SERVICE: Refurbishing Miss Silvia

Let me say first that a regular maintenance schedule is a great way to avoid little things from sneaking up on you.  The past several weeks have been quite an adventure into the mechanical world of my espresso machine, one in which many probably would have given up.  My original purpose for this saga was simply to perform regular maintenance, but, as many mechanics will tell you, working on anything that hasn't been kept up may open a Pandora's box of problems . . . and this was the case for me!  About $100 later and lots of tinkering and time invested, I finally have a well-working espresso machine.  I want to share with you the wisdom of my journey, so you don't have to feel alone when you take this road.  Read more of my story after the jump.

INTRODUCTION

Depending on how much you use your machine, you may need to perform these services more or less often.  For someone who like me who uses their machine several times a month at home, I should only need to perform a basic tune-up yearly, or so I hear.  Below are the steps of your basic tune-up:

1. Group Gasket Removal / Replacement
2. Deep clean of the Group Head and Group Gasket seat
3. Shower Screen Replacement
4. Steam Valve / Wand Rebuild
5. Boiler Descale

I would like to thank the good folks at Espresso Parts in Olympia, WA for their quality parts and excellent selection.  If you have a Silvia, you need to visit these guys and get the Rancilio Silvia Maintenance Kit.  This kit includes most of what you will need to keep your machine running trouble-free.  This kit has the following components:

• Shower Screen and Screw
• Group Head Gasket
• Steam Valve O-rings
• Steam Valve Seat Seal
• Steam Valve Body Gasket
• Steam Wand O-rings

Generally speaking, I have been told me to buy new baskets at the same time the group gasket is replaced.  Baskets do get worn over time and will leak if they are out of shape or damaged; you may find that the new gasket and basket will solve pin-hole leaks that spray out of the group head during extraction.

GEEK SIDEBAR: In technical terms, the mating surfaces (the place where the basket and the gasket meet, or "mate") will be new after replacing both the gasket and basket.  Hence, it's a good idea to make sure that both surfaces are new so that they wear together... like car tires!

Consequently, spend the extra $10-$15 to get new baskets when you order—it's just good form!  When I purchased my Silvia, it came with a La Marzocco handle and ridgeless double basket in it.  (The previous owner is a barista at my favorite shop, and he liked the heftier feel of the Marzocco porta.)

Another item to include in your purchase is some NSF White Petrol-Gel to lubricate the threads and prevent them from seizing up due to corrosion.  Depending on where you live, you may have any number of different problems with your water.  You should become acquainted with your area's water to know if you need a softener cartridge or a filter to prevent corrosion.  I will write more on water composition and espresso at a later date.

Finally, if you have not descaled your boiler in a while, you may get some unexpected surprises!  ScaleKleen is good stuff, but I'm warning you that all hell...I mean, scale...will break loose inside when you run this stuff through.  Thanks to descaling, I had to tear down my vibration pump and my solenoid because scale traveled throughout my system, but more on that later in this post.

I tend to be more mechanically inclined since I tear down computers for my 9-6 job, but you might feel intimidated to pull the casing off of your machine.  Believe me when I tell you that the Silvia is a fairly straight-forward machine to work on, and as long as you aren't tearing things off without watching where they go, you'll be just fine.  One recommendation to you as you prepare: if you haven't disassembled anything on a semi-regular basis (e.g. cars, computers), have a camera and a writing pad near by to record the order the parts came off and how they go back together.  You will regret not heeding my advice when you have a pile of brass components, o-rings, and nuts lumped in a pile on your counter!

Blowout diagram of Rancilio Silvia,
courtesy of Espresso Parts

Here's the basic tools you will need:

• Long Phillips-head Screwdrivers (#1 and #2)
• Metric wrenches (after all, this machine was made in Italy!)
• 6" and 8" Adjustable (Crescent) wrenches, just in case you don't have the right size wrench on hand
• Small butter containers or Tupperware to place screws
• Camera / Writing pad to record disassembly
• Small vise, to hold components should you need to loosen a stuck part

NOTE: Always unplug your Silvia anytime you remove the casing to prevent accidental damage to you or the machine!

Coffee for Connoisseurs has a great tutorial on how to renovate Silvia's steam valve, so I'm not going to duplicate their work by writing my own guide.  What I will do is provide some helpful pictures to help you visualize how things assemble.

THE JOURNEY OF A THOUSAND MILES...

 

Picture of disassembled steam valve,
courtesy of Espresso Parts

Sometimes the different connectors on the steam valve itself become stuck or corroded.  My advice for pulling them apart is to put the whole valve in the vise and then attempt to loosen the connector.  If I had done this first, it would have saved me a bunch of frustration.  Save your future self some cursing by applying some of the Petrol-Gel you should have purchased (*wink wink*) when you ordered the rest of the parts.  Doing so will help prevent the threads from becoming corroded and seizing.

Notice the dullness of the lower
nut.

