# Silvia not heating up anymore



## koahhe

My Silvia is not heating up anymore on brew and steam. I have tried to reset the thermostat but nothing changed. The orange light close to the main switch is off on brew and steam. It stopped working after I made a shot of espresso a few hours ago. Did not use the steam so the boiler had water in it. Even when I use the steam I am always very careful to run water through the steam wand to cool down the boiler. The last shot was much hotter than it should have been and also in the last few days I have noticed the temperature overshooting the pid settings by 4 or 5 degrees celsius which is something that shouldn't happen. Anyone can help?


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## Wando64

Just guessing here, but IMO it is either the PID gone wrong or the boiler heating element.

I believe the heating element can be easily tested with a resistance Tester. Information on how to do this should be available on Google or from other members of this community. If the element tests OK I would rewire it bypassing the PID to see if it is the culprit. Good luck and please let us know the outcome.


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## Wando64

I found this article: http://coffeegeek.com/forums/espresso/machines/312139

I've no idea whether the information in it is correct, therefore use your own judgement.

According to the guy that made the posting, the resistance on the heating element should be 64 ohms.


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## El carajillo

With the M/ch unplugged check between the heating element terminals,If you obtain a reading around the 64 ohms the element should be OK. Also check alternately element to boiler case this should give OL open circuit indicating that the element has not shorted internally.If these are OK I would agree with Wando64 /problem with PID/wiring


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## koahhe

Thanks everyone. Looking for a multimeter now


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## Daren

After you have done the things suggested by El carajillo if it still doesn't work then I would suggest it's your element that's blown.

Have a look here for a replacement > http://www.ferrari-espresso.com/product.php/916/rancilio-silvia-boiler-heating-element-


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## koahhe

El carajillo said:


> With the M/ch unplugged check between the heating element terminals,If you obtain a reading around the 64 ohms the element should be OK. Also check alternately element to boiler case this should give OL open circuit indicating that the element has not shorted internally.If these are OK I would agree with Wando64 /problem with PID/wiring


Ok so I bought a multimeter and done the testing. The reading between the heating element terminals is 50 ohms. Have also checked the thermostats for continuity and that was a pass too. Does this mean that is something wrong with the PID? I bought the machine from a forum member and the PID was already fitted so I have no idea what to look for next.


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## El carajillo

With those results although not the 64 ohms you mentioned I think it is a problem with the PID. I suggest you PM the member you bought it off and ask if he has any ideas where to check/look and how to short out the PID to see if the machine then functions.


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## Wando64

Or the problem could be in the wiring. By the way, I have a feeling the the Auber PID kit replaces one of the thermostats with a thermometer/thermocouple therefore the checking you have done on it might not be meaningful. As suggested by El Carajillo, first thing would be to contact the seller and find out any information on troubleshooting the PID.


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## El carajillo

Has the temperature sensing device come adrift from the boiler and allowed the boiler to cook itself, this could be why your last few brews were very hot /steaming ??=NO temperature control.


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## koahhe

All the readings with the multimeter indicate that the heating element is fine and also the water dispensed is clear with no trace of the ceramic white powder which is inside the element. Have checked all the cables and cant see anything loose. The PID I'm debating between taking off the boiler myself to have a look at what's inside or finding a service specialist to look at the machine.


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## El carajillo

Having looked on line the resistance for the heating element is between 50 and 60 ohms, therefore your reading would indicate the boiler is OK. Something else from reading there are three stats inside case (front) one or more are reset able push red button. Try this before doing anything else.

Look up Rancillio Silvia boiler reset on U tube:good:


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## koahhe

Yes I have tried to reset the thermostat too but no change.


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## El carajillo

I think you should PM the member you bought it off and ask them if they have any ideas or can give you any help:good:

Check for thermal link fuse, usually clamped to boiler ,melts if boiler over heated


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## koahhe

El carajillo said:


> I think you should PM the member you bought it off and ask them if they have any ideas or can give you any help:good:
> 
> Check for thermal link fuse, usually clamped to boiler ,melts if boiler over heated


Managed to find what was wrong this evening. It was the solid state relay. Since all the readings with the multimeter were saying that the heating element is fine i disconnected the pid to see if that was the problem. Since I only had the steam thermostat, the other one being replaced with an rtd sensor, i used that one to try to heat the boiler. And it worked! Then I went backward and connected the all the pid wires excepting the ones that needed to be connected to the steam wires which I had connected to the steam thermostat. Now what I wanted was to find a way to be able to brew coffee and after playing a bit with the wires I find out that I can only heat the boiler with the steam switch which would have give me a way too hot water. So since the pid was working fine I went his settings and set the steam temperature to 103 which was the temperature I was using for brew. Now I can have my lovely shots of espresso with this workaround until I replace the solid state relay. I can also steam milk if I want by manually changing the heating temperature in the pid back to 140 as in the normal steam setting. Thanks a lot to everyone who has tried to help especially to el carajillo.


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## koahhe

Find out that both brew and steam are working as they should and pid behaving normally as well. The only difference is that the heating element is controlled by the steam thermostat instead of the solid state relay. Will try to post some pictures of the changes I have done to the wiring in case it might help someone in the future.


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