# Help! Sage Barista Express won't filter water through



## georgiaanniky (Feb 17, 2020)

Hello,

I'm hoping someone can help. I have had my Sage Barista Express bean-to-cup machine for approx. 4 years and it's been working *perfectly*. In the last few weeks I noticed the espresso strength gauge was indicating only just passed pre-infusion. I ran a clean cycle and nothing changed. Then I ran a lime scale treatment through and it started working again.

Fast forward a week and now the water will not filter through when selecting either a single or double shot. The steamer still works and the hot water tap still works fine too. But no coffee.The button flashes to indicate it's working but there is no noise to suggest anything is happening.

I have since tried a clean cycle and no improvement.

Has anyone had, or heard of, any similar issues? I hope that all made sense.

The model number is: BES875BUK/A.


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## M_H_S (Jun 6, 2018)

Its likely it is an issue with the solanoid. However it is not clear what you mean by no noise. You mean the pump isn't engaging for espresso or it is but nothing is coming out?

Possible that both the pump and solanoid need replacing.

Sent from my SM-G950F using Tapatalk


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## TomHughes (Dec 16, 2019)

georgiaanniky said:


> Hello,
> 
> I'm hoping someone can help. I have had my Sage Barista Express bean-to-cup machine for approx. 4 years and it's been working *perfectly*. In the last few weeks I noticed the espresso strength gauge was indicating only just passed pre-infusion. I ran a clean cycle and nothing changed. Then I ran a lime scale treatment through and it started working again.
> 
> ...


 How often were you descaling and what is the hardness of your water?


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## georgiaanniky (Feb 17, 2020)

The machine was descaled 1 week ago.

The water is my area is classified as hard with a hardness clarke of 20.86.


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## georgiaanniky (Feb 17, 2020)

M_H_S said:


> Its likely it is an issue with the solanoid. However it is not clear what you mean by no noise. You mean the pump isn't engaging for espresso or it is but nothing is coming out?
> 
> Possible that both the pump and solanoid need replacing.
> 
> Sent from my SM-G950F using Tapatalk


 Normally there would be some noise, a slight 'burr' which indicated *something* was happening. Sorry for not being very specific! I don't think the pump is engaging.

I did have a look on the forums before and could see mentions of solenoid faults.

In your opinion am I better off contacting Sage directly for replacements or is this fault able to be fixed at home?


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## M_H_S (Jun 6, 2018)

Thats upto you and how much you d like to spend. Sage will ask you to contact Coffee Classics their approved repair company.

You could try to source a new solanoid and pump and fit them yourself and take a chance. They will prob cost 45 to 50 pounds to buy. Pumps are easy to get off ebay. Solenoids a bit trickier.

Sent from my SM-G950F using Tapatalk


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## ajohn (Sep 23, 2017)

georgiaanniky said:


> The machine was descaled 1 week ago.
> 
> The water is my area is classified as hard with a hardness clarke of 20.86.


 How often did you descale ? Also what descaler did you use to get it working last time?

I suspect we need to listen to noises - steam, hot water and then shot via a video.

Sage will only offer a repair now. How far you can go depends on your capabilities.

John

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## ajohn (Sep 23, 2017)

M_H_S said:


> Thats upto you and how much you d like to spend. Sage will ask you to contact Coffee Classics their approved repair company.
> 
> You could try to source a new solanoid and pump and fit them yourself and take a chance. They will prob cost 45 to 50 pounds to buy. Pumps are easy to get off ebay. Solenoids a bit trickier.
> 
> Sent from my SM-G950F using Tapatalk


 From the OP's post the pump and thermocoil are fine.

John

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## TomHughes (Dec 16, 2019)

georgiaanniky said:


> The machine was descaled 1 week ago.
> 
> The water is my area is classified as hard with a hardness clarke of 20.86.


 How often though? I live in a hard water area and descale monthly. 
This may seem like overkill but in a sage you really have to stop any scale building up. I don't know if it's because of narrow pipes or how the thermocoil/jet are designed but it's not like a regular boiler. 
My gaggia classic has been descaled once in its life and it's still trucking!

If you haven't been doing this I suspect scale has done the damage. 
The descale last week probably dislodged things


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## ajohn (Sep 23, 2017)

Really to help certain things need going through step by step to find out what the culprit really is.

One other question - have you removed the shower screen and cleaned it and behind it ?

John

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## ajohn (Sep 23, 2017)

Sage give number for hardness based on their test strips rather than PPM. Some of the manuals now mention results that suggest when an alternative source would be a better option. Seems to be 180ppm, 13 clarke. As I used my test strip can't be sure of that. It seems to be at the level where water starts to go from hard to very hard and would assume this is based on changing their new filter as often as they suggest. Softer water than this should make them last longer.

Several people have mentioned engineers saying do it every month - they handle machines from all over the place and that considers how many people maintain their machines in practice and variations in water quality.

John

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