: Failed water line

Post by goodboyr »

I did notice one post where one of the vanes of the flowmeter was melted away.

As for my problems, yes.....feeling real special. I am diligent with my care and use of this machine, and as an engineer, I understand the workings. The issues I've had look like QA/QC issues at assembly and manufacture. Troubling for a commercial level machine that is meant to stay on in a cafe. I'm pretty frustrated as you can imagine.
Bob
La Spaziale Dream and Baratza Sette 270W
User avatar
chas
Vivaldi Dreamer
Posts: 3044
Joined: Wed Jun 02, 2004 11:52 pm
Location: Central Maryland
Contact:

Re: Failed water line

Post by chas »

That melted vane one still has me puzzled. Certainly the water couldn't get hot enough. There must be a small piece of iron or steel at the end of each vane which then sets up a current as it passes by the electromagnetic sensor in the housing. If the electromagnet was faulty and the vane stopped right next to it, there might be enough current/heat induced in the metal piece to melt the plastic.
Chas
LM GS/3 & LaSpaziale Dream v 1.25 (US 120V)
Mazzer Kony E, Customized Rocky
Hottop P/B
goodboyr
Barista
Posts: 255
Joined: Thu Jan 10, 2013 10:05 pm
Location: Canada

Re: Failed water line

Post by goodboyr »

I don't think thats it. The vanes appear to be plastic only. There are two magnets in the hub of the impeller that are sensed by the top cover. I did note that there seems to be a bit of a backflow of hot brew boiler water back down the line to the output side of the flowmeter. You can feel that line get hot after a few shots. Obviously the inlet is cold water from the pump. So, its possible that there may be enough backflow for hot water to run back into the body of the flowmeter, and if a vane is sitting right at the hole where the water exits the flowmeter, this hot water could melt the plastic. I am a little suspicious of my failure, since it didnt happen right away. It could be that the plastic melted a bit at the end of a vane, stuck to the side of the body of the flowmeter (the body is brass so it would be a lower temperature and the melted plastic would stick to it), and then the next shot would "pull" the string of plastic out. Thats what mine looked like. More likely than plastic flashing since the other vanes looked perfectly smooth. My guess would be the impeller is made out of low temp plastic since the flowmeter would not be expected to see anything other than cold water. So, the sequence could be, after the pump shuts down, and the 3 way closes, the brew boiler heats back up. This expands the water in the boiler, and in turn pushes hot water back down this tiny plastic line into the flowmeter. This could be a new issue for the dream, since it uses a very small teflon line instead of the larger copper tube in the previous models. Smaller line, smaller volume, less heat dissipation in line so more hot water gets back to flowmeter.
Bob
La Spaziale Dream and Baratza Sette 270W
goodboyr
Barista
Posts: 255
Joined: Thu Jan 10, 2013 10:05 pm
Location: Canada

Re: Failed water line

Post by goodboyr »

Can anyone explain why LaSpaz changed from copper in the older machines to Teflon in the dreams for the key water lines? Seems like a less reliable and robust method.
Bob
La Spaziale Dream and Baratza Sette 270W
User avatar
chas
Vivaldi Dreamer
Posts: 3044
Joined: Wed Jun 02, 2004 11:52 pm
Location: Central Maryland
Contact:

Re: Failed water line

Post by chas »

Probably because it's cheaper. I am ok with plastic on the low pressure lines but not on the 9 bar lines.

Sent from my DROID RAZR HD using Tapatalk 2
Chas
LM GS/3 & LaSpaziale Dream v 1.25 (US 120V)
Mazzer Kony E, Customized Rocky
Hottop P/B
goodboyr
Barista
Posts: 255
Joined: Thu Jan 10, 2013 10:05 pm
Location: Canada

Re: Failed water line

Post by goodboyr »

Oddly enough, all the 9 bar lines in the dream are plastic. Copper is used for the discharge of the 3 way which is low pressure.
Bob
La Spaziale Dream and Baratza Sette 270W
Post Reply

Return to “Dream In Warranty Issues”