Share this page to your:
Mastodon

We got back from hols and, as you do, turned on the espresso machine. Bang!
espresso

What? Turned it off then back on. Nothing. But not on either. Checked the fuse box. Yep, one of the cutouts has flipped. I took the back off the espresso machine and wiggled some wires, one of which looked a bit blackened. Ficked the cutout back on and tried again. Bang! There were visible sparks this time. Okay, that’s not good.

I disconnected the espresso machine altogether, called a service shop and arranged to take it in there to get fixed. It’s a wonderful machine, one of those Electras with a brass eagle on the top, and it does a good job, been doing it for nearly 20 years now.

Meanwhile I fetched the emergency backup espresso machine (yes, we do have an emergency espresso machine cos of a more minor problem 3 years ago) and set it up on the kitchen bench. Espressos followed.

Getting the main machine to the repair shop is a little tricky because it has a plumbed in water supply. I remember when we set this up and there’s a shut off on the incoming pipe so the machine can be disconnected without getting water everywhere. It is hidden behind a panel in the bench below. I took off the panel, found the shut off and turned it off. Then I set to disconnecting the machine.
The moment I got the water supply line off the machine I got water sprayed in my face and pretty much everywhere. What? I shut off the water! I did! (this, among other things was what I was yelling to Mrs as I asked her to go shut off the mains).

That’s complicated too. We gather water from our roof and store it in a tank, then a pump sends it to the house. The pump is smart, it detects the drop in pressure when we turn on a tap and cranks up to maintain it. So Mrs ran outside to the pump switch while I jammed my finger across the tube to stop it squirting. It seemed to take a long time.

Next step was to find out what was going on with the shut off that didn’t. I got a wrench and took it off… and noticed water was still dribbling steadily from the pipe. Huh? We turned off the pump. The kitchen tap is still on and is not running, that proves it.

Except that this particular pipe end is lower than all the taps because it under the bench. That means it is below the top of the water tank, so there’s some pressure even without the pump running. I need to turn off the tap on the tank. Leaving Mrs in charge of a bucket to catch the dribble I went out and struggled with the tap which hasn’t been turned in at least 5 years and didn’t feel inclined to now until I started hitting it. That sorted out the dribble. So we were no longer in danger of flooding the kitchen any more than it was already.
I had enough bits and pieces to contrive a bung in the pipe and then I could turn the water on again. It held okay. Whew.

That’s enough excitement for now, but I am going to take a long hard look at that shut off that didn’t before I put this back together.

Previous Post Next Post