Replacing pump on espresso machine?

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- Amanda Riphnykhazova
  
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posted
9 years ago

Thu, Nov 20, 2014 10:12 AM

Can anyone assist with this Chromex CH308 conventional looking espresso mac hine please? I cant find any reference to this Italian company for a servic e manual. There may be a forum (SAV?) but it is in French.

When I press the espresso button to brew the coffee, the pump works for abo ut a second and then appears strangulated and stops, thereafter dribbling t iny amounts of coffee out of the portafilter.

Do these pumps go weak or do they just fail please?

I immediately suspected a failed pump but when I open the steam valve, the full pump sound comes on and seems to work fine??

So I unscrewed the metal filter above the portafiler which doesn't look par ticularly dirty. When I took it off, the pump worked fine and spewed out n ormal amounts of water from the bare head: I figured that the metal filter is blocked, since not much seems to be blocked above it and I cleaned it. B ut when I put it back, and put the portafiler back in place (empty), the un it appears strangulated again and no water comes through.

I dont suppose there are two pumps, with one governing the coffee brew and the other governing the steam wand. Does all this just mean that my pump i s gone?

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- etpm
  
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posted
9 years ago

Thu, Nov 20, 2014 5:04 PM

Greetings Amanda, I don't know about your particular machine but I did repair an expensive espresso machine several years ago that the service company could not fix because they could not find the fault. It behaved in a similar fasion to the symptoms you describe. The problem was that several very small passages in a manifold were plugged. They were quite small, about 1mm as I recall. I used a tiny drill bit, which I held in my fingers and twisted, to clean out the passages. That was all it took. I hope this helps. Eric

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- Con Saris
  
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posted
9 years ago

Thu, Nov 20, 2014 7:43 PM

On Thursday, November 20, 2014 8:42:37 PM UTC+10:30, Amanda Riphnykhazova w rote:

achine please? I cant find any reference to this Italian company for a serv ice manual. There may be a forum (SAV?) but it is in French.

bout a second and then appears strangulated and stops, thereafter dribbling tiny amounts of coffee out of the portafilter.

e full pump sound comes on and seems to work fine??

articularly dirty. When I took it off, the pump worked fine and spewed out normal amounts of water from the bare head: I figured that the metal filte r is blocked, since not much seems to be blocked above it and I cleaned it. But when I put it back, and put the portafiler back in place (empty), the unit appears strangulated again and no water comes through.

d the other governing the steam wand. Does all this just mean that my pump is gone?

Hi, I have had similar problems with my DeLonghi machine as well. The filter i n the portafiler was blocked with very fine coffee grounds. You could not s ee this and the basket seemed clean. I took a fine sewing needle and starte d poking each hole through. Made a huge difference. Another thing to check is if the machine needs descaling. I try to do mine every couple of months as we live in a very hard water area. Hope this helps. Con