Via Venezia tripping breaker

[coffee_machinist]

Likely it's the element. It's common for fault currents to only occur when the element is at operating temperature, when the damaged outer insulation expands and becomes slightly porous.

Good luck getting a replacement though - Saeco is now part of Philips, and they do not want to talk to anyone or supply parts. There used to be a mob in NSW called Southside Electronics that had them, you could try there but chances are slim.

[Vinitasse]

All fair comments and sorry to have caused any offense. I guess I was only looking at it from the customer's point of view and it really is all too easy to forget about the other side of the coin... the hard working men and women trying to do their best and make a buck while doing so.

[noidle22]

WTF??? You admit that you have never worked on a coffee machine with a boiler before. You are obviously not an approved service centre as you also admit you have limited access to spare parts and acknowledge the fact that your business does not even advertise the offering of repair services so please allow me to ask the very obvious questions... does your customer have any idea that you do not know what you are doing and should you be servicing this machine at all? Major alarm bells ringing!!!

we don't actively advertise the repair of coffee machines. your statement, "your business does not even advertise the offering of repair services..." i imagine was meant to have the words "to coffee machines" after it? if not then you win today's most judgmental individual award.
we also don't actively advertise the repair of 6000W generators, car battery chargers, portable fridges, coach stereo systems plus a myriad of other equipment yet i still fix them. i guess i shouldn't be doing this either?
i have also worked on my fair share of thermoblock and automatic machines so i'm not a total novice, i just wanted somebodies advice on this machine and if they have any previous experiences or tips they can offer me. i wasn't after somebodies criticism and absolute lack of any help whatsoever.

and how about you ask my boss these questions too. i'm just trying to make enough money to keep the business running because i'm the only one doing any work there. i'm paid rubbish, i'm sick of the crap i'm dealt because of my boss' incompetence and i'm just trying to bloody survive there. what i don't want is more useless rubbish on a thread for what i thought was a reasonable inquiry.

[Vinitasse]

Hoping someone can make life easy for me, i've had a customer bring in a Saeco Via Venezia (the stainless steel one) with the fault of tripping the house circuit breaker. Being that my boss spoke to the customer, he didn't ask for the information i would have to make my troubleshooting easier. Tried calling the bloke this afternoon and couldn't contact him on 3 different phone numbers

I have so much work on that i'm basically doing all myself that i can't spend the time fault finding this thing much more than basic stuff. I opened it up and went straight for the boiler element as i figured this was the most likely cause. In circuit and out of circuit it measures 55 ohm or so which seems normal for an element to me. When testing each terminal to ground, i get mixed readings from 1.5M ohm down to 120K ohm. I'm not sure if this indicates a short between the element and ground or if it's just residual from something. Should i get an absolute open circuit from the element to ground?

Measured the pump, no continuity one way and 0.72V the other way, indicating an operational diode. Measured continuity through the thermal fuse on pump and it's ok. All thermal fuses on the boiler are ok and there's no signs of scale buildup or leaks or burn marks or anything, it looks fine.
Powered the thing up and it turned on and heats but i do hear a hissing sound that builds after about 10 seconds after turning it on, sounds like a leak perhaps? I turned it off because i didn't feel like blowing stuff at work this afternoon and i didn't want to risk the customers equipment i had running. I intend to test it further when i get to work tomorrow morning., like pump/boiler/steam functions.

Could him running the boiler dry cause it to blow or something? I haven't worked on a boiler machine before you see. If anyone has any quick tips on easy troubleshooting ideas chuck them out there.
Also, being that we don't advertise repairing coffee machines (i intend to in the future once i get more experience and i'm not under my current employer) spare part availability is slim and i don't want to risk expensive parts if i can help it.

Cheers

WTF??? You admit that you have never worked on a coffee machine with a boiler before. You are obviously not an approved service centre as you also admit you have limited access to spare parts and acknowledge the fact that your business does not even advertise the offering of repair services so please allow me to ask the very obvious questions... does your customer have any idea that you do not know what you are doing and should you be servicing this machine at all? Major alarm bells ringing!!!

[noidle22]

Hoping someone can make life easy for me, i've had a customer bring in a Saeco Via Venezia (the stainless steel one) with the fault of tripping the house circuit breaker. Being that my boss spoke to the customer, he didn't ask for the information i would have to make my troubleshooting easier. Tried calling the bloke this afternoon and couldn't contact him on 3 different phone numbers

I have so much work on that i'm basically doing all myself that i can't spend the time fault finding this thing much more than basic stuff. I opened it up and went straight for the boiler element as i figured this was the most likely cause. In circuit and out of circuit it measures 55 ohm or so which seems normal for an element to me. When testing each terminal to ground, i get mixed readings from 1.5M ohm down to 120K ohm. I'm not sure if this indicates a short between the element and ground or if it's just residual from something. Should i get an absolute open circuit from the element to ground?

Measured the pump, no continuity one way and 0.72V the other way, indicating an operational diode. Measured continuity through the thermal fuse on pump and it's ok. All thermal fuses on the boiler are ok and there's no signs of scale buildup or leaks or burn marks or anything, it looks fine.
Powered the thing up and it turned on and heats but i do hear a hissing sound that builds after about 10 seconds after turning it on, sounds like a leak perhaps? I turned it off because i didn't feel like blowing stuff at work this afternoon and i didn't want to risk the customers equipment i had running. I intend to test it further when i get to work tomorrow morning., like pump/boiler/steam functions.

Could him running the boiler dry cause it to blow or something? I haven't worked on a boiler machine before you see. If anyone has any quick tips on easy troubleshooting ideas chuck them out there.
Also, being that we don't advertise repairing coffee machines (i intend to in the future once i get more experience and i'm not under my current employer) spare part availability is slim and i don't want to risk expensive parts if i can help it.

Cheers