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stripping and cleaning an ECM Giotto

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  • JohnA
    replied
    Re: stripping and cleaning an ECM Giotto

    Congrats on the purchase and a great price also.

    Open her up and have a look inside. If there isnt any major scale build up around the connections then dont bother stripping it completely as i did.
    Whilst it is open, put the water reservoir in place. You will need to place something under it to stabilise it. Fire up the machine and just check for any leaks,
    When its up to pressure, check the operation of everything, steam arm, hot water arm, and group.

    maybe change the pressurestat and anti vac valve, both simple to do and cheap enough.

    If all works well, give it a good descale, run the descaler through the boiler, group and both steam and hot water.
    let it sit for a while then flush out well. When flushing the boiler, what i do is remove the wire from the autofill probe and let the boiler overfill slightly to give it a good rinse.

    good luck with it and if you need any help, there are plenty of people on here willing to give good advice

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  • farmroast
    replied
    Re: stripping and cleaning an ECM Giotto

    Just the thread I was looking for. Thanks John for posting. I just happened upon a 1999(if the first 2 no. of the serial no. are the year?) Giotto. Its in nice looking externals condition. The woman owned it from the start and didnt use it much until 04 and then lightly to moderately since then. She had a pressure stability problem and sent it to a shop. They ordered a new Biesse control box for $300. and then told her it didnt solve the problem. They suggested she send it to a different shop to solve. She then decided to get a new Alex Duetto and put the Giotto for sale for $300.shipped to almost recover the cost of the new Biesse which was included along with the original one.  My first thought was to do a complete descale/clean. And while I was at it do any appropriate upgrades. Will have to reread this thread as I just saw and skimmed it now. Thought I read somewhere else that some larger tubings are now used? If so should I upgrade them if possible?
    Ed

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  • JohnA
    replied
    Re: stripping and cleaning an ECM Giotto

    Thanks Chris, and thank you again for all your help.
    I must admit i enjoyed doing this and learned so much about the machine.

    I dare say though i need to flush a fair bit of water through it as the coffee didnt taste all too good. Not bitter or acidic, more so that chemical taste. Dare say i didnt flush things out as good as i thought.

    so have now flushed the boiler out 4 times and run 2 full reservoir loads through the group.

    after dinner will make another shot.

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  • TC
    replied
    Re: stripping and cleaning an ECM Giotto

    Congrats on a terrific restore John,

    Im sure youll now get many more happy years...

    Enjoy the shots!

    Chris

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  • JohnA
    replied
    Re: stripping and cleaning an ECM Giotto

    Well thats it, we are back up and running.
    Pipe was returned to me today, no more leaks and looks my handy work with the copper washers also worked as there are no leaks there either.
    Was a little concerned though when i pulled the lever to let some water run out of the group head and no water came out, but after a few more seconds it started coming out, so obviously with the empty pipes it just took a little while to get the water up there.
    Pressure sitting nicely at 1.3 bar.
    will pull 3 or 4 shots that will go to waste, then make one to drink.
    Will keep an eye on things for a couple of days now to make sure my problems have gone away and no need to change any more parts.

    Leave a comment:


  • JohnA
    replied
    Re: stripping and cleaning an ECM Giotto

    well the washers proved to be the biggest headache so far.
    I could not find part numbers for them, only new it was copper washers but what thickness was the issue.

    Luckily work had a few, but unfortunately some were too thin, whilst others too thick.
    you may wonder what the big deal is. Well if you look at this pic
    there is the connector on the bottom right hand corner, too thin or too far a wahser and it either either stops to early or too late, not aligning with the plumbing.
    There are 2 more like that also.
    So i spent the day today sanding them back slowly slowly till it was a perfect fit.

    Hopefully tomorrow my pipe with the pin hole returns, then i can finally fire her up and put her through her paces.

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  • damian1
    replied
    Re: stripping and cleaning an ECM Giotto

    yeah I am sure a plumber will be able to fix it up for you.

    Leave a comment:


  • JohnA
    replied
    Re: stripping and cleaning an ECM Giotto

    damian, it did get bent slightly and been such a small pipe may have developed from that.

    it is actually on the (what i think is) brass head rather then on the copper pipe.

    In  this pic i have marked which part it is a placed a dot were the water is coming from.

    when there is no pressure, it drips out slowly and makes it hard to tell if its from the connector or somewhere else, once at full pressure you can see it start to bubble out of that spot.

    I have a plumber friend who will be looking at it tomorrow for me



    Leave a comment:


  • damian1
    replied
    Re: stripping and cleaning an ECM Giotto

    wouldnt a pin hole indicate the pipe is probably on its way out? Id change the whole thing over I think (unless of course it is from bending it, or something like that).

    Leave a comment:


  • JohnA
    replied
    Re: stripping and cleaning an ECM Giotto

    Chris, please explain?
    i was going to pop into bunnings to see what i could find to do a repair job.
    If the guy you know isnt too far away from me, happy for him to do it.

    Leave a comment:


  • TC
    replied
    Re: stripping and cleaning an ECM Giotto

    Originally posted by JohnA link=1226281235/0#13 date=1226447881
    Thanks Dino

    well the saga continues.
    the copper washers also needed replacing. The original ones seem to have thinned out and dont stop the fitting were it need to stop. So now when you do up the fitting it no longer aligns with the piping.
    Luckily at work last night, they had copper washes, so was able to replace them all, only to discover a small pin hole in one of the smaller copper pipes
    A little braze work should fix that John...

    I have a bloke who can do it if you need one.....Sounds like youre in the home straight!

    Chris

    Leave a comment:


  • JohnA
    replied
    Re: stripping and cleaning an ECM Giotto

    Thanks Dino

    well the saga continues.
    the copper washers also needed replacing. The original ones seem to have thinned out and dont stop the fitting were it need to stop. So now when you do up the fitting it no longer aligns with the piping.
    Luckily at work last night, they had copper washes, so was able to replace them all, only to discover a small pin hole in one of the smaller copper pipes

    Leave a comment:


  • dino
    replied
    Re: stripping and cleaning an ECM Giotto

    Great job JohnA - well done !

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  • JohnA
    replied
    Re: stripping and cleaning an ECM Giotto

    I figured before i shut her down and let it cool down for the trip to work tonight for the final touch ups, i would make myself a cup of coffee.
    After all, i do deserve one, one would thing after 2 days of working on my baby.

    Well what can i say, its like its just came out of the showroom, the lever operation is not super smooth, and as for the steam handle, cannot remember it been so smooth with the way you open and close it.

    The first 2 cups went straight down the sink, and figured i would drink the 3rd one...

    ah, i am in heaven again.

    Hopefully it sees me through for another 4 or 5 years now, but i dare say i will upgrade prior to that and keep this one as a back up machine

    Leave a comment:


  • JohnA
    replied
    Re: stripping and cleaning an ECM Giotto

    thanks for the tips regarding the leaks.
    I think the problem is i also need new washers. I still have a very slight (read, 1 drop per minute) on one connection, even with the teflon tape on there.
    Will take the machine to work with me tonight, they have washers there and loctite as suggested by damian.

    Chris, one step ahead of you mate, all handles greased, as i did have a squeak on the steam one.

    cremachine, not sure on the nobel prize, the opportunity came up, have point and shoot camera so wasnt hard to document it.

    Hope it can help others looking at pulling apart their machine

    Once again though, id like to say a very big thank you to Chris for all his help regarding this venture.
    Hope i wasnt too much of a pain with all my questions

    Leave a comment:

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