Introduction
-
-
Picture 1: Water pump from the Nescafe Nespresso, common and similar to the majority of models, thus the checking/testing using this pump can be used for any similar models.
-
Picture 2: Parameters for the water pump, indicated by the manufacturer. Please pay extra attention to the required voltage as well as the work time and rest time for the pump indicated by the manufacturer, in addition to the maximum initial water temperature (although this last one is not critical), can withstand a higher temperature.
-
Picture 3: Protection thermostat from the water pump which is connected in series to the pump. It is also intertwined with one of the feeding cables.
-
-
-
Water pump coil test, using a multimeter in the ohms scale, from 10-20 Mohms, depending on what the multimeter has.
-
For a 230V pump the measurments in ohms of direct current between Red/Black cables must be between 2 and 8 Mohms. In this picture 7,92 Mohms are being measured.
-
-
-
Reverse polarity measurement of the coil. In this black/red polarization, the multimeter should read "1" with no continuity. This is because the coil has an internal diode which prevents current from flowing inversely. This would be a false positive for a broken coil, but when switching around the polarization it reads perfectly fine.
-
-
-
Repeat the tests using an automatic/autoscale multimeter. Yous will find that the readings might vary wildly.
-
Picture 2: The measurement shown is 2,729 Mohms
-
-
-
By changing direction of the probes we can see that, similarly to what happened in the first multimeter, we still do not get the measurement AUTO = open circuit.
-
-
-
The multimeter reading has given us the correct measurement. Supplying the pump motor directly from mains power will not be necessary, but if you want to double-check it, you can try it.
-
We need a cable with the correct adapter for our location and 2 "FASTON" connectors.
-
When the cable is plugged into mains and the motor, the pump should vibrate and make the same noise that we hear when making a coffee to indicate that the water pump is functioning. Keep in mind that since the pump is not connected to water, it will may overheat and burn out if you run the test for longer than 5-8 seconds.
-
With all of this done, we have ensured that the pump is in working order.
-
This guide only goes over how to check that the water pump works, assuming the machine has already been taken apart. Applicable to water pumps from similar coffee machines such as Nespresso/Nescafe Dolce Gusto Piccolo machines.
