# Fiamma Latina I repairs help



## profspudhed (Mar 18, 2011)

Its been a long old time since i stopped by these forums, many years ago i managed to nab a mazzer super jolly for 80 quid, paired with a gaggia classic i was fairly happy with my setup for a long time, but while browsing an IT Recyclers stock for some server ram i stumbled across this beautiful looking but untested machine, not expecting much i threw a bid in and what do you know i got it for a mere £62! i collected it this afternoon, plumbed and wired it in but of course sadly it doesnt work however i have a feeling it wont take much to get it running.









when connecting and turning on the water supply water leaks from a brass valve near the pump (a sort of nut with a hole in it, when unscrewed there is a small spring inside and a metal pin that pushes in) however turning the nut doesnt seem to alter the rate at which it flows to any great degree. soon after water begins to leak from the pressure valve on top of the tank, im guessing the flow is not stopping meaning a sensor has probably gone somewhere and the flow doesnt stop when the tank is full but with this being such an obscure model information is very hard to come by, it gets hot and the pump seems to work although pressure seems low. its late now and my kitchen is a little flooded so im calling it a day, tomorrow ill try and add some pics or a video of whats going wrong in the hopes someone can help me identify whats going wrong

the only place i have seen another of this model is this one short dutch ebay video






does anyone know where i should start? i have emailed fiamma in the hopes they have some info but any info will be greatly appreciated


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## Dylan (Dec 5, 2011)

Your exact model isn't on this parts list but it might be pretty similar by the looks:

http://b2b.lfspareparts724.com/public/minicataloghi/Espresso-coffee-machines-FIAMMA%20RST_201610101512_lf.pdf


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## 7493 (May 29, 2014)

The part you describe as leaking sounds like the valve which releases air until the boiler pressurises. They often leak/fail. A picture of the offending part would help. You might get away with cleaning it but replacements are cheap. If you post a picture I'm sure somebody more qualified to comment than me will help.


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## Dylan (Dec 5, 2011)

I don't think that valve would have a spring in it or be near the pump Rob?

Still, as you say a picture speaks a thousand words.


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## El carajillo (Mar 16, 2013)

It sounds as if the boiler fill solenoid is either stuck open or bleeding/ leaking water past.

Remove the fill sensor and examine for build up of scale, this will give you an idea as to scale in the boiler / system.


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## espressotechno (Apr 11, 2011)

It's a semi-auto model, so no expensive electronics, flowmeters, etc.

Re. Fast overfilling: Remove,clean & refit the boiler level probe. The pump should run then stop.

If it still overfills, remove & earth the probe connecting wire against the boiler casing: The pump should stop.

If the pump keeps running then the water level control box is probably faulty. A new box should be inexpensive...

Re. Slow overfilling: Probably a leaking inlet solenoid valve. Dismantle, descale & refit. May be necessary to fit a new one....

The leak near the pump: could be the expansion valve leaking, due to rotted rubber pad and/or "water channelling" on the valve seat.

Fiamma is Portuguese & used a lot of Brasilia parts on the older models, as well as various industry standard components.


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## profspudhed (Mar 18, 2011)

wow, thanks for all the help guys i wasnt expecting so many responses for such an obscure machine, i ended up having a bit of a busy day yesterday so i didnt get chance to snap any pics but im going to have a crack at a few of the fixes suggested here, granted i can get the nuts and bolts to all unscrew that is, which i usually dont but thankfully i have a friend whos a plumber and is a bit more handy and getting fittings unstuck. i dragged it across onto the draining board earlier this morning so i dont flood the kitchen again and connected and decided to reconnect it and try and fire it up again, this time the pressure hit the full 9 bar and the water coming from the head was like liquid chalk so i think its well scaled up in there.

Thanks again to everyone for the suggestions, ill be back with updates soon

@espressotechno

normally the lack of electronics is a good thing for most, sadly its the other way around for me, im a bit of an electronics nerd, give me precision screwdrivers and a soldering iron and im a ninja, give me a set of spanners and im king hamfist but ill always have a go!

EDIT

OK im back with pics, im beginning to suspect a suggestion from above is correct and the inlet solenoid hs gone, ive yet to dig out the multimeter to test it but so far there seems to be flow everywhere, when disconnected from the sensor that detects when the boiler is full the pump kicks in, so im guessing the water keeps flowing regardless pushing it out of the pressure valves on the top of the tank (this is just my basic guesses i have zero plumbing knowledge)

heres the first valve at the entry point where it leaks from straight away









and heres the pressure valve at top where the water leaks out, it comes from both of the valves circled in red:









and this is the solenoid that i think is culprit:









with a bit of luck just replacing this and a good descale and it may well live again!

EDIT2 :

looks like weve found the culprit, took the rest o the solenoid off and the in and outlet valves dont quite match as the pic shows, looks like the gasket is gone there for a start, replacing the whole thing should hopefully do the job and it looks like it should only be 30 quid or so









seems surprisingly scale free really

EDIT 3

maybe not, after disassembling the solenoid and giving it a good old fashioned whack it seems to be working, there is still a drip from that one nut but i can only assume that will be a fairly simple fix, when i fixed the solenoid back on and flicked to 1 it filed up and stopped as it should, then switched to 2 and it still hasnt started flowing out of the boiler yet so fingers crossed

EDIT 4:

IT WORKS!!! the brew head needs cleaning and it could probably do with a new group gasket but its working! its going to take some getting used to, i managed to blast milk everywhere when steaming but i must say im rather pleased. Now to let it cool down, clean it up and reassemble it, ill find out how to stop the leak at some point but its not bad enough to cause me a serious worry


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## espressotechno (Apr 11, 2011)

That leaky nut on the brass pump head is the adjustment screw for the pump pressure (clockwise to increase). The pump pressure should be set to around 9 bar.

Descaling the pump head screw assembly may stop the leak...


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## profspudhed (Mar 18, 2011)

thanks, i must have just lucked out when i reassembled that bit then as it hit exactly 9 bar (on the gauge on the front anyway) not bad for a "looks bout rightish" kinda job! ill try to disassemble and clean up it at some point soon to stop the leak but it is just a drip so its not something i need to rush to do


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