L'anna problem - a cautionary tale and a request for help

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L'anna problem - a cautionary tale and a request for help

Postby dr.chris » Tue Jan 10, 2012 12:00 pm

Well we have had a 2nd hand L'anna for a while now and we are very fond of her. She came from Happy Donkey and at the time she was missing the 2 bolts that hold the top plate on.

Scott was trying to source these and send them with some other stuff we ordered - but we wanted the other stuff and at the time these bolts didnt seem that important - until now. Anyways we said dont worry about the bolts we want the bottomless portafilter etc sooner rather than later.

Thing is this morning I was filling her up with some water and not paying attention - and some didnt go down where it was supposed to. Instead some managed to go down the hole where the bolt should have been where it dripped down onto what I assume is a power controller below. It wasnt much but then I did wonder why we had a power cut at the moment I stopped flushing the head - turned out the mains power had tripped (RCD).

Switching her back on the pump is randomly switching on and off - different buttons lighting up on the control panel. I have opened up the part in question (gicar 9.5.37.02) and there were a few drops of water which I dried off. I am now hoping that everything will be alright when things have a bit more of a chance to dry off - but dont really know what I am doing. The mains havnt tripped again - yet - so its not all bad news.

So - does it sound likely that this part is the problem and could it be OK given time to properly dry out? Or does it sound like something is terminal. I think its a pretty standard part and of course Happy Donkey will probably be able to help out, but if it is done for is there anywhere else thats worth looking at for the part?
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Postby lsjms » Tue Jan 10, 2012 2:24 pm

Good luck with the drying, fingers crossed.

Any burnt bits visable damage? It does sound like damage to the board- when my first one went the machine nearly worked but was beset by wierdness and flashing things. The second went up in a puff of smoke.
Worth a quick PM to Janksolid. I have been quoted up to £400 for one of the complex gicar boards.

Hence my track rebuild and bodge....
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Postby dr.chris » Tue Jan 10, 2012 5:54 pm

Dried out and working, thankfully.

I did do a search for the part online and found a romanian electrical supply site with it listed (the madness of google). I think it was in the region of 100 euros

Couldnt believe how well the bolt hole was lined up with the control box. One small strip of duct tape means it wont happen again.
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Postby johnca » Thu Jan 12, 2012 12:59 pm

I did same when descaling the boiler, set me back £100 for new controller. I would put a polythene back over the controller and secure with an elastic band, should protect from it happening again
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Postby johnca » Thu Jan 12, 2012 8:24 pm

Regarding the 'bolts' you refer to which hold the top panel in place. They're screws, not bolts (bolts have a waisted section, screws don't). They look to be M4 x 10mm round head posidrive, should be able to get them from a hardware store ... just check the threadform isn't tight whilst fitting them, if it is then maybe it's an imperial thread form .. doubt it though, Spain have been metricated for years
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Postby dr.chris » Thu Jan 12, 2012 9:13 pm

That would make sense - both on the bolts/screws and on the controller. As said before not having them present never seemed an issue before
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Postby johnca » Thu Jan 12, 2012 9:48 pm

Thought it would rattle like hell without the screws fitted, let's hope it silences the machine as well. I love my L'Anna ... when it's good it's very very good & when it's bad it's expensive. But at least there's room to dig around and get at bits, you just need plenty of big spanners and a good sense of humour.

I replace the contactor (looks like a pissy relay to me) once per year as it usually burns out through continual arcing, it's probably not big enough for the job but is only around £10 so that's fair enough. I used to buy the parts from Jaguar Espresso Systems, they were and probably are the main importer of Iberital machines and had well versed spares dept. Last time I tried them they said they will only deal with 'The Trade' whoever that is. But if you're stuck for anything they're a good resource.

I don't know how long L'Anna's last for ... mine's cherished but still let's me down from time to time ... wife's same!
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Postby dr.chris » Fri Jan 13, 2012 2:24 pm

Me and the wife are also very fond of Anna - wife would be bereft if she did break down. I know what you mean about the contacter - and we also get this thing that the pump sometimes seems not to fully engage - but shes a lovely machine and as you say you can get to stuff. Not a lot of bells and whistles but what she does do she does very well. I think we have had her from not much used 2nd hand for about 2 years and havnt had to replace anything yet. Only other problem is the slight bow in the work surface top.

The top of anna carries a lot of cups and spare portafilters which probably deals with the 'rattling'
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Postby CakeBoy » Sat Jan 14, 2012 11:29 pm

Not sure about the contactor issue but if Jaguar only deal with the trade, give Scott a yell at Happy Donkey and he'll get you one. He might also be worth speaking with about the problem, he usually gets to the bottom of things.
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