Motor

My pump motor won't start

This is a indication of a bad capacitor, which needs replacing. The advantage of this is that they are relatively expensive.

If you have replaced the capacitor, with the correct microfarad, and it still doesn’t work. You first need to start to check if there goes power to the motor. If this is the case it is likely that your pump motor is broken and needs replacing.

Pumps

Then the chance is pretty big that you need to replace the entire pump. The advantage is that vibration pumps are not really expensive.

You can not adjust the pump pressure on a Ulka vibration pump.

Adjusting the pump pressure on a fluid o tech pump is pretty straight forward. Untighten the locking nut on the side of the pump. Now you can move the adjustment screw. When you turn the screw inwards the pump pressure increases, when you turn it outwards the pump pressure will decrease. Don’t forget to tighten the locking nut!

No they are not all the same. The most common is the square shaft, this is used with most espresso machine brands. But when you have a espresso machine of Gruppo Cimbali you will find various models. The most common ones are the D shape and the small square shaft.

With this is it is the same as with the pump shafts.  The standard pumps are clamped on the flange of the motor with a stainless steel clamp. But with the pumps used on espresso machines from Gruppo Cimbali you have pumps which are bolted to the flange of the motor. This can be a 3 hole flange, or a 2 bolt model.

No these pumps can not be rebuild. There are also no rebuild kits available for these pumps

On the pumps such as Fluid o tech, Procon and Nuert you will mainly find 3/8” BSP-G threads, but you can also find 3/8” NPT threads. For this you have special fittings, that are the brass 3/8” Male fittings and for the NPT model you have the nipple 3/8” NPT Male with 3/8” BSP

This mainly depends on how many brewing groups your espresso machine has. There 3 types of pumps, a 50, 100 and a 200 L/H pump. For a single group and a smaller 2 group espresso machine you can work with a 50 or a 100 L pump. When you have more then 2 brewing groups you do need to go for a 180-200 L/H pump. Price wise there is no difference between these pump versions.

Solenoid valves

There are in total 4 manufacturers of solenoid valves, ODE, ASCO, Lucifer and Parker. Where the brand Lucifer is part of the brand Parker.

There are 2 types used. A 3 way valve and a 2 way valve. The 2 way valve is used for controlling flows, such as a water inlet valve and a water outlet. The 3 way valve is solely used on brewing groups, where the 3rd outlet is used as a exhaust port.

This depend a bit on what brand of machine you have and where you are located. The most common voltage is 220/240V for most of the world. Where the US uses 110V coils on some of the machines, not all of them. But with brands such as Cimbali you also have 24V coils.

Well that is basically the diameter of the hole in the solenoid valve. The bigger the diameter the more water can flow true the valve.

This does depend on which model you have. In most cases you need 2 o rings. If you have the stainless steel Parker solenoid valves, these are not a option. For that you need the Parker stainless steel solenoid gasket set. These are not sold individually.