# Silvia V3 steaming issue



## big_g (Feb 14, 2017)

I've had a silvia V3 for about 5 years now, get used once a day & has worked faultlessly until this week. For some reason the steam wand isn't producing a decent amount of steam anymore. Usually i turn it on to purge the water out until there's just steam, now when i do that its spitting water/steam/water/steam and never really gets going with the steam, so the end result is just a jug of foam.

I backflushed the machine at the weekend to see if that would fix the issue but it hasn't, it comes up to temperature ok, pulls shots absolutely fine & water seems to be running fine when the hot water switch is on and the steam wand opened. Literally just seems to be the steam function thats struggling.

Any ideas?


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## MediumRoastSteam (Jul 7, 2015)

Hi, welcome to the forum, i see this is your first post.

When was the last time you have descaled the machine? What type of water do you feed the machine with? Where abouts in the country are you?


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## big_g (Feb 14, 2017)

pessutojr said:


> Hi, welcome to the forum, i see this is your first post.
> 
> When was the last time you have descaled the machine? What type of water do you feed the machine with? Where abouts in the country are you?


Hi, thanks for the reply. I don't believe it's been descaled as such, whenever I've backflushed with puly caff I've also ran some through the tank. I've just bought some descaler tonight though.

Given it's only used once a day for a couple of cups I didn't think it would need cleaning quite as often as I see some people recommending? The tank is always filled with filtered water.

i don't really understand how the hot water runs ok but the steam is poor, surely they come through the same outlet?

im in Sunderland by the way


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## MediumRoastSteam (Jul 7, 2015)

big_g said:


> Hi, thanks for the reply. I don't believe it's been descaled as such, whenever I've backflushed with puly caff I've also ran some through the tank. I've just bought some descaler tonight though.
> 
> Given it's only used once a day for a couple of cups I didn't think it would need cleaning quite as often as I see some people recommending? The tank is always filled with filtered water.
> 
> ...


OK, looks like the water around where you live is soft, which is good.

This could be that there is a bit of calcium which formed around the steam wand valve, thus preventing steam to go through.

The good news is that the Rancilio Silvia is a doddle to descale.

Are you familiar with the process at all?

Give that a go and see if it helps.


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## Norvin (Sep 10, 2014)

Its possible that the steam thermostat has failed (sited on top of the boiler, the one without the red spot).

Temp with the brew thermostat alone can go over 100C so will produce a little steam, but needs the higher temperature via the steam thermostat to produce a strong stream of steam.


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## big_g (Feb 14, 2017)

I've now descaled the machine, after doing so steam seemed ok however tonight its kind of back to the way it was before. It will steam, its also spitting water at the same time. Would that be a symptom of a faulty thermostat? I steam my milk to 140f, it does get there in the same time as it always has, just after about 100f you can hear it starting to spit more water in and you end up with a load of foam instead of smooth steamed milk.

Found a 140c thermostat on eBay for £16, dont mind buying one as long as it'll solve the issue.


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## Norvin (Sep 10, 2014)

140f is only 60C, you could get that with the brew thermostat alone.

You could put a thermometer on the top of the boiler to see if the temp goes to about 140c when the steam switch is on, or you can test if it has failed in the off position by checking if there is electrical continuity between the contacts (unplug the machine first!) at normal temperatures.


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## jazzleg (Jun 22, 2015)

big_g said:


> I've now descaled the machine, after doing so steam seemed ok however tonight its kind of back to the way it was before. It will steam, its also spitting water at the same time. Would that be a symptom of a faulty thermostat? I steam my milk to 140f, it does get there in the same time as it always has, just after about 100f you can hear it starting to spit more water in and you end up with a load of foam instead of smooth steamed milk.
> 
> Found a 140c thermostat on eBay for £16, dont mind buying one as long as it'll solve the issue.


To confirm that it is issue with the steam thermostat, can you try the following:

1) Ensure the steam switch is in off position.

2) Wait until the boiler light is on.

3) Immediately after the boiler light turns off, switch on the steam.

4) Now check whether the boiler light is on or off...

If the boiler light remains off, then it is very likely to be a problem with the steam thermostat.


