My Rancilio Silvia is about 16 mths old. Recently it's been playing up when hot. The pump refuses to prime and no water comes out of either the group head or the steam/water nozzle with either the brew or water switches on. All that comes out of either outlet is steam (but much less than when steaming milk). The pump runs, but doesn't sound like it's working, i.e., there's no load on the pump. The pump primes properly when cold. I go through the boiler filling routine each day, as I empty the water hopper when I'm finished using the machine. The pump works fine doing this. The problem has been there for a while, but seems to be becoming more frequent. When I first got the machine I could let it sit all day without a problem. I can avoid the problem by running the pump for a short while every half hour our so. It's as though the pump is heating and the water is vapourising causing it to stop pumping but this seems unlikely in a plastic bodied pump. I don't think that it's drawing air through the suction as there are no leaks there, i.e., no water collecting under the machine. I'm mystified as to what's going on. Could it be the seals in the pump failing once they heat up? Sometimes the pump will eventually start pumping after running it for a while. At other times it just won't start pumping and I have to switch the machine off for a short while.
I do a weekly backflush and have wondered whether this can be detrimental to the pump. The manual recommends this and I wouldn't have thought it would be detrimental as the pumps are rated at 15 Bar and the OPV shouldn't let it get to this pressure. I recently fitted an Auber PID kit. The problem has become more frequent since fitting the kit, but it was the problem started well before doing this, so I don't think that this would have any bearing on the problem.
Does anyone have a clue as to what's going on? What's the construction of the pump, is it a diaphragm pump?
Cheers
Mark
I do a weekly backflush and have wondered whether this can be detrimental to the pump. The manual recommends this and I wouldn't have thought it would be detrimental as the pumps are rated at 15 Bar and the OPV shouldn't let it get to this pressure. I recently fitted an Auber PID kit. The problem has become more frequent since fitting the kit, but it was the problem started well before doing this, so I don't think that this would have any bearing on the problem.
Does anyone have a clue as to what's going on? What's the construction of the pump, is it a diaphragm pump?
Cheers
Mark

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