# Fracino Heavenly - Strange Noise



## aphelion

Hi Guys,

I've recently been getting some strange behaviour from my Heavenly.

I've been doing my usual 30 min warm-up, then pulling a shot (no cooling flush).

When I do a second shot to flush the group clean, the machine/pump makes a loud noise (with reduced water pressure from the head).

This normally happens on a second flush, but sometimes not until third.

It sounds like a loud vibration through the machine..

Seems really weird, and i'm hesitant to strip the machine down because it still works perfectly on first flush.

(more annoying than anything, cleaning, flushing etc becomes painful).

Any thoughts, ideas?

Cheers


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## aphelion

Sorted with a good clean, descale, backflush thx


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## Glenn

What water are you using?

Bottled Volvic, softened or tap / Brita ?


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## glevum

Just done my 1st descale on a 4 month hx machine. 2 months been using Volvic the other 2 Brita. Could not believe the difference after descale....faster heat up time and 1/4 more steam. so easy to forget how your machine should be even when using softened water


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## aphelion

I've been using Brita filtered since I purchased it back in March..god knows what the previous user was putting in there though.

Seems to be pretty sweet now!


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## aphelion

Glenn said:


> What water are you using?
> 
> Bottled Volvic, softened or tap / Brita ?


Brita only Glenn


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## aphelion

Ok, some further developments...

I did a full descale last week, and I thought this had fixed the problem - that lasted 2 days, but the problem came back again, only worse!!

Now, when I hit the brew button, there is a short noise from the vibe pump, then it goes very quiet.

Peter from espresso underground suggested replacing the pump, which I've now done.

This has not fixed the problem.

With the case off, I can see that the pump is struggling to push water through to the inlet solenoid (the braided pipe tenses up).

To me, this suggests some kind of blockage downstream of the pump (the pump is definitely not the issue).

When the brew switch is on, I get about 2 seconds of pump noise before it goes very quiet.

The pump is still running, but it doesn't appear to be pushing water through the solenoid - something is stuck!

Question - does this sound like a classic case of inlet solenoid failure (sticking, broken etc.)?

Is there anything else this could be?

Cheers


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## glevum

Im sure someone had the same sort of problem on their Izzo. It was still scale build up. He used 60 degree descale solution which cleared a blockage. i see if i can find the page, it was pretty recent. This might not be the problem though!


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## glevum

http://coffeeforums.co.uk/showthread.php?10771-Occasional-brew-pressure-fluctuations-problem/page2&highlight=scale

might help


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## glevum

this might be of some help

http://coffeeforums.co.uk/showthread.php?10771-Occasional-brew-pressure-fluctuations-problem/page2&highlight=scale


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## glevum

found page, waiting for mods to approve CF link


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## aphelion

Cheers Glevum, I don't think its too serious because it works fine "occasionally"

Definitely appears to be something sticking...


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## coffeechap

Wold be worth taking the solenoid apart and checking for an obstruction .


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## aphelion

coffeechap said:


> Wold be worth taking the solenoid apart and checking for an obstruction .


Cheers Dave, will probably start on this tonight..

Might take the group apart while i'm at it!


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## Padder

I'm still working on a Heavenly I bought from Ebay (multiple problems and costing too much, wishing I'd bought something else but it should be working soon hopefully).

One of my problems was the same as yours and it was the non return valve sticking (Basically was gunged up). Fairly quick job to do. It's the thing that the braided hose atatches to on the inlet manifold. Just take it apart and descale it. the O ring that seals it is an odd size so you may have to get straight from Fracino if it needs replacing. If it isn't pumping water into either the boiler or out of the group head then I doubt it is the solenoid. You can check the pump by disconnecting teh braided hose and running the machine. If water comes out of teh hose then teh pump is fine.

One benefit of my multitude of problems (when it's working I'll write them up so you can all have a laugh/empathis) is that I now fully understand how these things work!


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## aphelion

Padder said:


> I'm still working on a Heavenly I bought from Ebay (multiple problems and costing too much, wishing I'd bought something else but it should be working soon hopefully).
> 
> One of my problems was the same as yours and it was the non return valve sticking (Basically was gunged up). Fairly quick job to do. It's the thing that the braided hose atatches to on the inlet manifold. Just take it apart and descale it. the O ring that seals it is an odd size so you may have to get straight from Fracino if it needs replacing. If it isn't pumping water into either the boiler or out of the group head then I doubt it is the solenoid. You can check the pump by disconnecting teh braided hose and running the machine. If water comes out of teh hose then teh pump is fine.
> 
> One benefit of my multitude of problems (when it's working I'll write them up so you can all have a laugh/empathis) is that I now fully understand how these things work!


Cheers Padder, I will take a look at that this evening..

Certainly the pump works fine up until that point, so that may well explain what i'm finding.

The manifold is fairly intricate, and I didn't want to disconnect it from boiler etc. if possible...

non return valve sounds promising anyway!

Thanks


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## glevum

All these parts get a cold descale solution thru' them.


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## Padder

aphelion said:


> Cheers Padder, I will take a look at that this evening..
> 
> Certainly the pump works fine up until that point, so that may well explain what i'm finding.
> 
> The manifold is fairly intricate, and I didn't want to disconnect it from boiler etc. if possible...
> 
> non return valve sounds promising anyway!
> 
> Thanks


The NRV is the first thing on the manifold and just screws off. It's in 2 parts which need 2 seperate sized spanners. Unscrew the longer of the 2 and the whole thing will come off and you can then dismantle. 2 parts of the valve come apart and then inside is a plunger type thing and a spring to hold it in place. I had to gently knock through the hole on the end of my valve with a thin screwdriver in order to free up the plunger but mine had been stood for some time and was scaled up. Bew careful when you are putting it back on as I have managed to split mine so need a new one

Look on the parts diagram here and it will be fairly obvious

http://www.fracino4u.com/downloads/heanvenly-parts-diagrams-PDF.pdf


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## aphelion

Padder said:


> The NRV is the first thing on the manifold and just screws off. It's in 2 parts which need 2 seperate sized spanners. Unscrew the longer of the 2 and the whole thing will come off and you can then dismantle. 2 parts of the valve come apart and then inside is a plunger type thing and a spring to hold it in place. I had to gently knock through the hole on the end of my valve with a thin screwdriver in order to free up the plunger but mine had been stood for some time and was scaled up. Bew careful when you are putting it back on as I have managed to split mine so need a new one
> 
> Look on the parts diagram here and it will be fairly obvious
> 
> http://www.fracino4u.com/downloads/heanvenly-parts-diagrams-PDF.pdf


Great thanks..when you say you split yours, was this the O ring or something else?


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## Padder

aphelion said:


> Great thanks..when you say you split yours, was this the O ring or something else?


Split the NRV by overtightening


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