HI CS family,
I have picked up this second-hand Breville BES920 (serial 1438-005204-ANZ) in the hopes of giving it some TLC and brewing tasty espressos.
The only issue machine had was as follows:
- steam would leak into the drip tray from inside the machine (leak in the steam boiler)
First thing I thought to do was to do a descale as I didn't know how often the machine had been used... and I got into the trusty 'vALv' error on the second cycle (water flush) of the descale.
I tried several things that I gleaned from the CS forums, namely:
- Following the Breville ANZ instructions for descaling the machine
- Letting the boilers drain overnight
- Tilting the machine to get extra fluids out...
all to no avail.
Further, when I exit the descale cycle the steam boiler isn't firing up / three beep error.
I had purchased a BES9XX o-ring kit from eBay and decided to go inside and replace the o-rings / inspect the valves. Upon inspection, I found the (attached) probe all gunked up. The black stuff looks like melted plastic, and it was on the clip and on the probe. After cleaning this up and replacing all of the O-rings I've fired up the machine and still getting the three-beep error, and can't get past the 'vALv' error. Further, the steam boiler isn't heating up anymore (I felt the right-hand side of the chassis and it isn't warm at all).
Brains trust - here are my questions:
1) Based on the pictures provided, what probe has gone all foul and "black"?
2) Any other options for getting past the vALv error?
3) Any suggestions on diagnosing why the steam boiler is not firing up again.
Thanks in advance!
Y2J
I have picked up this second-hand Breville BES920 (serial 1438-005204-ANZ) in the hopes of giving it some TLC and brewing tasty espressos.
The only issue machine had was as follows:
- steam would leak into the drip tray from inside the machine (leak in the steam boiler)
First thing I thought to do was to do a descale as I didn't know how often the machine had been used... and I got into the trusty 'vALv' error on the second cycle (water flush) of the descale.

I tried several things that I gleaned from the CS forums, namely:
- Following the Breville ANZ instructions for descaling the machine
- Letting the boilers drain overnight
- Tilting the machine to get extra fluids out...
all to no avail.
Further, when I exit the descale cycle the steam boiler isn't firing up / three beep error.
I had purchased a BES9XX o-ring kit from eBay and decided to go inside and replace the o-rings / inspect the valves. Upon inspection, I found the (attached) probe all gunked up. The black stuff looks like melted plastic, and it was on the clip and on the probe. After cleaning this up and replacing all of the O-rings I've fired up the machine and still getting the three-beep error, and can't get past the 'vALv' error. Further, the steam boiler isn't heating up anymore (I felt the right-hand side of the chassis and it isn't warm at all).
Brains trust - here are my questions:
1) Based on the pictures provided, what probe has gone all foul and "black"?
2) Any other options for getting past the vALv error?
3) Any suggestions on diagnosing why the steam boiler is not firing up again.
Thanks in advance!
Y2J

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