So there was a problem. All of a sudden, the espresso machine was not getting the right amount of juice anymore. The water boiler was not…uh…boiling. Within this remarkable espresso apparatus was an electrical relay that told the energy where to go and when, how much to distribute, and when to shut off. Through trial and error, I deemed this device was no longer working. The electronics within my machine were slowly becoming spent. Used up.
The electronic relay had to be replaced. I looked everywhere for an original part replacement, and in my research found that newer models of my espresso machine, the Izzo Alex, came with a SOLID STATE relay. They had done away with the electronic and gone solid state! No moving parts and entirely less likely to fail over time. Brilliant!
I was intrigued. But where to get one? As these are the days of the Death Throes of the Mom & Pop neighborhood electronic store, I did all of my research online. My kingdom for a Radio Shack.
Boulder not being a major metropolitan area, I sourced a place in Denver. Grainger. Seriously, they have everything. But I only needed a solid state relay with the right parameters. I did more research, using the capacities of my current electronic relay (now fried), and just needed to get all the numbers to line up.
Found one! So if you have an oooooold machine like mine, the electronics get fried over time, and want to upgrade your relay, this post is for you. So let’s get down to the process.
Ok, if you’ve gotten this far you ain’t no noob and you have probably pulled off the outer casing of your machine before, exposing its hand-crafted Italian ports and tubes. Nice. Now spin it around on your kitchen counter however you need to to expose the relay you are going to replace.
Mine was in the rear, surprisingly close to the boiler. The hottest spot within the machine. Not the best design choice. Whatever.
Remove your old relay taking careful, deliberate, specific notes on what wires are connected to what screws, and what color they are. Yes, write this all down. Yes, OCD is absolutely acceptable here. Track all your wires as you are removing them back to their source. Remove a wire, note its casing color, and trace it back to the power switch, boiler element, wherever. It is imperative to get this right. My wiring diagram looked like this.
Everything was noted, all screws undone, buncha wires just hanging out looking for a nice new solid state relay to attach to.
But there was an additional problem. Most of the wire ends were either burnt up or needed new wire ends. So I had to teach myself how to do that before I could proceed with the new relay. A useful tool if you need to do this is this wire crimping device. I replaced all the wire ends, screwed them all on to the new relay checking and re-checking the diagram I had made, prayed to the caffeine gods, and turned the machine on.
Nothing. Damnit. Oh wait! Duh, it was unplugged! Plugged it in, threw the switch, and wha-shlah! it quietly and completely came to life. Lights were on, electricity was flowing to all the places it needed to go to, and was being regulated accordingly. I highly recommend doing this as a replacement for the original electrical relay is you have one installed in your machine. It makes it silent, more reliable, and technologically up to date. Plus it’s a fun project. Some pix for wiring specificity. Good luck!
