Ok after stripping it down and confirming that water flows from the pump to the OPV and into the boiler I decided to pull the solenoid off and run the pump to confirm if water was flowing out the boiler and into the solenoid. On turning the pump on water came gushing out the boiler to where the solenoid inlet would be. So now we can confirm that water gets TO the solenoid. Solenoid back on machine and no water flows out the group head and as pressure builds water flows out of the OPV return pipe to the water tank.turning the steam wand on shows water flowing out of there so 100% confirmed the OPV is working. So the only thing it could be is either the solenoid has blown ( I stripped the solenoid apart and there are no blockages ) or the inlet back to the boiler is blocked. I suspect the solenoid is not working. Thoughts?
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dmbassett,
Love all your picture,looks like my work bench in progress as well.
Did you confirm whether the coil of the solenoid was ok,checked its actual operation under current?
Coils can go open circuit,if it has shorted you would blow your fuse/circuit breaker,if open circuit it wouldn't work (no clicking).
Cheers
mick
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Hey Mick
I don't get the nice click when you turn the brew pump on just the sound of the pump. It used to make that snappy click sound. Definitely thinking solenoid. Not being good with electrics ( more mechanical ) not sure how to test it. ?
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dmbassett,
The coil part of your solenoid is a molded plastic part (square black thing)that encircles the shaft of the actuator (metal plunger with the seal).
Just locate the terminals of that (should have been two connectors connected).
Using a multimeter or test lamp (battery and globe) touch probes (one on each terminal) and you should get a closed circuit (ooo on meter or globe will glow).
If no closed circuit or no glowing globe, you have a open coil.....dead and is not repairable other then replacing the coil part or the lot if coil is not available.
Cheers
Mick
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As Mick has pointed out it could be the solenoid coil so if you can check it then it'd be worth doing. But like the pump this part rarely fails. What's more likely is that there is an invisible blockage in the solenoid. If you haven't already seen it have a read of this web page as it's the best instructions I've seen for doing a strip of a Classic - http://protofusion.org/wordpress/201...-and-cleaning/. You'll see that the author gives clear instructions on how to clean the solenoid fully and this could be key. I'd also make sure that you clean all the scale off your group head and from inside the boiler if you haven't done so already. This can only be done by soaking everything in descale solution then applying a lot of elbow grease. Good luck.
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dmbasset
Just checking with you for progress with your classic?
I've some spare parts you could have for the postage cost and replaced parts posted to me if that helps.
Otherwise I'm always interested in another classic for repair!
Cheers
Mick
QUOTE=dmbassett;542280]Hey Mick
I don't get the nice click when you turn the brew pump on just the sound of the pump. It used to make that snappy click sound. Definitely thinking solenoid. Not being good with electrics ( more mechanical ) not sure how to test it. ?[/QUOTE]
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Sorry for the delY but I've since taken the classic apart AGAIN and soaked the solenoid valve and the opv in citric acid. I blew air through the holes and ther are NO BLOCKS at all. On putting it back together nothing. No water flow. I decided to take the pump outlet off again as I needed to see if water was actually getting to the OPV and surprise surprise no water came out for about 30 seconds then all of a sudden it started to flow. Back together and water came out of the group and wand. Success! But not so fast. When I turned the pump off and back on the pump went back to a quiet sound and no water then all of a sudden it kicked in and water flowed. This keeps happening so I'm thinking the pump is 99% dead and struggling to pump. I made a video linked below and if you turn the volume up you can here the pump TRY and kick in until it does right at the end. Now if I turn it off it dies again. Video explains better. So CS gurus could the pump be aba out to die? I think we can see there are no blocks anywhere.
http://youtu.be/QpTYH5DZPGg
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dmbassett,
Thanks again for the video,sounds exactly like your pump is working fine and then hesitates during flow (brew),the clean out of opv and solenoid was not wasted time anyway...!
Your pump sounds as if something's floating around that is causing the variation of flow,its really a simple bit of engineering and well within most peoples ability to disassemble and clear,important thing is to keep track of how it disassembles and reverse that procedure when re assembling.
Sometimes the tiny stainless springs can fracture and cause similar problems,I find if the spring bits are cleared and then stretch the shorter length spring remaining to give good tension...it works fine.
See how that goes otherwise another pump is in order.
Cheers
Mick
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Hey mick took your advice and stripped the pump. Looked clean and free in there. Stretched the top spring and soaked the bits in citric acid. Only question I have is about the top piece that the outlet hose connects to. Does it have a one way valve in there because I tried blowing through it and I could not but sucking hard on the outlet metal bit did release something and I could suck through the piece. Pics below but it's back together now and making noise but no water flow.
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http://ulkapumprepair.blogspot.com.a...site-page.html
Found this site which shows the pump in bits. I think I've found my issue. There is supposed to be a small plastic type ball which sits on top of the piston and mines not there!!!!! After 10 years plus of daily use maybe it wore away! People on the site linked above talk about the ball getting smaller and smaller over time. The ball is made of some thing called Dreamliner?? It's the ball near the number 2 here:-
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