Londinium R Solenoid removal

Anthony Materazzi

From researching on the posts in this forum it seems my solenoid may have some grit in it. Symptoms are : 1)water alarm coming on during refill after draining 200-236ml from hot water tap. 2) When stone cold upon start up pump runs for about 20-40 sec. Previously it only ran 5-15 seconds on cold start. 3) Pump is louder. Sort of a sucking air sound, but not quite and more of a laboring sound. Pull down the lever during this and pump gets very quiet.

Water tank is fully seated and electrical contact points at bottom of tank clean. The heating element does come on once it fills, but that takes 2-3 cycles of alarm tripping.

My main question is when removing the solenoid is there any concern of boiler spilling it’s contents?

Thanks ,
Tony

Frans Goddijn

I can't remember any more water than a few droplets falling when I replaced the solenoid. It's wise to do it on a stone cold machine, nothing pressurized and not plugged in.

Reiss Gunson

hi tony

i think you are probably correct in identifying the inlet solenoid as needing a clean

in terms of water running out of the boiler it depends a bit where you decide to open the copper pipe - if you open it at the boiler end it will certainly drain the boiler down to the level of the pipe fitting, but dont worry; just place your machine on the bench next to your kitchen sink so it drains straight into the sink

apologies for the delayed reply

kind regards

reiss

Anthony Materazzi

Thanks Frans!

Tony

Anthony Materazzi

Reiss Gunson post=16398 wrote:

apologies for the delayed reply

kind regards

reiss

No apologies needed. You’re always very prompt in replying and this was no exception.

My plan was to remove the valve at the pipe connection vs removing the pipe at the boiler. I’ll drain some water off through the hot water pipe the last time I use the machine before I remove to get the water level lower. And as Frans pointed out of course on a stone cold machine. I won’t have time to do it till either Friday night or Sat. I just refrain from using hot water pipe till then to avoid the long run times of the pump. Machine works fine otherwise.

Thanks!
Tony

Anthony Materazzi

Just wanted to follow up. Completed the solenoid clean just now. It worked. Draining about 500 ml from the boiler via the hot water tap, turn the machine back on and the pump refills in 23 seconds. That’s a lot faster then the 2 - 3 min and multiple alarm trips previously. Didn’t see any particular debris but cleaned and compressed air flushed just the same. Obviously it worked.

Pump has a little bit of bird chirp to it which I don’t remember previously, but I can’t say I’ve paid also that much attention to it in the past. . Tried pulling the lever down as the pump was refilling the boiler as suggested on the forum for a air bubble in the pump, but didn’t change the pitch. I’m sure it’s fine and more likely me not fully remembering what the pump sounds like before the water delivery slow down.

Thanks for the help!
Tony

Reiss Gunson

Thanks for reporting back Tony. The pump always makes a different noise when refilling the boiler than it does when refilling the preinfusion circuit as it is having to push water through the narrow aperture in the solenoid. In comparison the preinfusion circuit is unrestricted.