The Coffee Machine

I enclose a chain of some recent correspondence which I hope has saved Wes a lot of money! I get so frustrated when people are talked into buying a new machine or parts because of the ignorance or incompetence of a so called engineers.

A Coffee Machine should last 17+ years given proper maintenance and a bit of loving care -so if you have a machine and someone says you need to replace it - watch out - its likely *a -hes trying to con you or *b- doesn’t know what he’s doing, cant be bothered, and lets face it theres more profit in a sale!

Andrew,

I’ll be damned if it didn’t eventually work. You were right, the board is at least 90% functional.

It’s late and I need to do some more testing but it seems to be working as intended.

I owe you one,

WES

—–Original Message—–
From: Andrew Porter [mailto:andrew@verdecoffee.com]
Sent: Monday, February 04, 2008 2:27 AM
To: wesley@*********
Subject: FW: motherboard

Dear Wesley,

Direct from the manufacturer -
“In older machines, it is necessary to go into programming mode, and
then cancel the alarm. The only difference in this respect is that to
go into programming mode and cancel the alarm, you need to do in on the
right hand key pad, and not the left hand keypad.

As a reminder, once in programming on the older machines, you need to
cancel the alarm by pressing at the same time and holding a couple of
seconds the buttons for 1 short and 2 short coffees. Then come out of
programming by switching the machine off and on again.”

To get into programming - switch off machine, hold down continuous
button on left hand pad, keeping held down switch machine back on and
continue to hold down button for about 10 seconds - you should then see
a difference in the light on the machine then move to right hand panel
and do above. If you need any further help please do email -best of
luck!

Regards
Andrew

—–Original Message—–
From: Andrew Porter [mailto:andrew@verdecoffee.com]
Sent: 04 February 2008 09:14
To: ‘wesley@***************
Subject: RE: motherboard

Wesley,

I think I can safely say this is NOTHING wrong with the board! The water
alarm has been triggered and that is why only the continuous works.This
is when the machine has not been able to fill up in the time
allotted- about 90seconds.

I will have to get the instructions as how to switch it off because it
is slightly different with new boards -you just have to switch off then
just switch on! And that turns off the water alarm.

Regards
Andrew

—–Original Message—–
From: wesley [mailto:wesley@****************]
Sent: 02 February 2008 03:07
To: ‘Andrew Porter’
Subject: RE: motherboard

Yeah, I hear you on the expense part.

I’ve tried to diagnose it and checked the fuses for continuity - they
seem to be OK. Over here, the Futurmat/Gaggia Espana machines have a
bad reputation for fragile electronics and I bought it used - condition
unknown.

My problem is that the autofill circuit does not work. This triggers
some sort of protective state that disables all of the other buttons on
the control panel except for continuous brew and cappacinatore clean.
I’ve jumped some wires around and all of the other solenoids work as
does the motor, I just can’t get the whole thing to come together.

I’ve contacted Quality Espresso a couple times and to their credit, they
have actually returned some emails. I didn’t get the sense that they
were super concerned about helping me though. There is zero support
here for Futurmat on any scale here in the USA, so I haven’t set myself
up for success.

The machine is built well and the quality of fabrication is great. It’s
just getting the electrics sorted that’s killing me. A diagram of the
motherboard would be really helpful but I’m not sure that they exist.

WES

—–Original Message—–
From: Andrew Porter [mailto:andrew@verdecoffee.com]
Sent: Friday, February 01, 2008 12:56 AM
To: wesley@furnacegroup.com
Subject: RE: motherboard

Hi,
Yes we import from Quality Espresso who are the manufacturers. You are
correct - it’s the most expensive item on an espresso machine -except
perhaps for the boiler! Are you sure the board has gone [normally they
are very reliable] I know this is obvious but have you checked the fuses
on the board? Regards Andrew

—–Original Message—–
From: wesley [mailto:wesley@*************]
Sent: 01 February 2008 06:44
To: ‘Andrew Porter’
Subject: RE: motherboard

Andrew,

Thanks for the effort. $477 is a chunk of change for this machine.

Are you a distributor for Futurmat in the UK??

WES

—–Original Message—–
From: Andrew Porter [mailto:andrew@verdecoffee.com]
Sent: Monday, January 28, 2008 5:25 AM
To: wesley@furnacegroup.com
Subject: RE: motherboard

Wes,

Noticed I had put the incorrect symbol for currency price - should have
been £ not $! Price is £224 or 320euros approx or $477 -sorry about the
error. In stock and can be shipped whereever! [ Cant locate any refurb
boards!]

Regards
Andrew

—–Original Message—–
From: wesley [mailto:wesley@***********]
Sent: 26 January 2008 19:47
To: ‘Andrew Porter’
Subject: RE: motherboard

Andrew,

I re-read your email and here’s some more detail:

http://www.home-barista.com/forums/reviving-futurmat-ariete-t5413.html

If you scroll down about half-way there is a photo of the mfg plate.

Thanks for the help,

WES

—–Original Message—–
From: Andrew Porter [mailto:andrew@verdecoffee.com]
Sent: Friday, January 25, 2008 4:04 AM
To: wesley@furnacegroup.com
Subject: RE: motherboard

Wes,
There were a variety of boards used on machines shipped to the USA.
Please take a picture of your machine and ratings plate and I can get
the exact board and price but we are talking ‘very very ‘roughly about
$250 for new, less for a refurbished. Regards Andrew

—–Original Message—–
From: wesley [mailto:wesley@**********]
Sent: 24 January 2008 16:28
To: ‘Andrew Porter’
Subject: RE: motherboard

Andrew,

I’m curious. What would a motherboard cost? I can take any currency
with shipping to Belgium or USA.

WES

—–Original Message—–
From: Andrew Porter [mailto:andrew@verdecoffee.com]
Sent: Thursday, January 24, 2008 2:32 AM
To: wesley@furnacegroup.com
Subject: motherboard

Hi Wes,
No problem re the board!
If you want one I can email you the price.
REgARDS
Andrew

—–Original Message—–
From: wesley [mailto:wesley@*********]
Sent: 23 January 2008 18:16
To: ‘Andrew Porter’
Subject: RE: futurmat

Do you have a lot of experience dealing with these guys?? Repairing the
Futurmat/Quality Espresso machines?

I’m afraid that I need a motherboard, and 110v ones are super hard to
find.

WES

—–Original Message—–
From: Andrew Porter [mailto:andrew@verdecoffee.com]
Sent: Wednesday, January 23, 2008 1:32 AM
To: wesley@furnacegroup.com
Subject: RE: futurmat

Dear Wesley,
Shipping to Belgium or USA is no prob - just that costs on low value
items make them stupidly expensive. If you need any help please email
me.I will send you the diagrams if you need them? Regards Andrew

—–Original Message—–
From: wesley@furnacegroup.com [mailto:wesley@*********]
Sent: 23 January 2008 06:24
To: ANDREW@VERDECOFFEE.COM
Subject: futurmat

Hello andrewporter123, The following is an email sent to you by
djmonkeyhater via your account on Home-Barista.com.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Hey, This is Wesley (Djmonkeyhater) in the
USA with the Futurmat Ariete. I’d love to talk with you about parts for
it. I have a shipping address in Belgium if that would make
transactions easier. wesley@********* WES

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This entry was posted on Friday, February 8th, 2008 at 4:23 pm and is filed under Spare Parts and Repairs. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.