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Rotary pump speed LR

2nd day with the LR and can't stop looking at it.
Had a question though, it seems to me that the water flow through the rotary pump is much slower when refilling the boiler than when filling the thermosyphon. I don't think it's my imagination. If I draw the same volume of water (100ml) through the hot water tap that I do through the group it will take significantly longer in terms of pump on-time to refill the boiler than it would when pulled through group.
Is it path architecture causing this or is the pump speed purposefully slower for boiler refill than it is for thermosyphon refill?

And also, is the boiler filled through the silicone tubing feeding into water tank while thermosyphon from the valve at the base of the tank onto which you'd install water softener, or have I got this wrong?

Thank you,
C

Sent from my GT-I9505 using Tapatalk

Comments

  • Can't upload video due to size, but 108ml from tap took 10sec of pump time to refill whereas 126ml from group only took 5sec.

    Sent from my GT-I9505 using Tapatalk
  • hi christos

    i expect there is a piece of grit obstructing the inlet side of the solenoid

    there is a how to take it apart video here; https://londiniumespresso.com/forum?catid=27&id=247&view=topic

    the boiler is filled by the copper pipe that comes off the manifold and has the solenoid in the middle of it

    the heat exchanger is fed by the copper pipe that comes off the manifold that has the Mater pressure switch on it

    if, having watched the video above, you still have questions please ask

    kind regards

    reiss.
  • Aha wasn't imagining it! Thanks for such a quick reply! And thank you for video. I'll investigate this evening. Hopefully this hasn't had a chance to cause any damage.
    Tried to upload video but too large. Result was 108ml thorough tap resulted in 10sec rotary pump time to refill versus 5 sec when 126ml pulled through group.
    Sorry if message appears twice, Tapatalk being funny.
    Thank you
    Christos
  • it will be slower going through the solenoid as it is restricted, cf the secondary pressure switch which is unrestricted

    expect about 180mL in 8 seconds through the solenoid, something like that - they are ball park numbers - for example, if it took 10 seconds that would also be fine

    remember to have full pressure (1.0 bar) in the boiler before you draw off the 180mL or the pump will kick in before the 180mL is delivered and then you have a meaningless result; you have to get the test volume in the container you are using before the pump actuates for the test to be meaningful
  • Ok, noted. With boiler at 1 bar 163ml through tap took 19 sec of refill time. As you say, there is probably some offending particle in solenoid which I'll investigate later on. Thanks again.
  • on the inlet side, which has a clearly stamped '1' on the casting, there is a stainless steel gauze

    tap this gauze out on a bench carefully and you should find a speck of grit - it will be very small

    as shown in the video you should also slide the coil off and look for grit inside the valve too, although on the inlet side is the most likely place as the inlet hole is very fine
  • Ok, just an update for whomever may have found themselves in a similar situation. Reiss correctly diagnosed the issue as being debris in the inlet pipe feeding fresh water from the tank through the manifold and past the solenoid before making it to the steam boiler. This was slowing down my boiler fill time engaging the rotary pump for longer than needed.
    Reiss provided careful instructions and a detailed video on the removal and cleaning of the solenoid. I did in fact find a considerable amount of brass savings, remnants of manufacture, that had made it to the steel gauge thereby restricting flow. I thoroughly cleaned it out with water backflushes and compressed air and put it back together. All you need is 2x 14mm, 2x 17mm and 1x 16mm spanners. Unfortunately upon firing the machine back up I had a drip from one of the connections even though I had really tightened them, so contacted Reiss again. He immediately sent through some Loxeal 55-03, a drop of which solved it.

    Back to enjoying my coffee and steam boiler fill up times have gone back to 13sec following a 180ml water draw through the tap.

    Thanks Reiss!

    BW
    Christos
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