Replacing the safety valve

Tools and parts required

• A replacement safety valve
• A 1/2" spanner (a.k.a. wrench). It's important that a correctly-sized spanner is used.

Instructions

Replacing the safety valve is a simple process. With the right tools it shouldn’t take more than a minute.

First, an important warning: safety valves on machines with serial numbers greater than 423 have a pressure release tab, this tab should only be touched once the machine is completely cool. During normal operation the boiler and the safety valve will get burning hot. Additionally, if you press the pressure release tab while the boiler is hot, scalding steam will be released from the safety valve, and could burn you. Either wait for the machine to completely cool down, or cool it under the cold tap, before you use the pressure release tab. The machine is both thick and an inherently strong shape, so there's no risk of damaging it when doing this.

After brewing an espresso, and once the machine is completely cool – you should press the tab on the safety valve (see image below) to equalise the pressure in the lower boiler. You'll hear a slight hiss; this will make unscrewing the boiler much easier, and will also protect the boiler o-ring.

Step One

Remove the existing safety valve by unscrewing the whole part. You may be able to do this with your fingers. If not, use a 13mm spanner (wrench), to loosen it. You want to place your spanner around the nut – that’s the part of the valve that has flat sides. In the image below it’s directly above the gold coloured safety ring, it’s on the outside of the boiler.

Step Two

Screw the new safety valve in to the hole left by the old one. Screw it in hand tight, then use a 13 mm spanner to tighten so there is “metal on metal” contact between the boiler and the valve. You won’t need to tighten it very hard, the thing to feel for is a sudden increase in resistance when screwing it in (that’s when you get metal metal contact).

That’s it! If you have any questions, please contact us.