delonghi autentica - general warning light ? Featured

Make sure the hot-water/steam "valve" is fully closed? open/close it a time or two ...

Tried descaling it?

Done that.

Weirdly, if you leave the valve open before powering the machine on, it "knows" and lights up the steam icon. Despite there being no electrics I can see in the steam valve.

It's regularly descaled.

And whatever this alert is, it's stopping the machine getting any further. So I can't run the descale program.

If the machine failed to work after I changed the infuser, I'd think I'd not replaced it correctly. But I got some brews out before this.

I'm a little suspicious that when I remove the tank, and refit it, there isn't the usual slight bubbling from the outlet. Hence my wondering if there is an unexpected airlock messing a sensor up somewhere.

Obviously when the machine is new there is an expected airlock, until the circuit is primed.

I've always assumed there's a switch in there to turn on the pump.

Not sure what you meant in the original message about "the infuser assembly (not the removable bit)"? to me the infuser *is* the removable bit, no?

No electrical connections at all. Must work on some sort of pressure drop ?

Well, yes. You remove it and clean it. However there is another part inside the machine called the "brewing infuser" that needs the machine opening to replace. It was this bit I changed as the machine was starting to leak into the grounds container. Which was fixed by my replacing it (after a YouTube vidoe showing how ...)

I am hypthesising ("guessing") that the clicks I am hearing are relays that are expecting something to be in place to continue. The lack of noise from the carriage for the infuser may be a clue. As is the lack of water being drawn into the machine ... hence my feeling of an airlock.

If you remove the water container, and turn the machine upside down, not a drop of water comes from anywhere. Not sure if this is a clue.

I'm loath to junk the machine. I have discovered that in the "standby" state, some of the buttons on the control panel seem to do something as in show certain icons on the display. However lacking a service manual it's a bit mysterious.

I make coffee using a stainless steel cafetiere. It goes in the dishwasher. It never blocks or breaks down, It has no electronics.

I grind fresh beans with a 20 year old £20 electric coffee grinder, and boil water in a £20 electric kettle.

People say my coffee - made from AA Kenya beans - is the best they have ever tasted. When I was married the ex and her sisters all invested in fancy coffee makers. They all made coffee that tasted s*it and they all ended up in the skip. After the second I refused to even try to repair them

Depends on whether you like espresso or not, I guess. Personally I do, as does SWMBO.

If I wanted I have a £10 manual grinder, and a mokka. But - nice though it is - that's not espresso.

This machine has worked flawlessly since we got it half price in a Black Friday 7 years ago.

Wee update.

Having removed every sensor, and checked every connection, I've given this up as a bad job. Checking my emails I found out the machine is 8 years old (not 7 as I thought). At that age, unless the fix is £0, it's a gamble.

Have decide to cut my losses and purchase another. A bit of digging shows that DeLonghi do refurbished models, so for the price a new one, I've gone for a more fancy refurbed with 1 year warranty. Having (repeated) dissembled and reassembled the one I have, I can vouch for the build quality. (Plus the fact it worked 8 years without a glitch),

Shame to junk the old machine if if could be fixed by a new widgetpinrod (or whatever).

I bought mine refurbed (not from Delonghi) I think the company dealt with catalogue returns etc, it was "as new in box" for £100, I'd buy another.

Well they say they are either ones returned within 30 days, or ones with a simple fault repaired. The may be some slight cosmetic signs it's not new. But tomes with a years guarantee so really no loss from a new one if you can live with the psychological pain of knowing it wasn't "brand" new. Which - for £135 (£265 instead of £400) I certainly can.

Amusingly/annoyingly, our local (<1 min walk) "One Stop" has a sodding TARDIS size Costa Coffee machine that is permanently out of order.

Until we get our new machine we're mokka-ing it. But as noted previously, it's not true espresso.