code and components

I have a nearly ten year old rancilio silva espresso machine which was great. However it needed more maintenance than I realised. So over the last few weeks, I’ve replaced the gasket and cleaned the group head. Replaced the pump and the brew switch. Next I’ll replace the group head cover, which was chromed plastic and aged badly. Should be set for another ten years now, as long as I backflush.

You can see that the old gasket is mishapen and cracked, I had to dig it out with some ifixit spudgers, which are perfect for the task.

Once you’ve got the top off there are two screws which hold the rear frame onto the front of the machine. These are horizontal to the base of the machine and you can see the screw holes on each side at the top. there is then one more screw at the bottom at the back, in the middle of the shot above. This was quite stiff to remove on my machine, as it had got gunged up with coffee.

The pump lies in the rubber frame, remove the right hand side clip and disconnect the tube. To remove the metal hose you will need two spanners. I gave the whole interior a good clean after fitting the new pump. The replacement pump is an Ulka EX5, I got mine from theespressoshop in Glasgow, along with a bunch of other spares, I’d recommend them.

Replacing the pump is as simple as disconnecting the two electrical connectors and the little sensor, which slides out from the slot above. Reconnect the metal hose, I did use some threadlocker, after some research I bought Loctite 243, as it seemed to be the right balance of viscosity working with the right metals steel and brass.

All pretty straightforward and took a couple of hours, including photos etc. My Silva is back to making brilliant espresso with great crema again. Backflushing with some Puly Caff cleaner approximately weekly seems to keep things sweet.