Small screw found inside steam wand of Rancilio Z11! WTF!?

[Vinitasse Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Vinitasse]

Hi there,

Customers of mine with an ancient Rancilio Z11 complained that their steam wand pressure was way down so I decided to go in and take a look at it... assuming that it merely needed cleaning. However, when I removed the steam wand tip I found a tiny screw inside. Took it out... reassembled everything and the steam pressure was back up where it should have been.

The question is, where the hell did the screw come from?

Any ideas???

[GreenBeanGenii Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close GreenBeanGenii]

If that was from my home, then I would nominate the SO/husband as fiddling where he knew he should NOT tread.

[noidle22 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close noidle22]

Probably tried to block one of the steam tip holes but somehow pushed the screw up in there, maybe they didn't know the tip could be removed.

Some of the things you see on customers machines makes you wonder how society even manages to function at all.

[GreenBeanGenii Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close GreenBeanGenii]

Some of the things you see on customers machines makes you wonder how society even manages to function at all.

Giggles here. Many belong to the genre that never ever make use of an instruction manual.

[WantRancilio10 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close WantRancilio10]

The parts list/diagrams are useful. However, the 'instructions' in machine manuals are often pretty sh*thouse at best if not just plain wrong...

I've had the tiny screw work its way out of my specs - which is no big deal until an arm falls off... Or perhaps the screw has worked its way from the water tank into the boiler!

[sprezzatura Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close sprezzatura]

I agree with noidle - rudimentary steam control. Sometimes toothpicks get stuffed up in one or two of the holes.

[sprezzatura Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close sprezzatura]

Wait until you see a fuse protected PCB with a wire jumper soldered in [emoji14]

[noidle22 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close noidle22]

I've seen a bullet casing and also a coin used as fuses.

To be fair it wasn't a live bullet so that's at least one of the safety concerns covered.

[GreenBeanGenii Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close GreenBeanGenii]

Not coffee machine related but similar


SO went to a rental property because the tenants had complained about their GAS room heater. He did freak when he found the room heater to be installed with garden hose and dodgy fittings. To cover himself, he actually disconnected the gas meter. Hard to deal with stupid.