Hot Water Outlet Leak

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tsgraham89

Hot Water Outlet Leak

Post by tsgraham89 »

Hey S1 Users,

Does anyone have suggestions to tear down the hot water outlet? My hot water outlet has started to leak heavy droplets of water. My assumption is that there must be a cracked O-ring. Looking for a little guidance.

Anyways, have a great holiday!
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chas
Vivaldi Dreamer
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Joined: Wed Jun 02, 2004 11:52 pm
Location: Central Maryland
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Re: Hot Water Outlet Leak

Post by chas »

Sounds like the solenoid valve for the hot water either has some mineral deposits in it or it's gotten sticky. You'll need to open it up give it a good clean out. For most things the S1 is a breeze to work on. You've hit the one part that is a bit of a pain to get at. Note: Since the leak is happening when the solenoid is NOT engaged, the issue is not with the solenoid itself.

The bolt holding the solenoid in place is pointed at by the red arrow. As you see there is a plate that extends back from the front panel which makes it impossible to get tools in there. (This plate contains the threaded hole that the top warming tray screws into.) You'll need to remove the top warming tray, drip tray, the side panels, the front chrome panel and then the two screws indicated by the Yellow D's above. Then you can pull the front panel off and move it back out of the way.

Once you remove the bolt that the red arrow points to, you can pull the black solenoid off and move it out of the way. Then the plunger valve that goes through the hole in the solenoid and the bolt that holds it onto the hot water assembly will be visible. Once you have disassembled the plunger valve, which will take some elbow grease, you can inspect and clean everything, then reassemble.

I had the same problem with my Dream recently. After the solenoid cleaning was done it worked for a few days and then started to leak again. It is waiting for me to give it another go! I knew that there was one part I should have cleaned better.

Once you get in there you will note that there are a couple of plastic pieces which could be worn. However, that doesn't seem to be my issue.

Good luck!
hotwatersolenoid.png
hotwatersolenoid.png (469.31 KiB) Viewed 4630 times
Chas
LM GS/3 & LaSpaziale Dream v 1.25 (US 120V)
Mazzer Kony E, Customized Rocky
Hottop P/B
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chas
Vivaldi Dreamer
Posts: 3044
Joined: Wed Jun 02, 2004 11:52 pm
Location: Central Maryland
Contact:

Re: Hot Water Outlet Leak

Post by chas »

I finally troubleshot and fixed my water leak which resulted in water coming out of the 3-way outlet and the group even when the Dream was unplugged. Since the only path for the water to get through those locations is through the 3-way valve, it had to be that. And since it happened even when the unit was powered off it had to be in the plunger activated by the solenoid and not the solenoid itself.

I completely disassembled that valve, inspected and cleaned it thoroughly, and reassembled it three times. It still leaked so I decided to buy a new one rather than continue with repair attempts. Chris Coffee Service only sells the entire assembly - valve and solenoid - for $96, but Espressoparts.com sells just the plunger assembly; i.e. everything except the solenoid for $43. The plunger brand they carry is only guaranteed to work with the same brand of solenoid which fortunately matched the one in my Dream. If you find that the plunger won't work with your solenoid, they also sell the solenoid separately for $33. Those two items combined are still cheaper than the one combined part from CCS. Of course if you've had your La Spaziale less that two years, CCS should provide you with the entire assembly at no charge.

I was actually troubleshooting a flowmeter alarm when the above described leak started happening. While waiting for the solenoid part, I removed the flowmeter and gave it an extremely good cleaning including a soak in white vinegar. The actual problem was never obvious, but for the moment, it seems to be working OK with no alarms. This is another part where you can save yourself a lot of money versus purchasing an entire new one should it start causing problems. You can buy most of the piece parts of which there are only 4-5.

For now my Dream is 100% functional. Even though I am meticulous about draining the boilers prior to storage, coming out of storage has been the cause of all the issues I have had with the machine.
Chas
LM GS/3 & LaSpaziale Dream v 1.25 (US 120V)
Mazzer Kony E, Customized Rocky
Hottop P/B
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