The S1 Cafe - Helping Your Espresso Dreams Become Reality

Hello!

I have a 2007 vintage and the most awful barking noise is coming from the steam boiler once in a while. I assume that this is the safety valve opening. It does not happen very often and just started last week. When plugged in, I haven't caught the pressure gauge going above 1.2-1.4 bars yet, so it seems like the valve is opening early. When I have the steam boiler turned off, this noise doesn't occur.

Is there anything else I should check or should I order and replace the safety valve?

Thank you!

I'd run the machine with the covers off for a while and keep an eye on it to be sure it is the pressure valve opening early. It is also possible that the Vacuum Breaker Valve is not sealing correctly. On the other hand I've never heard the sound from either of these described as a barking noise.

After hearing this noise does the pressure drop to near zero or does it stay around 1.3bar? I have heard boilers that have developed extreme scale make a barking like noise when the heater element in on. When did you last descale?

Chas, I noticed today my steam boiler gauge was very much in the red. I turned off the machine, waited sometime, turned back on, disabled the boiler. Then I turned the boiler back on and it stopped overheating.

So now it seems that my machine sometimes overheats the boiler and other times doesn't.

What should I check or do next? Thank you!

Those intermittent problems are a bitch. Out of curiosity did you try switching the boiler off and back on without also cycling power?

So far, I'm turning the power on in the morning and it hasn't repeated yet. Chris Coffee also said to take note if the boiler light is solid or flashing next time it happens.

I'll update this thread next time I can catch it happening.

I can confirm that my issue was resolved by replacing the triac. The boiler was constantly overheating, even though the boiler light was turned off. This was the recommended action by Chris Coffee, as well. The $36 part set me right: https://www.chriscoffee.com/products/tr ... 2217334820

Hope this helps someone.

Glad you got things sorted out. I didn't suggest replacing the triac becuase those symptoms were different from the normal triac failure mode. I guess something other than the normal failure occurred with the triac board.