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## big_g (Feb 14, 2017)

So tested as outlined, waited for boiler light to turn off and immediately switched the steam on, boiler light came back on. So i think that rules out the steam thermostat?

I've also put a thermometer ontop of the boiler while the boiler light is on, thermometer i used wasn't the best but its the only thing i had to hand, its one of those digital needle type ones that you use for measuring meat temperature, i lay it on its side across the top of the boiler. When the boiler light went off it was registering around 78 degrees, switched to steam and when the light went out it was registering 122 degrees.


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## jazzleg (Jun 22, 2015)

big_g said:


> So tested as outlined, waited for boiler light to turn off and immediately switched the steam on, boiler light came back on. So i think that rules out the steam thermostat?
> 
> I've also put a thermometer ontop of the boiler while the boiler light is on, thermometer i used wasn't the best but its the only thing i had to hand, its one of those digital needle type ones that you use for measuring meat temperature, i lay it on its side across the top of the boiler. When the boiler light went off it was registering around 78 degrees, switched to steam and when the light went out it was registering 122 degrees.


The steam thermostat might be okay then. The temperature seems a bit low, but it might just be because of the limitation with your measurement method... Unfortunately that means I'm out of idea :-(

Do you have any video showing the issue?


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## big_g (Feb 14, 2017)

jazzleg said:


> The steam thermostat might be okay then. The temperature seems a bit low, but it might just be because of the limitation with your measurement method... Unfortunately that means I'm out of idea :-(
> 
> Do you have any video showing the issue?


Managed to get a small video of the issue, it's here 




hopefully you can see it's not really steaming, there's a lot of water too, means I don't get steamed milk it just ends up with a frothy layer of bubbles on top of warm milk.


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## big_g (Feb 14, 2017)

Follow up, just on the off chance i've reset the overheat thermostat and that seems to have returned functionality to normal. Weird because the issues were not really related to that particular thermostat.


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## jazzleg (Jun 22, 2015)

big_g said:


> Follow up, just on the off chance i've reset the overheat thermostat and that seems to have returned functionality to normal. Weird because the issues were not really related to that particular thermostat.


So now all problems solved then?


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## big_g (Feb 14, 2017)

jazzleg said:


> So now all problems solved then?


Well I thought so, reset the thermostat yesterday, pulled 2 shots & steamed 2 small pitchers milk without issue.

Today, same issue with the steam again. This is frustrating


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## big_g (Feb 14, 2017)

Still having issues with Miss Silvia, i've replaced the steam thermostat even though the old one was showing continuity when tested with a Multimeter, tested the other thermostats and they're all showing continuity as well. Issue still persists, i have no idea what else it could be.


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## El carajillo (Mar 16, 2013)

Is the overheat thermostat cutting the heating off too soon / partially faulty ? Although the O/H stat shows ok with meter it does not prove it is working correctly . With the M/ch unplugged pull off both leads and connect them together with a piece of wire or connector . Tape over the joint to insulate it then switch on and try steaming.Try this several times, if it steams OK it possible the O/H stat is faulty, if with the connections bridged it still spits with lack of steam the problem lies elsewhere.


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## greymda (Oct 6, 2016)

i would go another path. get a digital thermometer, a cheap one will do (model TM 902-C or from a multimeter with K-probe), remove the top cover of the Silvia and check boiler temperature (right there where the thermostats are located).

when in brew mode it should be max at ~110C, in steam mode ~145C. if so - your thermostats are working flawlessly. if no - that's another story.


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## El carajillo (Mar 16, 2013)

greymda said:


> i would go another path. get a digital thermometer, a cheap one will do (model TM 902-C or from a multimeter with K-probe), remove the top cover of the Silvia and check boiler temperature (right there where the thermostats are located).
> 
> when in brew mode it should be max at ~110C, in steam mode ~145C. if so - your thermostats are working flawlessly. if no - that's another story.


Does it not have a resettable over heat stat:confused:


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## greymda (Oct 6, 2016)

it has, but it's easier to get the idea what really happens with his machine by watching the boiler temperature, imho.


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