now that we are roasting our own beans, we pulled out our old starbucks zia espresso machine. (we bought it about 6 years ago and haven't used it in about 2 years) it seems pretty clean, so we filled it with water to see if it still works. the heating element still works but no water is coming out of the machine. i unscrewed it and checked the inside (i have no clue what i am looking at). i managed to get old water out of two pliable tubes. i tried the machine again and nothing. i don't think that it is taking in water. the connection between the water tank and the machine seems fine. any suggestions? i like to think of myself as mechanically inclined, but i don't know if i can fix this myself. |
I'm not sure about the Zia, but I have an Estro Profi which was later rebadged by Starbucks. The trick to getting the Profi to run is to prime the pump by running water out the steam wand. If that doesn' solve the problem, hopefully someone else on the list will have a better suggestion. Cameron On 5/16/06, Maureen Azcoitia wrote: <Snip> ribes) go tohttp://sweetmarias.com/maillistinfo.html#personalsettings<Snip> |
Chances are the machine needs to be descaled. On 5/16/06, Cameron Forde wrote: <Snip> |
Not many pumps have much "suction," so any obstruction in the feed line wil= l pretty much shut it down. Cameron and James are right on. Any scale in it when you last used it would have dried out, perhaps unseating the valves in the vibrator pump. With the valves off-seat, it can't pump and becomes just a vibrator. Another check would be the entire length of the plastic tubes themselves, in situ as the reservoir is full an= d in normal operating position. Any air leak on the inlet side of the pump will stop it. If the machine were stored for an extended period with a tube inadvertently kinked, you can remove the kink best by soaking the length of tube in boiling water. Otherwise, it will prefer to remain kinked. Hardware stores have replacement tubing if you can't boil it out. One good preliminary way to clear some scale would be to use a baster to blow some warm 10% vinegar solution into the tubing to the pump while it's running. I'd open the steam wand while you force the vinegar solution into it. If you hear the pump load down, watch for anything to come out the wand= . If you get some liguid through the wand, the pump will probably start working on its own. Fill the reservoir with warm vinegar solution and make sure the hose isn't kinked. Let the machine heat up and cycle it through al= l of its functions. Then turn it off and just let it sit for 30 minutes. Repeat this procedure two times. If you have any commercial espresso machin= e descaler, use it after you get the machine working. You probably have the clear distilled vinegar, which is dilute Acetic acid, rather than the Citri= c acid used in the descalers. Vinegar is cheaper, like me! Keep looking, Maureen- you'll find it. Cheers -RayO, aka Opa! On 5/16/06, James House wrote: <Snip> ttings <Snip> -- "When the theme hits the bass, I dance the Jig!" - -Virgil Fox at the Wichita WurliTzer |
The people at Starbucks customer support are very very helpful. I bought a Barista at a local Yard Sale, and these folks walked me through an internal repair, over the phone, at no charge. Here's their link...http://www.starbucks.com/customer/faq_qanda.asp?name=brewequipOn 5/16/06, Cameron Forde wrote: <Snip> scribes) go tohttp://sweetmarias.com/maillistinfo.html#personalsettings<Snip> ribes) go tohttp://sweetmarias.com/maillistinfo.html#personalsettings<Snip> -- Regards, Brett Mason HomeRoast Zassman |
Maureen, I recently bought an Estro Profi, and had a similar problem. During my browsing of the web I ran across an admonition to not use vinegar. I ended up using lemon juice concentrate. About 1 part lemon concentrate to 2 parts water, strained to make sure there was no pulp in it. I injected some of th= e solution into the tube, that got the pump going. I ran some out of the wand= , and some through the grouphead (don't let it heat up). After it sat for an hour I ran it some more, stopped it. After running a reservoir of this solution through the machine, two batches of water to flush. --MikeW On 5/16/06, raymanowen wrote: <Snip> and <Snip> of <Snip> re <Snip> s <Snip> o <Snip> nd. <Snip> e <Snip> all <Snip> n <Snip> settings <Snip> -- "Life is just one damned thing after another." - Elbert Hubbard |
thanks to rayo, james, and cameron (and anyone else who may have answered) i got finally got water through my machine. i unscrewed every screw i could see. i also removed the two tubes. i soaked the tubes in a 10% vinegar solution. i also removed the wand and soaked that as well. when i got it together, i ran the machine for about 5 minutes when FINALLY the water lever started to lower. it took a while for water to run through the wand, but it did along with something that looked like backwash. lastly i ran some vinegar solution through the machine, now the wand runs clean. one final question, how many tank fulls of water should i run through the machine to get rid of any trace of the vinegar solution? maureen |
Maureen Azcoitia wrote: <Snip> until you can't taste it. <Snip> -- There is a theory which states that if ever anyone discovers exactly what the Universe is for and why it is here, it will instantly disappear and be replaced by something even more bizarre and inexplicable. There is another theory which states that this has already happened. |
From a pure chemistry standpoint, you can neutralize acid with a weak (and cheap) solution of Arm and Hammer baking soda. I am clueless about the volumetric capacity of the heating/ steaming system, but it's not great because it's not a high volume commercial machine. Two complete heat system exchanges of the neutralizing solution will totall= y undo the acid effects and will be easy to rinse out completely with a coupl= e of system exchanges of distilled water. You could actually dispense with the neutralizing step and just use 3 or 4 exchanges of distilled water, which is an excellent solvent by itself. Again, I don't know how the reservoir size compares with the internal syste= m volume. Just run the pump until the temperature starts to drop. (= 1 syst= em exchange) Wanna go nuts with a pH meter? Naw- Cheers -RayO, aka Opa! Got Grinder? |
2 should do it Maureen Ron |
Maureen, <Snip> rid of any trace of the vinegar solution?< When you can't taste it anymore it will be diluted well beyond the level necessary to protect your machine (I doubt that is even necessary as far as the machine goes). After doing this procedure I usually think I can taste it, just a little, in the shots I pull for a day or two - but that may be the traffic jam between my ears. Mike (just plain) |
Personally I only descale with citric acid as I read many things that said to not use vinegar and other solutions, but my machine is an HX too. The Insanely Long Water FAQ is one of the many resources that is helpful regarding machine descaling and cleaning.http://www.big-rick.com/coffee/waterfaq.html"However, *only use citric or tartaric acid for HX machine descaling,* sinc= e if any remains in the boiler it's no big deal, whereas smelly vinegar or cleancaf's detergent could be a problem even at low concentrations." On 5/16/06, Michael Dhabolt wrote: <Snip> |
--Apple-Mail-53--118039240 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Content-Type: text/plain; charset -ASCII; delsp=yes; format=flowed This is why you should keep some stale beans around, to grind up and use for "sink shots" you brew to absorb cleaning and descaling residue--so-called because you pour 'em down the sink rather than drink them. On May 16, 2006, at 10:10 PM, Michael Dhabolt wrote: <Snip> Sandy www.sandyandina.com --Apple-Mail-53--118039240 Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Content-Type: text/html; charset O-8859-1 This is why you should keep some = stale beans around, to grind up and use for "sink shots" you brew to = absorb cleaning and descaling residue--so-called because you pour 'em = down the sink rather than drink them. On May 16, 2006, at = 10:10 PM, Michael Dhabolt wrote: |
Sandy, I pull enough 'sink shots' the way it is. Actually planning a 'sink shot'......there is just something ........ wrong about that ;~) Mike (just plain - a little 'twisted') |