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Expobar Minore - help diagnose a pump issue
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I'm approaching that time as well with my Minore II. It's a 2009 vintage machine, and apart from a new steam boiler recently, it is still going strong. I'm noticing more fluctuations on the brew pressure during extraction, and am expecting it to go in the near future.
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Just an update from the OP here… bought and installed a new Ulka EX5 pump and it fixed the issue. New pump is much quieter than the old one, which is a bonus.
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Agree with Ben / L3N diagnosis, you'll never pick/spot as a pumps performances falls over the edge untill it finally croaks it or something else fatal occurs.
Much like tyres on a car. Once you've replaced a set you go wow how good is this suspension ! I never noticed.......
When another member here Stav was in the middle of his Fluid-O-Tech rotary pump upgrade thread I stumbled upon an East European guy Milen Stoitsev on the u tube doing a teardown / refit of seals etc to an Ulka E5.
Not only did he claim its doable and easy....it did to!
Filed it for future reference. Just searched it and There are others there as well.
Maybe you might want to give it a go?
Of course YMMV and you might not think its as easy / convincing as it appeared to me at the time.
Goes without saying I wasn't then nor now in a caffeine deprived enough state to just go .....
Nup I'll just bolt up a new one...easy peasy.
GL
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What you're describing and is in the video is the most common failure mode for these pumps. The max pressure it can do will get lower and lower. Since it's a ~15bar pump, it's probably been doing this for a while and you only noticed recently because it's dropped under your OPV setting. If you set your OPV below the cutoff it will behave relatively normally for a little while. Replacement is the best fix, though I think if you can get it, it's the moving parts inside the pump and neck that are worn.Originally posted by dischucker View PostMy Expobar Minore 2 is acting up... the pump seems to stop working when the pressure gets above about 7 bar. The vibration sound dampens significantly and flow stops. You can faintly hear the pump trying to work but its not really doing anything. Here's a video showing it happening when performing a back flush.
Should I just replace the Ulka pump as a plan A?
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roosterben Thanks for that - was my initial guess but thought it worth checking with the brains trust here...
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I would just put in a new pump and be done with it. The Ulka EX5 can be found for $40 or even $30 sometimes if you have a good look around, if you have a look on Evilbay you will find a few options.
Last week I replaced the pump in my Rocket Giotto and is making better shots due to the pressure being more consistent.
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I did try changing the OVP limit and it seems to not be related. The pump cutting out is intermittent and when it happens, the pump noise drops to 10% as loud as normal. When I adjust the OVP, the pressure gauge shows the actual boiler pressure changing but the pump noise does not change. Which is what you would expect.
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There has to be solenoids because the one pump provides water to 2 boilers and a group. Do you think it's possible the OPV is set to 7 bar? I'd be adjusting that to see if you can get it to go up.
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Actually I don't think it has a solenoid - lever does this (getting confused with my previous BDB where I replaced the solenoid).
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Expobar Minore - help diagnose a pump issue
My Expobar Minore 2 is acting up... the pump seems to stop working when the pressure gets above about 7 bar. The vibration sound dampens significantly and flow stops. You can faintly hear the pump trying to work but its not really doing anything. Here's a video showing it happening when performing a back flush.
I've guessing its either the vibration pump or the solenoid valve possibly??? The OVP seems OK as I did try adjusting it and the max pump pressure moved as you'd expect.
Should I just replace the Ulka pump as a plan A?

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