# Barista Express pressure fail



## Timilla (Sep 26, 2019)

Hi brainstrust.

I'm now living in Australia, and have the (Breville) Barista Express. Was surprised to hear this is now Sage in the UK?

Had the machine for 5 years, out of extended warranty. Always performed well. Until now. Have not changed any of my settings, however during preinfusion the pressure suddenly drops, there is a clunk/pop noise, and then the water runs out of the PF like a river and the basket ends up full of wet grounds.

Am I missing something here, or is it stuffed?

Trying to attach video, but video format not accepted!

*Accepted file types* png, jpg, jpeg, gif, doc, docx, csv, pdf, txt · *Max total size* 7.81MB

Video can be found here:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/hid53ln8685i0a3/Barista Express Fail.mp4?dl=0

Thanks!

TIMILLA


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## ajohn (Sep 23, 2017)

Strange. It isn't doing this during infusion but at full brew pressure. It looks like what ever is in the portafilter is suddenly breaking down and allowing full flow from the pump.

It's hard to see how the group head seal could do this so that just leaves what filter basket, how much is in it and a video of your preparation might help.

John

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## Timilla (Sep 26, 2019)

I've packed it for the repair guy tomorrow so no video sorry.

I don't weigh my coffee, but like I said none of the settings have changed, full packet (nearly), tamping pressure same, grind coarseness same, same beans.


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## M_H_S (Jun 6, 2018)

Hi the beginning pre infusion and ramp up sound fine. The noise after that is strange. You said the water comes gushing out of the portafilter. That does not happen in the video. Nothing is extracted. Is the water going straight into the drip tray? If so, there may be an issue with your overpressure valve or solanoid. But sure why the guage is showing pressure in that case.

Sent from my SM-G950F using Tapatalk


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## M_H_S (Jun 6, 2018)

I don't see the gushing water because the video freezes. Good luck with the repair!

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## Timilla (Sep 26, 2019)

It's just brown water that comes out very loose going everywhere, but landing in the drip tray.


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## DavecUK (Aug 6, 2013)

Sounds like the pressure release solenoid is getting triggered prematurely, it obviously thinks the shot is still ongoing because the button still flashes and the pump continues to run. Could be a problem in the logic board.


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## ajohn (Sep 23, 2017)

Hang on. I thought the gush was coming out of the portafilter. I downloaded it and it displays rather larger. It's coming out of the grouphead by the look of it.

The OPV dumps into the drip tray on this model.









Might be the seal or something nasty such as the actual grouphead breaking up.

John

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## Timilla (Sep 26, 2019)

Thanks everyone for your responses.

I'm confused by the terminology. I thought the PF was what you locked into the group head, and contains the spouts where the coffee came out? In which case it's coming out through the spouts, but also (to a lesser degree) leaking out around the group head.

I'm not sure what OPV stands for, sorry.

The GH screen looks intact, haven't taken it off. Leaving that to the repair guy. Interestingly only $22 (£12) for him to have a look.


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## ajohn (Sep 23, 2017)

The OVP is the over pressure valve. Bad name in some ways but it limits the brew pressure. On the BE it opens when the needle on the gauge gets a little past the blue sector on it. It limits it to about 15 bar. The water it diverts to limit the pressure goes into the drip tray.

Seal in the grouphead that the portafilter presses on when it's fitted shouldn't leak at that pressure. They do wear out eventually but that failing wouldn't cause water to flow out of the portafilter spouts. It would come out around the portafilter. If it comes out of the spouts I can't see how it could avoid going through the puck. That would need a rather large hole appearing in it to get that much flow at next to no pressure.

John

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