Pre-infusion chamber exploded

Did you have a bad "out-of-box" experience with your Mini? Describe it here and report back with the final resolution.
Post Reply
blowery

Pre-infusion chamber exploded

Post by blowery »

Hi there,

The second morning I had my brand new S1 Mini II, the pre-infusion chamber popped open. Luckily, I live just north of Albany, so I just drove the machine back to Chris' Coffee and they fixed it up quickly and professionally. Apparently I'm the first person they've heard of this happening too, so it's a pretty uncommon thing. No machine damage, just a loud racket when pulling my first shot of the morning and then some harried machine spelunking.

I will say it reaffirmed my happiness with Chris and his crew. They handled everything wonderfully and I knew I'd be taken care of.
busted chamber
busted chamber
photo-1.jpg (111.32 KiB) Viewed 9977 times
Last edited by blowery on Tue Aug 18, 2009 4:10 pm, edited 1 time in total.
JohnB

Re: Pre-infusion chamber exploded

Post by JohnB »

Did the can rupture or was it just leaking at a fitting?
blowery

Re: Pre-infusion chamber exploded

Post by blowery »

There's a ring clip that holds the back end of the chamber in place and that popped out somehow. The spring inside the chamber then pushed the back plate out and it made a really loud CLANG against the dividing wall just behind the chamber. Nothing appeared to actually break, the ring clip just popped off somehow. Jim (the tech at Chris') reinstalled the ring clip and played with it for a bit trying to get it to fail again but could not. Either way, they gave me a new chamber, tested it with a bunch of blank shots, and all's been well since.
blowery

Re: Pre-infusion chamber exploded

Post by blowery »

Added a pic of the chamber to the first post. Thought I'd lost the photo, but it turns out google still had it. :)
User avatar
chas
Vivaldi Dreamer
Posts: 3044
Joined: Wed Jun 02, 2004 11:52 pm
Location: Central Maryland
Contact:

Re: Pre-infusion chamber exploded

Post by chas »

If I remember correctly there is a "C" clamp that holds the spring loaded piston in the cylinder. Did that clamp either pop out of its slot or just plain break?
Chas
LM GS/3 & LaSpaziale Dream v 1.25 (US 120V)
Mazzer Kony E, Customized Rocky
Hottop P/B
blowery

Re: Pre-infusion chamber exploded

Post by blowery »

It just popped out. The techs at Chris' Coffee think it might have happened because the c-clamp wasn't seated properly.
Post Reply

Return to “Mini Day One Problems”