The S1 Cafe - Helping Your Espresso Dreams Become Reality

i turned on the machine this morning and walked away; came back a few minutes later and noticed some blue smoke rising up from under the cups and then realized the machine had turned itself off, no blinking standby light. removed the cups, took off the warming tray, had a quick look and nothing immediately showed up as melted, cooked etc. but the machine doesnt go on; tried the plug, unplug etc.; the grinder is plugged into the same outlet, and the outlet/breaker is fine

any thoughts

michael wrote:i turned on the machine this morning and walked away; came back a few minutes later and noticed some blue smoke rising up from under the cups and then realized the machine had turned itself off, no blinking standby light.

Bad sign. Any smell of something burning?

My guess is that the blue smoke smelled like burning wire insulation or circuit board. Something definitely fried so start removing the covers. Look for melted wiring, look carefully at the two triac boards & consider opening up the black box if you don't see anything burnt in the surrounding area. Is there a master fuse/link on these machines? I see a 5a fuse inside the box but that seems pretty small for a master fuse.

Fried electronics have a very distinct smell. Is that what you smelled or was it more like burnt plastic/rubber?

to me,it was the smell of burnt electrical components; from the top view, nothing appeared fried, melted etc; i plan on having a look tonight, but at present it seems the quickest fix could be to overnight the machine to chris coffee

michael wrote:...but at present it seems the quickest fix could be to overnight the machine to chris coffee

Overnight? It might be cheaper to buy a new one than to ship one overnight. Yikes.

if you use ups ground from nyc to albany, it gets there the next day

any ideas on the problem

michael wrote:if you use ups ground from nyc to albany, it gets there the next day

any ideas on the problem

No crystal ball here but its obvious you fried something important since you have no power to the unit. Open up the machine & follow the smell of burnt wiring/electronics. With smoke & odor there will definitely be visual damage. If I was in NYC I'd set up a warranty repair appointment,run the machine up to Albany & bring it back home the same day. UPS could do much more damage then you've already got.

JohnB... now Michael. Damn, you are scaring me.

Sorry for your problem Michael. I hope it won't be too much.

have all the original pack and am going with the ups route tomorrow am

The S1 uses high quality parts, but let's be honest, this is a more complicated home machine than most (electronics, electro-valves, etc). Some occasional repair every other year or so is to be expected.

I'm comforted by the smart layout of the components in the machine and easy access to parts and knowledge.

On the positive side, at least you won't be replacing the pressure-stat.

Mine was just a loose connection that I probably caused when I insulated the steam boiler.

michael wrote:i turned on the machine this morning and walked away; came back a few minutes later and noticed some blue smoke rising up from under the cups and then realized the machine had turned itself off, no blinking standby light. removed the cups, took off the warming tray, had a quick look and nothing immediately showed up as melted, cooked etc. but the machine doesnt go on; tried the plug, unplug etc.; the grinder is plugged into the same outlet, and the outlet/breaker is fine

any thoughts

It sounds like a sign to upgrade to a GS/3! You may be the first one to have fried a controller board. It will be interesting to see if it was the controller board itself that went or something else that took it out.

Did you drain the boilers before you boxed it up? It's going to get down below freezing the next couple of nights in the CC area. Don't want to crack the boiler or the valves.

so i have thought about the GS3 upgrade, but havent yet heard the rave review; when is the review coming

So what did they find wrong with your machine?

according to chris coffee, loose fuse holder which caused arcing around the fuse which burnt out the fuse (and the holder?); seems strange to have that smoke and smell from the fuse: guess i should have checked, because it sounds like something i could have easily fixed, but it might have been a few days before i discovered it; machine is back and works fine, plus the temperature is now set correctly (and later this week, i can confirm that)

Was this the 5a fuse in the control box or is there another one hiding someplace?

the response from the repair people at cc was "the fuse", beyond that, i have never looked around the inside back part of the machine

Interesting, I assumed the fuse was probably toast but the blue smoke had me assuming that something else when wrong with the board to cause the smoke and the fuse to blow. I would have never suspected the fuse holder to be the cause. Glad to hear you're back in operation at any rate!