r/ranciliosilvia

My Silvia Pro X is about two years old, and after taking several months off from use, I started pulling shots again this month after replacing some dirty silicone tubing in the machine. Unfortunately, the extraction time is now beyond inconsistent. The first pull after turning the machine on is often too fast (30g of coffee in well under 30 seconds), and the remaining ones are either normal or, as shown in the video, painfully long—well over 45 seconds. I did a full backflush before taking these videos, and it hasn’t done anything to fix the situation.

Any ideas? Is this a blockage somewhere or perhaps something different? Could my switching of the silicone tubes have caused the problem?

Picked up a free V2 that was shorting out from FB market place.
Quickly found it was likely the heating element. If i removed the contacts, the machine didnt short, so this seemed the likely culprit.
Purchase the Lelit heating element for $62 (in Aus). Drilled out the original element that was welded in and faced the surfaces. Went to aliexpress for the brass nuts and o-rings.
While I was at it, replaced the silicon hoses, shower screen, bolt, grouphead gasket, boiler gasket. I also lost an OPV copper washer in the process, so I had to purchase another of those, which was slighlty annoying. Used plumbers teflon tape on the OPV threads and the water inlet thread to this junction.
I also removed some surface rust and sprayed the area under the drip tray.
All in with the replacment parts was $129.40.

And a single leftover screw?

Excuse the poorly documented process, but I found others experiences useful, and their images. Hopefully someone else can save theirs from landfill too.

Let me know what you think.

Is it even worth upgrading from a Rancilio Silvia V6 with GaggiMate Pro to any coffee machine other than a La Marzocco or another dual boiler machine in the same league?

Rancilio Silvia V3, had for just over a year. Happy with the shots but curious as to whether this will need replacing soon.

Been planning for a long time to vinyl wrap my V5. Picked up a beautiful color from Michaels and started working on it. Let me know what you guys think.

Hellos everyone I just got a Rancilio Silvia V3 from some and am excited to use it. I ordered some new stuff to clean it like a new gasket, cafiza, shower screen and group head cover since the one on it was messed up. One question I have is about these tubes behind the group head, there are 2 of them and they look clogged. What are they and what should I do about it. Any help or tips about the machine will be much appreciated as I’m coming from a bambino.

I removed some unused buttons and sticker bombed the face. Matte black wrapped the bottom.

Thank you guys for the help on my other post about the group head cover I appreciate it. One more question so I’m gonna remove those plugs now and when I opened the top it looks like this. Is that burnt looking wire a worry or I can just order it and keep using the machine. Because the machine seems to be working good

We proudly announce the shipping of ALBA ...
Water tank light and level sensor add-on for Gaggimate.

It comes READY TO PLUG & PLAY WITH ENCLOSURE, MAGNET AND ADHESIVE STRIP AND CABLE!

Features include:

Customizable phase to RGB editor.
Water level to light color.
Finetuning of laser sensor (water level) ...

Check it out on gaggimate.eu (->parts).

Took a quick pic of my new machine mocked up after finally getting it together and 'working' last night. It's got a few teething issues so it's already back in pieces and I will be continuing with my Bambino Plus for another couple of weeks or so until the Rancilio is sorted.

The grinder is a Eureka Mignon Specialita with the incredible grind by weight mod by u/Jaappppppp

Rancilio Silvia V3 with Gaggimate Pro PCB build on a Waveshare 1.75 inch screen.

Vinyl wrap, sound deadening and silicone insulation of boiler and steam pipes.

To come:

- Re-routing the PCB board to the outside (back panel) of the machine. I'm having real connectivity issues with it in the stock location, to the extent that it simply doesn't work with the 3D printed cover on the base. I also really dislike how tight/stressed the wiring is when the board is in the stock position.

- Replacing steam wand with a stainless steel upgrade (any recommendations for UK stockists?) and 4 hole tip

- Pulsor on pump outlet

- Painting (the wrap does not look good up close and I can see that it will peel off quite easily with time).

- 3D printed drip tray with recess for Bookoo Themis Mini

- Smart plug to turn the machine on at the socket 15 mins ahead of built in wake-up feature.

I have to say I was slightly regretting all the investment into this machine the past few weeks while waiting for parts to arrive, as it is a fair chunk of money (I'm at £570 all in for the machine + scale) and I do rate the Bambino Plus so highly (past machines are GC, Barista Express, Barista Pro and Bambino Plus). However, having pulled two test shots yesterday with the built in Cremina Lever profile and watching it pull so beautifully and stop on 35.9 and 36.0g respectively, I am bloody ecstatic. My hat off to the developers and engineers that worked to pull this project off in the first place (including Jaap!), and who also tirelessly work to support those in need on the Discord/Reddit threads.

Detailed photos will come in the next few months when it's properly done!

Picked up a v1 Silvia as a project to try some stuff with and getting steam out of the group head when initially turning the pump on.

Does anyone know what could be causing this and a solution?

I also changed to a 3 hole steam tip and changed the grouphead cover to make it look better.

Time to dial in! 😎