WMB Dev

I awoke to find our espresso machine flatlining this morning. This machine has dutifully served my family espresso drinks, coffee and hot cocoa for well over a year now. At an average of 4 espresso shots a day it’s probably ground, tamped and brewed 1,500 fine cups of coffee. But this morning it would not respond to any external stimulus (repeated pushing of the power button and jiggling the power cord).

Flatline

First, I ruled out external factors such as a bad electrical outlet or tripped circuit breaker, still no power. So after some quick searching on the internet and finding nothing other than a very generic suggestion stating “take the top off and check the fuse” I decided to do just that — crack open the machine and poke around inside. But before doing that, I unplugged the machine to ensure I wouldn’t electrocute myself.

WARNING: I take no responsibility for what you do with the information provided here. Always have a professional service your appliances. Do not try this at home. Now if you’re still interested, read on…

ALWAYS unplug any electrical appliance BEFORE attempting to service it

Okay, next I removed the reservoir, bottom tray and waste bin. I dumped out the beans from the hopper into a large bowl and started looking all over to see just how I’m gonna access the inside of this thing. Fortunately there aren’t too many choices of what to unscrew, there are 2 screws up under the front panel as seen when you open the front of the machine up.

Next I removed the hopper (there are two screws holding this in place), to access the 1 screw under the hopper. Every screw has been a standard Phillips-head until the this next screw, which is on top, in the back, under where the reservoir goes. This one is a Torx. If you’re short on torx drivers you might be able to get lucky as I did and have an Allen wrench that fits.

I guess Saeco doesn’t really want people to open up their machines and they figured a Torx screw would deter them from doing so. Well that hasn’t stopped me yet, and it didn’t this time either.

Okay, now that the top is unscrewed, you’ve got to removed the control panel face. The brew strength knob (that’s not the technical name for it) is easily removed with a gentle prying action. (NOTE: Remember where the indicator was pointing since it appears that it can be put back on the wrong way.) Once removed, there is a screw to take out.

Control panel

After you remove this screw, the panel pops of with a little prying.

Ready to take the top off

And inside we go! Here is the rat’s nest of wiring and tubing that lies under the hood.

The guts

So I started looking for a fuse or anything that looked out of place. After a few minutes of tracing wires closer to the power source, I found what appeared be the heating element. It is located on the very bottom on the back, right-hand side of the machine. And it looks like an electrical connector has vibrated loose from it’s connection.

The problem

Well this is in quite a tight spot and I cannot reach it to fix the problem, but fortunately I had a really handy tool to help. It’s a 2-foot long flexible claw-like device.

"The Claw"

In we go…

... like a surgeon.

Success! I put the machine back together in reverse order and fire it up.

It appears the patient will live.

I can almost taste it

Espresso

One happy developer

Until next time...

*** Note: This blog will normally deal more directly with internet-related tech, but as we all know caffeine is one of the great driving forces behind the internet, I feel this post is relevant enough. ***

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