Top 10 Rancilio Silvia Espresso Machine Questions & Answers

I used brute force. Remember to turn it clockwise to close.

Ok, We got a solution. We have hard water from a well. We disassembled the 3-way valve and removed the brass valve receiver. The outlet going to the coffee was plugged up solid with gunk (technical term). I used a tiny piece of wire from a wire tie and cleaned out the gunk, then soaked all the brass parts in descaler. The whole effort only took about half an hour. We used a crescent wrench, phillips screwdriver, and a 3mm allen wrench. We found the directions for the process at http://memweb.newsguy.com/~jenkins/silvia/. I think that descaling loosened a bunch of gunk from the tank and it got jammed in the tiiny hole.

I had the same problem. I took the steam wand off, and checked for steam out of the unit. It was OK, so I stuck a thin wire up through the steam wand and dislodged what look like pieces of a green washer or O-ring.
In short...the wand was plugged.

HI
You need to change the group head gasket. They only last about 1 year and then should be changed. Get 2 because they usually fail on Friday and you have a party on Saturday.
The gaskets get hard from the heat and don't form to the filter any more so they leak.
When you get the new gasket.
Empty everything out of the machine (water tank, drip tray, etc.) Turn the machine upside down on a towel. This way you can see what your are doing.
Remove the filter screen and diffuser from the brew head. The black O-ring is your gasket. Carefully pry it out. Clean the opening good before you install the new gasket. Insert the gasket with the beveled side down (on the inside edge of the O-ring is the bevel). Once you have the gasket in place, use the portafilter to finish seating the gasket.

The pump is a vibratory pump on rubber mounts. It makes a loud buzz when running.

The pump makes a knocking sound when it is out of place on the mounts and banging into something and when the pressure is high (water flow is blocked)

Open the wand all the way (no back pressure) and make some hot water. If the noise changes to a quiet hum, get a warranty repair. If the noise changes some but is still a knock, take out the water reservoir and the pump shield.

You can see the shield by looking down into the cavity left by the reservoir. One screw hold the shield in place. Remove the screw and the shield, and wiggle the pump around in its mounts until it does not bump into anything when running. Then replace the shield, screw and reservoir.

There is an electrical short within the machine, ...don't doubt it - the results of your experiments prove that it has an electrical fault and that your tripping circuits are doing exactly what they should to keep you and your property safe.
The machine needs servicing by a registered Rancilio electrician, don't go inside yourself, its highly likely that the part causing the tripping is dangerous and will need to be replaced.

It may be that the 'shower screen' which is a perforated metal disk filter that fits inside the head has reached its use by date.
These can be found and bought on E-bay for about $15 each, make sure you buy a genuine Rancilio replacement, while you are at it, replace the rubber 'group seal' - a rubber ring for pressure sealing the head/arm after filling the arm with grounds - these are a similar price. If you get leaks around the head while making a coffee, the seal is worn out.

It should not leak steam out of the grouphead. The three way valve is leaking.

First of all if it is new, get it fixed under warranty. The three way valve is a replaceable item.

On the other hand if you are like me, you can try a back flush with just a tiny bit of coffee machine detergent like "Joe-Glo". The directions might say not to do this but if it is my machine, it's my machine

1. Get a rubber disk for back flushing. Any place that sells the detergent should sell the disk.
2. Put the disk in the portafilter and add just a few grains of detergent.
3. Install the portafilter and "brew" for about 20 seconds, then switch of for 15 seconds or so..
4. Refill the water reservoir as needed.
5. Repeat the "brew" cycle until you get "detergent water" in the catch pan. It may take 6 to 8 cycles.
6. Remove the back flush disk from the portafilter, reinstall, and run a couple of normal 30 second brew cycles to flush detergent out the valve and grouphead.

If this was a coffee maker in service for a while and might have a water scale buildup, I would do the same thing but I would dissolve some citric acid in the water reservoir and descale the boiler, valve, and grouphead at the same time.

descale the heating elements with vinnegar.

Hi There,
Loud noise from the pump indicates that the pump is pumping dry.
Check these to find out the cause;

1. Water: First see that you get water from the machine without any coffee, if water comes out ok then your coffee was too fine.
2. Adjust grind:- Try using less coffee or adjusting the grind.
3. Pump:- If no water comes from the group then you may have to replace the vibration pump.This would take approx 20 min and is a cheap fix.
Descale the machine in any case as they may have caused the pump to malfunction.
Loud drilling noise when coffee switch is turned on - rather than the usual purring noise - and no coffee delivery either Vibration pump Gaggia Rancillio JURA descaling tablets