Pump Noise - Air in the Lines?

[milnerb1]

I've been operating my VII for a couple weeks now and am getting it pretty well "dialed in".

The pump itself doesn't seem too loud. However, when the pump engages, water flowing through the lines has that familiar sound of a toilet refilling in an old house...that squeeling type of noise that fluctuates with the water pressure.

The sound of the water flowing is significantly louder than the pump itself and results in the machine being quite loud.

I'm using an inlet pressure regulatar set to 28lbs. When the pump is engaged, pressure drops to around 20 psi.

I would really ike to eliminate this sound. Does anybody know how to do this? If there is air in the lines of my machine causing this, does anybody have ideas on how I might purget the air that is causing this issue?

Any advise would be greatly appreciated!

[JohnB]

What do you have between the main water line & your machine? Filters? Softener? Any air in the line should have purged the first time you filled the boilers. Might be something restricting the water flow like one of the dreaded brass shavings we hear about every once in awhile. By the way my house is 250 years old & the toilet refills quietly.

My machine is off for the day but I'll give a listen tomorrow to see how much noise the water flow makes.

[chas]

I get a noise similar to what you describe in the last several seconds when I am doing a warm up flush after the machine has been on but unused for a while. Typically when pulling shots after that, including a final one w/o grounds for cleaning, I don't hear it again.

The pipes in my bathroom make a similar noise when the hot water finally gets to the shower from the hot water tank on the opposite end of the house!

I doubt it's due to the water pressure. If you let the pressure get too low the pump cavitates and makes a helluva racket. There's no mistaking that noise.

[milnerb1]

What do you have between the main water line & your machine? Filters? Softener? Any air in the line should have purged the first time you filled the boilers. Might be something restricting the water flow like one of the dreaded brass shavings we hear about every once in awhile. By the way my house is 250 years old & the toilet refills quietly.

My machine is off for the day but I'll give a listen tomorrow to see how much noise the water flow makes.

I'm supplying the machine with 1/4" line at 60-70 psi going into a 3/8" john guest converter and then into a simple valve, and then into the pressure regulator valve supplied by Chriscoffee. Coming out of the pressure regulator is a 3/8" line, which goes into the braided tubing of the machine.

I tried adjusting the water flow using the valve and also tried removing the pressure regulator to see if that helped. Neither changed the loud sound.

The only thing that happened is that the pump made that horrible sound which occurs when it is starved for water.

Also, I noticed that the sound is only present when running water through the group and not when refilling the steam boiler.

I'll poke around and see if I can find anything about the brass shavings in the forum.

Thanks for the help.

[JohnB]

Have you dropped the diffuser block & screens to see if anything is trapped in there? I'd try running the water through with those off & see if anything comes out or the sound changes.

[milnerb1]

Have you dropped the diffuser block & screens to see if anything is trapped in there? I'd try running the water through with those off & see if anything comes out or the sound changes.

I just did so, for the first time, taking the opportunity to clean the diffuser and dispersion screens.

Interesting, I didn't see any brass shavings come out. However, I noticed that when I brewed a shot afterward, the sound stopped once the pressure was built up against the espresso grounds.

So, when doing a blank shot, it seems to make the noise, but when brewing a shot, it seems to be operating ok...at least on the one shot I have pulled.

I assume that there must be some air in the system that is working its way out?

I wish there were a more certain way to pinpoint the issue and resolve it.

Thanks a lot for your coaching.

[coffeeowl]

I'm starting to think it's a kind of a flew or similar disease.
Have you read the posts in 'in warranty problems' in the s1vII section?
Now mine inlet pipes are resting on the shovel and the problem disappeared...