# Bambino 1 Problem



## buddha (Sep 28, 2016)

Hello,

I have a problem with my fracino bambino 1. Once turned on the water flows constantly. Upon looking inside the machine I've noticed a valve is overflowing with water.

If anyone has any experience with this any advice would be much appreciated.

I'm a newbie to coffee machines and if I was in the UK I'd call someone out, unfortunately I live in Asia and have no access to any kind of coffee machine technician.

The leaking valve:


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## lespresso (Aug 29, 2008)

What boiler pressure is showing on the gauge?


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## buddha (Sep 28, 2016)

Just tried again.. no leaking from valve this time. All 5 lights on and a constant water flow from the front with 0 pressure.


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## buddha (Sep 28, 2016)

Tried again just after that and pressure went to 1.6 and started leaking from the valve again.


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## 4085 (Nov 23, 2012)

a boiler has a valve which allows small amounts of pressure to be released through it. I would imagine that this is perfectly normal behaviour


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## DavecUK (Aug 6, 2013)

buddha said:


> Hello,
> 
> I have a problem with my fracino bambino 1. Once turned on the water flows constantly. Upon looking inside the machine I've noticed a valve is overflowing with water.
> 
> ...


from your *specific* description of the problem, it sounds like the autofill probe is not able to tell the controller box that the water level is correct in the boiler. This causes the pump to run constantly and safety valve you have pictured to constantly leak water. You haven't said it's hot, or sputtering or that the pump stops, so it can't be normal operation. The safety valve leaks because it's only set to about 1.6- 2 bar, the Vacuum breaker usually closes and then the pump can supply more than enough pressure to push water from the safety valve.

Check the connections to the autofill probe...it will be a single wire going to a spade end connector to a metal rod like thing on the top of the boiler. Follow them down to the control box and check the connections. If they are all OK (they might not be because it sounds like an intermittent problem), then undo the squish nut holding the probe in, with draw the probe (after marking or measuring how far in the boiler it is) and clean the tip. Note, the act of withdrawing it might remove any scale build up. Hopefully then the machine will work correctly.

Oh....at the moment the machine is likely to have a massively high water level in the boiler, so once fixed, you should draw water from the boiler (quite slowly) via the hot water tap and as soon as you hear the pump, stop and wait for it to autofill, ensuring that it doesn't fill and fill and fill for ages!

Article below shows a typical autofill probe

http://coffeetime.wikidot.com/disabling-autofill-probe


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## lespresso (Aug 29, 2008)

I'm not familiar with that model, but I think you'll find it's running over-pressure at 1.6 bar. This suggests the pressure switch is not opening when it should and therefore needs to be replaced.


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## buddha (Sep 28, 2016)

Tried cleaning the probe but didn't work. Now I'm getting the pump on constantly with water flowing constantly all lights on and no increase in pressure, no heat.


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## DavecUK (Aug 6, 2013)

buddha said:


> Tried cleaning the probe but didn't work. Now I'm getting the pump on constantly with water flowing constantly all lights on and no increase in pressure, no heat.


Then it's either a bad connection from the probe to the Gicar or Giemme controller box (whatever they are using)...or a bad controller box. I hope it's just a bad connection, because it's much cheaper to fix.

It's very remotely possible I suppose that there is an earth type problem which may prevent the autofill from seeing earth and you can easily check that by using a multimeter on the earth pin of the machines plug and the other probe on the boiler itself (use meter on resistance scale. You should do this first just in case...the main check you need to do is below. *Also check any earthed connections on the Gicar actually are earthed in the same way.*

You can test if its a bad connection, by checking the resistance of the end of the female spade connector (when pulled off the probe) to the male connector of the gicar box. If you get a circuit showing....it could be the box. *To double check this, you must then..* switch the machine on at the mains and touch the female connector of the wire to the boiler, the machine should stop autofilling.

I don't think it's any of the other problems people think it is as they are not quite understanding the specific problem you have.

P.S. Usually machines are set not to heat while autofilling.


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## espressotechno (Apr 11, 2011)

If the pump stops filling when you touch the wire to the boiler, then the steel probe and/or the probe insulation may be defective. A new probe assembly solves the problem.

Probes used on bigger commercial machines should fit your Bambino (you may have to shorten the steel rod.)

EBay may be your friend if you can't get one from a local commercial espresso engineer & have to order from abroad.....

PS The valve in the pic. is the boiler safety valve (they are preset to open anywhere between 1.6 - 1.9bar): Overfilling water just forces it way through it.


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## buddha (Sep 28, 2016)

This video might give you a better idea. Thanks for the help so far, much appreciated.


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## DavecUK (Aug 6, 2013)

That Video was of immense help...thanks.


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