Awesome work, well done!
Don't forget you could manually pump up the boiler with air pressure to check for leaks, might be easier not being hot (and live) so you can touch things? You could unbolt the pipe to the pressure stat and block to confirm/eliminate the leak there.
Cheers
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ECM Giotto Premium not working - restoration attempt
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Snoop was my first thought, but with nearly everything above or around 100degC its a bit hard to use a liquid. The perfectionist in me wants this sorted but the realist in me tells me that I am at a point where the small leak or loss of pressure might be causing the heater to operate 10% more which in the grand scheme of things and at 26c/kWh is not very much.Originally posted by dumiya View PostVery impressed. Try a soapy solution and paint in various places and look for bubbles. But be aware of any 240 volts points. I guess the problem will be under the pressurestat so away from wires. It may be somewhere else with the sound reflecting. E.g those molecrickets who reflect their noise.
So I will run a descale through it with the heater on to give it a thorough clean then put the back and sides back on. It is making good coffee, the barista is definitely the weak link now.
Thanks
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Very impressed. Try a soapy solution and paint in various places and look for bubbles. But be aware of any 240 volts points. I guess the problem will be under the pressurestat so away from wires. It may be somewhere else with the sound reflecting. E.g those molecrickets who reflect their noise.
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Thanks for your continued help, it is definitely appreciated.Originally posted by Dimal View PostDo you know exactly where the steam is coming from on the P/stat?
If it's coming from inside, there may be a pin-hole in the diaphragm...
This would make the p/stat pretty sluggish in operation though.
If it's coming from the pipe thread/connection, then I would suggest that you use something like Loxeal...
[ATTACH=CONFIG]14187[/ATTACH]
Bunnings usually stock it.
Mal.
I am actually not sure, I can hear it but I can't locate it or pin point it. Is there a way to check the diaphragm on a Mater P/stat?
I stopped the water dripping leak with the old tried and trusted "heaps of thread tape" method.
The P/stat seems to work reasonable reliably between 0.95 and 1.1 Bar, but, having not had one of these before it is hard to say whether it is operating sluggishly or normal.
Cheers
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Do you know exactly where the steam is coming from on the P/stat?
If it's coming from inside, there may be a pin-hole in the diaphragm...
This would make the p/stat pretty sluggish in operation though.
If it's coming from the pipe thread/connection, then I would suggest that you use something like Loxeal...
Bunnings usually stock it.
Mal.
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I seem to have sorted almost everything, but can't seem to seal up the pressurestat. I seem to get liquid dripping out of the joint even though it should in theory only see steam. This is also where I believe I can hear the hissing from but can't seem to get anything to fog up.
Any ideas for how to seal it, and why I am getting liquid dripping out?
Thanks
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A small mirror or a small piece of shiny s/s is as good a method as any...Originally posted by vovo View PostAny recommended methods for locating gas/steam leaks? anything water based will just vapourise due to heat.
After the machine is up to pressure, turn the power OFF at the GPO - Then, just wave the mirror around in the vicinity of where you believe the steam leak is, and it should fog up the mirror when you're in front of it. Simple but effective...
Mal.
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Well, life got in the way and this project got parked for a few weeks, I also got extremely frustrated and needed a break.
Tried as hard as I could to try and figure out what was wrong with my controller. The heating element would just not turn on. Each input was tested or bridged but I could not get power to the element. I tried changing out both the transformer and the element relay (even though I was fairly sure they were not the problem) but they were not faulty. I still could not figure out the problem.
At some point I fried one of the surface mount resistors (I think 5.6 Mohm) near the heat element relay coil, at this point I was so bitterly disappointed that I had been defeated I just packed it up for a bit. Anyways I have now bought a new controller and the unit is functioning very well. couple little leaks to deal with and it'll be good as new. I'll pop up some completed photos shortly once I fix the leaks and clean up the side and rear panels.
Any recommended methods for locating gas/steam leaks? anything water based will just vapourise due to heat.
Cheers
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Looking good there "vovo"...
The plating on the outside of the Boiler is most likely Tin(Sn) or Nickel(Ni) or a SnNi alloy coating. Both are used and look similar. Nickel is not usually used for the inside though, can leach into the water under certain circumstances...
Mal.
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So i have had a good attempt at descaling the boiler and tubing downstream of the boiler. This involved multiple attempts of mixing descaler with boiling water and filling the boiler and soaking a few fittings in solution. The fitting threads were pretty badly scaled so I attacked those with a wire brush. The fittings have all cleaned up very well, but the boiler is not yet complete. I will run a descale through the machine once I get it all working again. I definitely needed to take it apart to clean up the fittings and tubing though.
Also thanks to the internet, I have cleaned up the front stainless panel with some bicarb and then polished up the panel with flour.
As you can see the boiler has cleaned up a bit but still has a bit to do, but it is hard to keep the boiler full without it being all connected and I didn't want to just drop it in a bucket as I am not sure what the coating is on the outside.

Fittings reconnected to the boiler. I need a few washers to seal up a few as the existing copper washers are not reusable, but I am putting together a list to complete the restoration in one go once I have confirmed it works properly.

Pump and wiring reconnected to the chassis, I am a bit disappointed that the rust remover has caused such an uneven substrate that it can be cleary seen where it was used under the paint. You can see it bottom right.

Here is the front, all cleaned up and polished, I have lost the I/0 symbols around the power switch which came off during cleaning.
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Having some very frustrating issues with the control board. I get voltage across the 16A relay but no heating. I have direct connected the heating element to 240v and it works. I've got the pressurestat and Thermo switch bridged out until I can figure out my problem even though they work.
I did take the opportunity to check how the boiler goes with a bit of pressure and it held up fantastic. A few seals to replace and that's it. I've sheared off the threads of the Thermo switch because i was a gorilla when a light touch was needed.
I'll pop up some more photos soon
Thanks
vovo
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More than happy to help with this project. I can't wait to see the result
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