Mini trips my power circuit when the boiler comes on

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leonecam

Mini trips my power circuit when the boiler comes on

Post by leonecam »

I have some sort of electrical fault with my machine where it trips the circuit for my whole apartment when the boiler comes on. I can turn the machine on witht eh boiler off and have no issue but the second I press the boiler button, all the power goes off and I have to go reset the circuit breakers. Interestingly enough none of them seem to actually "trip" but I do have to turn them off and on again to get very thing working. Has anyone had this issue? Any suggestions for a fix?
richardcoffee
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Re: Mini trips my power circuit when the boiler comes on

Post by richardcoffee »

Do you have the internal switch set to 15 amp mode? See the thread below called: Should I switch to 20 amp setting?
leonecam

Re: Mini trips my power circuit when the boiler comes on

Post by leonecam »

I'm currently on 20. Odd thing is I've used this machine for about a year on the current setting and haven't had any issues. There aren't any other appliances booked up now and it still crashes. Will try the 15 and see if that helps. Any reason why this would suddenly be a problem now?
leonecam

Re: Mini trips my power circuit when the boiler comes on

Post by leonecam »

I tried moving it to Eco (I'm on 220v) but had the same issue, lights out! That said, from the other posts I gather that when on 220v the amp differential shouldn't be an issue. This seems to be an internal short of some sort.
richardcoffee
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Re: Mini trips my power circuit when the boiler comes on

Post by richardcoffee »

Sorry, I run out of possibilities after the first easy ones. I was thinking you were just overloading the circuit.
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chas
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Re: Mini trips my power circuit when the boiler comes on

Post by chas »

There is one possibility that it easy to check just by removing the cup warmer cover and looking down at the top of the steam boiler.

The AC power wire to the boiler is in a damp location. Moisture wicks in between the copper strands right where the wire goes into the crimp connector on top of the boiler. The result is corrosion and heat which can eventually burn the wire. If the burnt wire then pops off the crimp connector and touchs the boiler surface or the chassis, it would certainly trip the breakers.
Chas
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Cliff

Re: Mini trips my power circuit when the boiler comes on

Post by Cliff »

It might be that your element has gone bad. I had a similar problem... It did not pop the breaker but it would trip the GFI and shut the mini off. If you have a ohm meter I can walk you through seeing if your element is bad.
leonecam

Re: Mini trips my power circuit when the boiler comes on

Post by leonecam »

Thanks Cliff. I called the company that sold it and that's what they said too. Waiting for a replacement element to be shipped to me.....


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Cliff

Re: Mini trips my power circuit when the boiler comes on

Post by Cliff »

Glad you got it figured out. A little advise… Before you take the fittings off the boiler mark the direction they are going on the old boiler. Then that will service as your guild while you transfer everything over. Also make sure you use plenty of plumbers tape as well.
Thomas

Re: Mini trips my power circuit when the boiler comes on

Post by Thomas »

I experienced exactly the same thing with my Mini Vivaldi (production year 2012) a couple of months ago.

The new steam boiler in my machine is different from the old one in at least one respect: The very top of the red/orange thermostat (I'm not technical minded, but I think it is a thermostat!) is now removed – and it seems to have been removed manually. It looks like the one shown in this thread from the the German coffee forum: http://www.kaffee-netz.de/espresso-und- ... ostat.html.
leonecam

Re: Mini trips my power circuit when the boiler comes on

Post by leonecam »

Thomas, how did you fix the issue? Mine is a 2012 as well, I'm still waiting for that replacement part.....


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