The S1 Cafe - Helping Your Espresso Dreams Become Reality

My steam boiler pressure valve is opening on startup. How can I tell if I need a new valve or if something else is going on? I have a very early S1 with no pressure gauge.

https://youtu.be/W4KKLGIoL-U

Wow. I don't remember any S1 having no pressure guage. I had a very early S1 and it had a steam boiler pressure gauge.

If the pressure valve is opening right at startup and not after enough time has passed for the boiler to get up to temperature, it must be the valve.

Yep, no gauge. It may be a Canadian import but I got it used in 2005 as detailed viewtopic.php?t=74. Wow, 74.
I should have been clear but the boiler builds pressure for 5 minutes before the valve opens, just don't know if it's releasing early or a triac or sensor is bad. In the video, steam comes from the middle of the valve as well, but I don't know if that's normal.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W4KKLGIoL

Thanks!

Louis

Are you sure this is an S1 Vivaldi and not an S1 Rossini? I don't think the S1 Rossini has ever had a gauge.

Not that it matters for your issue.

The triac usually fails either open or shorted. If it failed open, the boiler would never warm up and you would get an alarm instead of the safety valve popping open. If it failed shorted then the steam boiler would always be on, even if the machine was in Standby. From what you are saying, neither of these is happening so the triac is probably OK.

The most likely culprit is your temperature sensor.

BTW:

I see that the images on your original post were on your comcast.net server and are no longer there. Do you still have them? If so edit that post and upload the images directly to the S1Cafe, if you please. That will help to improve our old records.

http://home.comcast.net/~lrumanes/DSCN0001.jpg

The steam boiler has obviously leaked, and one of the bolts is rusted. Has anyone ever taken the boilers apart? Are the gaskets reusable?

http://home.comcast.net/~lrumanes/DSCN0003.jpg

The circuit board is no longer attached.

http://home.comcast.net/~lrumanes/DSCN0004.jpg

More corrosion at the pressure adjustment screw.

http://home.comcast.net/~lrumanes/DSCN0010.jpg

Thanks, I’ll look for the images. I wonder what I took them with 16 years ago...

Cleaning the sensor and moving the valve up a few times seems to have fixed it. Thanks! I have a constant hiss so might not have used as much teflon tape as when I swapped the sensor out and will try an o-ring.

How would I know if I have a Rossini? Here's the label on the faceplate:

I don't think it's a Rossini or a Vivaldi. I think it's just an S1.

BTW: Can you tell for sure where the hiss is coming from? My original S1 developed a hiss. Turns out that the seal on the steam boier lid had dried out and shrunk with age and steam was escaping around the edge of the lid. I tightened all the lid bolts by no more than 1/8 of a turn and the hissing stopped.