# Help with 'leaking' Londinium L1



## evoman (May 13, 2014)

Hi All - I wonder if someone can point me to the problem I have having with my L1.

This week I had two leaky problems. Firstly, a few days ago it was dripping a lot from both the screen/grouphead and the hot water spout. That went ahead after a restart, so I assume it was related to a pressure issue. More problematic, today I switched the unit on and the fill pump just kept running. I was distracted by emails, but eventually went over and found a large puddle underneath the machine. I opened the top and there is a lot of water on the boiler. I let it cool and turned it on again to see if I could find where the water was leaking from, but the fill pump has not come back on and the system is not leaking. I'll attached a photo of the where the water is around the boiler. Any ideas for what is going on here? Any input would be greatly appreciated (hopefully this is the right sub-forum!).


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## Sharkie (Apr 29, 2013)

I had something similar a few years back on a L1 and it was the boiler water probe, I marked the depth it was set at, removed and cleaned it and replaced it in the same position and the fault never came back.

May be worth a try as it's a 5 minute job

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## evoman (May 13, 2014)

Thanks for the suggestion. I don't have a schematic of the system, so I am not sure what is what - is there is a set of diagrams somewhere that you used to know what is what? I have done the service of the seals etc, but haven't done any work on the boiler or other components, so don't know my way around.


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## El carajillo (Mar 16, 2013)

I am sure Sharkie is correct. The leak is from the anti vac valve =small flat item with circlip. The tall brass one is the safety valve.

I think the fill probe is below the black box . Look for the end of a silver rod with one wire attached, possibly 2 nuts with a white plastic sleeve inside.

Slacken off the smaller nut ( may only be one ) withdraw the silver rod . NB. note how high the rod is above the nut (this adjusts the fill level)

Clean the rod D/ scaler or plastic wash up. Refit- gently tighten nut IT SHOULD NOT BE HEAVILY TORQUED . IT WILL SEAL WITH LIGHT PRESSURE


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## evoman (May 13, 2014)

El carajillo said:


> I am sure Sharkie is correct. The leak is from the anti vac valve =small flat item with circlip. The tall brass one is the safety valve.
> 
> I think the fill probe is below the black box . Look for the end of a silver rod with one wire attached, possibly 2 nuts with a white plastic sleeve inside.
> 
> ...


 Thanks a lot for such great info. I have allowed the system to come up to temp so I can actually have coffee and do work, but will definitely give this a go ASAP. Cheers!


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## evoman (May 13, 2014)

One more quick follow up. Not sure if this info helps, but I just went to use the machine and I got no steam or water. I assume this means the boiler is not full, which is odd since it ran the fill pump so long that water was coming out of the boiler. Oddly, I noticed that, when I pressed the steam wand, water trickled out of the anti vac valve. Not sure what that means.


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## DavecUK (Aug 6, 2013)

evoman said:


> One more quick follow up. Not sure if this info helps, but I just went to use the machine and I got no steam or water. I assume this means the boiler is not full, which is odd since it ran the fill pump so long that water was coming out of the boiler. Oddly, I noticed that, when I pressed the steam wand, water trickled out of the anti vac valve. Not sure what that means.


 I assume, the pump didn't run again or you would have mentioned it. This means the boiler is warm not hot, opening the steam valve lowered the residual pressure in the boiler enough for the vacuum breaker to leak some water from the overfilled boiler. Had it been hot enough you would have got hot water and steam.

Unless water from the group was normal temperature, in which case it would be a complete mystery.


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## evoman (May 13, 2014)

DavecUK said:


> I assume, the pump didn't run again or you would have mentioned it. This means the boiler is warm not hot, opening the steam valve lowered the residual pressure in the boiler enough for the vacuum breaker to leak some water from the overfilled boiler. Had it been hot enough you would have got hot water and steam.
> 
> Unless water from the group was normal temperature, in which case it would be a complete mystery.


 Thanks Dave - you are indeed correct. The light doesn't always come on when my system is heating (light needs replacing) and I assumed it was hot given how long I had left it. The boiler was over full, which might have been slowing it from getting up to full temp. The over full boiler would explain the water coming out of the water spout (I assume), and I could see that there was too much water in the boiler when I let it heat up (some water was coming out of the anti vac valve while heating, and then loads of water came out of the steam wand when I used it once it was warm). So it seems pretty clear to be an issue with the sensor that is controlling the fill level.

Can I use something like Puly Caff to clean the sensor when I remove it?

Thanks again to everyone for the great info - it is really appreciated!


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## DavecUK (Aug 6, 2013)

Check sensor wiring for bad/loose connection, remove probe and clean if no intermittent connection found. If that doesn't fix it a new autofill box may be required, or a repair to your existing one.


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