While the valve and copper supply pipe are disassembled, you should clean them thoroughly.  I had some problems with corrosion on the ends of my supply pipe and the steam wand connector.  Unfortunately, I did not have any solvent on hand to remedy the situation, so I looked at my wife and asked for a dollar.  When she asked why, I told her that I was going to get a Coke from the vending machine.  After all, Coke contains phosphoric acid, which would dissolve the stuff on these parts.  I popped open the can and upended it into a shallow tray, placed the parts into the soda, and waited.  About 30 minutes later, I had beautiful parts again!  In fact, I accidentally left part of a nut above the surface and it appears dull compared with the brassiness of the other nut, as seen in the picture to the left.

After reassembling the valve and wand with new components, I fired up the machine and proceeded to mix up a batch of ScaleKleen to run through my boiler (see tutorial on this here).  I primed the boiler and pump with fresh water, and, once up to temp, I started the pump to run some of the solution through.  After chasing it with a tank of fresh water, I shut my Silvia down for the night.  

Silvia's solenoid assembly

The next night I fired up my machine to test it out, only to find that my solenoid was leaking like a sieve every time the pump was on.  If you need to remove the solenoid exhaust fitting, I recommend that you grab a pair of needle-nose pliers.  Firmly clasp the exhaust fitting on the uppermost segment (i.e. the one with the fins), making sure to grab the base and not the fins.  If you grab the fins and attempt to twist, you will break those fins; consider yourself warned.  The fins only reinforce the upper portion, but I ordered another exhaust fitting because I tend to care about little details.  Off to Espresso Parts I went, and one week later, I put a new exhaust fitting on my solenoid.

Seeing an EP box gives me joy!

Not surprisingly, there was a small metal shaving that was lodged in the solenoid preventing a tight seal when it was shut.  If your solenoid leaks, it's probably something like my case—this is especially true because of all the crap that broke loose after descaling.  I soaked the parts of the solenoid in espresso cleaner for a while and then allowed them to air dry overnight.  With that problem solved, I shut Silvia down and joined my wife to watch an episode of Home Improvement.

Remember, descaling knocks stuff loose so that your boiler can heat water efficiently.  The next night, I fired up my machine again only to find that I had no water flow.  Drat!  What now?  I am a computer technician; I know how to troubleshoot systems like a boss.  When we deal with a power problem in a computer (e.g. computer won't turn on), you start at the source of the power—the wall plug and the power supply.  If you can eliminate every piece that the power flows to, you will wind up with the part that breaks the circuit.  Water in an espresso machine follows a circuit like electricity does in a computer, so I decided to follow the path starting from the reservoir.

Pump blowout diagram,
courtesy of Rod Schiffman

The hose going into the pump wasn't blocked, so I pulled the teflon outlet hose from the pump and ran the pump: NO FLOW!  I hypothesized that scale broke loose within the pump or traveled back from the boiler.  After disassembling it, the pump had gunk on the inside that resembled rust.  (I speculated that the rust could have been the result of galvanic corrosion.)  I pulled out the white vinegar, mixed it into water (~2 parts water to 1 part vinegar), and let them chill for a while.  I should have taken a picture of the garbage the came off!  The bottom of the vessel I used to soak them in was stained on the bottom after I drained off the water.  When reassembling, be careful to include both small rubber balls that sit in the assembly... they won't work without them!  (I should know; I tried...)  Coffee Rod Schiffman has an excellent blowout diagram of the pump parts at his blog.  The outlet fitting on the pump leaked a bit after cleaning, so I used 1/4" teflon thread tape to seal this connection.

IN RETROSPECT

After all this hassle,  I finally had a working machine.  After firing her up and seeing that first trickle of water, I danced around my kitchen and bought some Black Cat at Gray Owl Coffee.  Here's what I learned in summary:

1) Espresso machines are not too intimidating, especially when compared with complicated laptops!
2) Google is your friend
3) Regular maintenance helps minimize bigger problems from occurring down the line
4) Have the proper tools on hand, or borrow the tools from a friend
5) Descaling will cause all sorts of crap to happen, especially if it hasn't been done in quite some time
6) Google is your friend
7) Rely on the kindness of other techs/baristas to give you advice, especially those over at CoffeeGeek.com.

Last words about this experience: my machine reacts differently now that she's working at peak efficiency.  I suspect that all that descaling affected my machine's pressure at the group head, such that the grind I used before acted as if it was now too coarse (shots pulled way too fast).  Consequently, I am going through a period of re-adjustment to Miss Silvia's new quirks.  It acts like a different machine.

Thanks for reading, and I appreciate your comments below.  Please feel free to leave me questions or share this story with others having problems servicing their machines.  Everything I know now is the result of personal experience and research; the links in the article are meant to point you to a information that might help you find an answer to your question.  We'll see you soon on the other side of a coffee cup... maybe even one that has coffee that I've brewed now that my Silvia's fixed!