# Any Ulka pump experts out there?



## lake_m (Feb 4, 2017)

I think the pump has gone on our Gaggia Brera B2C machine at work and guess who has to fix it (A few folk chipped in to buy it, not my choice!)

The parts diagram states part number 12000140 Ulka EP5/S GW

But what is actually fitted is a DEFOND Phoenix 50 A2P03

You can't seem to get hold of a DEFOND in the UK, but the Ulka's are cheap and plentiful.

Here's the thing. The Ulka EP5 is 48W, and the DEFOND as fitted is 53W So are these two pumps compatible? They look identical from the pictures.

Any help appreciated.


----------



## stevenh (May 15, 2014)

It is probably compatible just need to check the fitment and mountings.

You can get the original from eBay if you really want though...

You can also try taking the pump apart and see if it just needs a good clean... various youtube videos available...


----------



## lake_m (Feb 4, 2017)

Thanks @stevenh

£13 for an Ulka it's probably worth the risk.

I may take it apart whilst I wait for a replacement pump to arrive, although the machine is only seven months old so I doubt it will be scaled up.

Warranty is worthless because we have it off-shore and I've already had it open to replace 2 x thermal cut out switches which blew a couple months ago. Thankfully I have a heap of those little hose clips left over from the Classic steam valve change out as well


----------



## lake_m (Feb 4, 2017)

Tip for future Gaggia Brera owners - DON'T BUY ONE!

I stripped the pump down to component parts and couldn't find anything wrong with it.

Re-fitted it and pulled the discharge hose off to check to see if it was doing anything - it is pumping albeit in a spluttery type way. assume this is just the nature of a vibe pump.

But the Brera is still halting on start-up giving an error code "circuit not primed".

I can get water coming out of the wand for a while then stops with error code.

I can get dribbles coming out of the brew head then stops with error code.

So.....maybe the turbine meter - £30 (no flow detected so generating error code), flow selector valve £34 (partially blocked?), pump £24 (it's a Ulka EP5 GW - the G stands for Gaggia so a 'special' one off.) and a heap more Oetiker clips at £1.50 at throw.

Or I could de-scale the hell out of it and try again.

BTW - stripping these babies down is a nightmare akin to performing micro surgery with a butter knife.

I truly hate this machine.


----------



## stevenh (May 15, 2014)

Is there a priming sequence in the manual?

Most of these are self priming but can take a few seconds for all the air to pass through after which the flow should be steady there shouldn't be any sputtering after all the air is out...

Is this tank fed? How is the water fed to the pump?


----------



## lake_m (Feb 4, 2017)

Pretty basic priming procedure by turning the flow selector to 'hot water' and letting the pump run water through. I've performed this countless times, and it just halts after a while (10 seconds) with the same error code. But water does come out of the wand, which leads me to believe that the turbine meter is not spinning properly or the electronics (magnet / pulse counter) is not picking it up, leading to the error. It's a basic tank fed, through flow meter, to pump, then to boiler, then out of boiler to 3 way flow selector (steam, water, brew).


----------



## lake_m (Feb 4, 2017)

Update. Despite not finding anything wrong with the pump after splitting it into a thousand little pieces and almost losing the little plastic ball type thing, the only thing left that could be faulty is the coil that surrounds the pump.

I did a full descale just to be on the safe side, but it made no difference at all.

Also had the turbine meter to bits. Again, there's very little to it and it appears to spin freely enough.

Ordered a new pump. lets see if that moves things forward.

I hope one day a Brera owner who is having the same problem, will read this and take some comfort!


----------



## Dylan (Dec 5, 2011)

Easy way to test the pump is to have it powered and measure its output - should be in the region of 650ml/min.

FWIW once the pump has water in it it shouldn't be too 'spluttery' - replacing is cheap worth doing unless you are sure it's ok.


----------



## lake_m (Feb 4, 2017)

Dylan said:


> Easy way to test the pump is to have it powered and measure its output - should be in the region of 650ml/min.
> 
> FWIW once the pump has water in it it shouldn't be too 'spluttery' - replacing is cheap worth doing unless you are sure it's ok.


Cheers. It was quite spluttery but I put that down to not having any back-pressure on it - just an open end.

Worst case scenario with this machine is if there is a main PCB board fault. That's the point at which I walk away! Most of the other stuff is replaceable.


----------



## lake_m (Feb 4, 2017)

Well the new pump arrived from Ulka - ordered from their UK website.

It's an Ulka Model E Type EP5GW. Not the exact one, but as close as I could get. (The 'G' stands for Gaggia apparently)

Might be me but it looks slightly bigger than the one that's fitted.

If I can muster the enthusiasm, I'll might try fitting it tonight and see if the machine comes back to life.


----------



## DaveP (Jul 14, 2017)

> Pretty basic priming procedure by turning the flow selector to 'hot water' and letting the pump run water through.


Although this is normally true, sometimes there is an airlock and the above will not work and the following happens..



> it just halts after a while (10 seconds) with the same error code. But water does come out of the wand,


With The Gaggia 'Platinum Event' B2C machine the only way to get it working again is to pressure feed the water inlet to clear the air..

There are rumors that a turkey baster works, although my preferred weapon / tool is a bicycle pump filled with water


----------



## lake_m (Feb 4, 2017)

Thanks for that. Worth a try. I have the pump now so may as well stick it in and then try priming again.


----------



## lake_m (Feb 4, 2017)

September update. The new pump did not fix the issue!









More bits have now arrived in the post.

This is my last shot at fixing this piece of ****

Water/steam selector (strangely similar to the post 2015 Gaggia classic one which also failed on us recently - plastic rubbish)

Oetiker clips

Got any 'O's?


----------



## lake_m (Feb 4, 2017)

So exactly one year after the machine initially failed, I've got it working again.

I replaced the pump (twice), three way selector valve, pipes to and from the boiler, and from the brew unit to the spouts.

I de-scaled the hell out of it, including a full soak in citric acid. (Past caring if it's not compatible with the ally boiler.)

Non of these things fixed it.

It was the spring valve in the water tank not letting the water through properly into the flow meter.









But it's working again and back producing mediocre coffee for the crew.

End of thread.


----------



## M41RK (Jan 20, 2020)

One of my customers has one of these in their office , how do you PAT test it ?,it's not marked as class 2 and for the life of me I can't find an earth anywhere on the case!


----------



## lake_m (Feb 4, 2017)

Not sure but it was PAT tested using the tester. There isn't an awful lot of metal on this machine except the boiler. That definitely has earthing on there from what I recall. Means taking the case off though!


----------



## Mr_Paul (Nov 20, 2020)

Hi, I've got a non-pumping Brera coming my way soon! Did you actually change the spring value do you remember? Was it worn-out or misplaced or what? Looks like from the diagrams there about 3 small parts that relate to the spring valve? Any help appreciated thanks.


----------

