Sylvia wont heat up, do all have a themostat reset?

[curry100]

Hello,

Today my Sylvia wouldn't heat up to temp. It has a PID and though the light for the boiler stays on the temperature doesn't increase.
I've not had this problem before, but suspect the boiler may have gone empty while I was away from it for an hour as there was water in a cup from the steam spout, though at the time had made sure it was closed well

I took a look a look inside and can't see a thermostat reset. Its an old machine, so wondering if it it just doesn't have one.

As its getting on a bit (bit of rust on the side pillars showing now), I'm wondering if there's anything I can do myself, or if its even worth the repair considering age/condition.

Any advice appreciated.

Thanks,
Harry

[TOK]

My history with Silvia doesnt go all the way back to the beginning however as far as I know Silvia's have for a long time had a resettable thermostat. The thermo in questiton has a small red button on top.

That said, it doesnt always acivate OR by the time it has activated, it is often too late and the element has fried.

Before you ask, the reason there isnt a hole in the bodywork to allow you to stick something in there to reset the button, is because (for safety reasons) this is not meant to be user serviceable.

Regardless, as stated previously it is often too late even if the thermostat has tripped. A suitably qualified service provider will check that but will also test the element to see if has failed and needs replacing.

These machines are very long lived and in my opinion are worth repairing, but element replacement wont be cheap. I would also recify the steam valve problem that seems to be happening, to stop the possibility of this happening again.

New Silvias have a new / redesigned boiler and the element itself can now be replaced without necessitating replacement of the whole top part of the boiler.

Hope that helps.

[Mouldy]

A couple of things you could check if you have the skills. If you want to check your heating element, then you could use a multimeter to measure resistance across the terminals (obviously ensure the machine and PID (if it has it's own power supply) are unplugged to ensure no power to the machine at all). I think the element is 1100W depending on which version and voltage you have, but if it's a 240V machine and the element is 1100W, then you should measure about 52 Ohms across the terminals of the element with power disconnected. If your machine is for a different voltage (i.e 110) or different element power rating, then the resistance measured should be equal to the voltage squared divided by the power rating of the element in Watts.

If the element is ok, then the other thing to check, is the relay (probably an SSR?) that receives the output from the PID; although it would require measuring the output voltage from the SSR when the PID output is active. You should get an electrician to do this as it would be testing the live voltage output of the relay and therefore is a hazardous task.

Others may chime in with other info (or possibly to correct the info above).

[curry100]

Hi Guys,

Thanks for the quick replies really appreciated!
I took a measurement with the multimeter to see if the element was busted and it measured 48ohm so that was good.
Would you believe it, while taking the measurement I did spot the thermostat reset! what a plank, completely missed it even though I thought I'd checked and triple checked.

I'll put it down to not having any coffee available when the machine wasn't working

Thanks again, really appreciated. Had to buy a coffee today!! and was thinking an upgrade was going to have to happen sooner rather than later.
Will check that the steam wand is closing correctly too.


Cheers,
Harry