Seized Pump?

[lrumanes]

I finally got my S1 back together this week, plumbed it and plugged it in. Both boilers get hot and I can steam forever, but the pump isn't working. The Single and Double buttons do work and dispense the correct amounts, but I only hear a gentle hum coming from the pump. My group pressure is steady at around 5 bar, so I'm assuming line pressure is pushing the water through.

Nothing happens when I press the Hot Water button. I hear a click but no water comes out. Is there a reason line pressure wouldn't push water out as well?

I suppose I either have a seized pump or something is toasted on the controler board or motor. I've seen a few posts at alt.coffee that make me wary of taking my pump apart. At this point I'm thinking of either

A) taking the pump off of the motor and seeing if the motor turns and if the pump is seized, and then proceeding by soaking the pump in citric acid and trying to unseize it by turning the shaft by hand,

B) hauling it down ot my friendly local espresso tech, or

C) pack it up and ship it to Chris Coffee.


Does anyone have any idea of how much or little damage I can do by trying A before B or C? And how expensive that damage could be? I haven't probed any of the wires going into the motor yet and I'm not sure if the wiring diagrams in the manual are explicit enough to tell me which ones do what.

Any other ideas are welcome.


Thanks,

Louis

[lrumanes]

Couldn't wait, and getting the pump off was one screw. The pump isn't seized, but there was a huge amount of powdery gunk where the pump connects to the motor. The motor isn't spinning at all when I pull a shot.

[wgaggl]

The click you hear is the group solenoid valve engaging, the hum is the group solenoid valve staying engaged to pull the shot. You're right that the 5bar you're having are very certainly the line pressure. This is well enough to fill the steam boiler, since steam pressure is no more than 1.3bar. The "powdery gunk" (does it feel greasy or slippery? is it gray?) might be to grease the pump and motor bearings.

Your pump motor might be defective. But check the following:
Make sure all the electric connectors are tight in place.
Take a electric line tester (like the ones you get on a screw driver in a hardware store) and check if the power connector of the pump (brown wire connected to the electronics board) has voltage when pressing the brewing button. If yes, your pump motor is defective and has to be replaced. If not, the fuse for the pump on the electronics board might be blown. This can easily be replaced. If the fuse is ok, ... I guess you have a real problem with the electronics.

Wolfgang

[lrumanes]

Success! The motor was getting power but was frozen, so we took it apart, sprayed some Liquid Wrench on the front shaft, and were able to free the front bearing so it would spin. It's now reading about 14 bar and the first few shots were excellant.

The Hot Water dispenser still isn't working. I still can hear a click in the back of the machine when I press the button, but nothing comes out.

Any ideas?

Thanks,

Louis