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Grimac sightglass replacement

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  • robusto
    replied
    Roosterben, I guess they are a necessary evil. My Grimac Mia doesn't have one so there's no at-a-glance way to tell where the water level is. Relying on steam wand force or dryness is too subjective.

    I guess you can always remove the vacuum break valve, stick a bamboo skewer in there and see how much of it gets wet.

    I checked the pipes during the dismantle and they were very clean. Flushed from the kitchen tap the ones I removed totally to make sure there was no loose crud.

    Let's hope all's well now fro the next 15 years.





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  • roosterben
    replied
    Hey Robusto, those old sightglasses are super fiddly, I worked on an old single group Brasilia Portifino which had a cracked sight glass. What a pain to replace and tighten just enough to stop leaking.

    Can't recall if it was that or another machine but odd levels on the level gauge were caused by a blockage in the boiler pipe which looped in/out of the boiler. This was blocked with scale so it was stopping the water flowing and equalising. Could be worth checking that the entry/s to boiler are clear.

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  • robusto
    started a topic Grimac sightglass replacement

    Grimac sightglass replacement

    About 15 years ago I took delivery of my Grimac 2-group, which had a broken sight glass. I replaced it then, along with the neoprene-type grommets which help secure it to the boiler pipes. Well, last night I noticed an occasional drip from the top end of the glass. Every few seconds.

    Although straightforward, It's not the easiest to get to, requiring the removal of the warming tray, right side panel, top group-to heat exchanger pipe, and then the top and bottom sight glass-to boiler pipes. The bottom pipe of course starts to empty out the boiler as soon as it's loosened, so we had to keep putting little bowls under it to catch the (cold) water.

    The glass was broken. And the rubbery grommets somewhat hardened.



    Got a new glass and grommets from a shop, reassembled everything, partly filled the boiler through the removed vacuum break valve, and let the auto fill do the rest.

    Been idling for almost an hour and so far and, no leaks, I didn't want to overly tighten the nuts over the sightglass and grommets, but if they do need tightening, the whole sequence of removal has to be repeated. Fingers crossed.

    Some time ago I posted about the erratic behaviour of the water level inside the sight glass, jumping up and down. I think I may have found out why. I believe it is steam condensing in the brass fittings on top of the glass. The droplet of water then falls about 40 mm to the water level inside the glass, causing a splash. That's my theory.

    Anyway, the sightglass and grommets, I believe, are the only repair parts (excluding things like group seals) in the time I've had the machine. Not bad going, eh.
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