After a few weeks of being coffee-deprived, I decided to disassemble my espresso machine and see if I could figure out why it leaked water while on, and didn’t have enough pressure to produce drinkable coffee.
I live a bit on the edge of where other people do, so my water supply is from my own pump, 40 meters into the ground. It’s as hard as water gets. That was my main suspicion. I read a bit about it on the interwebz and learned about descaling, which I’d never heard about. I tried some of the home-made potions but nothing seemed to work.
Long story short, I’m enjoying a perfect espresso as I write this.
I wanted to share a bit with the internet people about what was hard to solve, and couldn’t find any instructions on. All I really did was disassemble the whole thing completely, part by part, clean them, and make sure to put it back together tightening everything that seemed to need pressure.
I don’t have the time and energy to put together a step-by-step walk-through, so here’s the 2 tips I can give you:
1) Remove ALL the screws. That’ll get you there 95% there. You’ll need a philips head, a torx head, a flat head and some small-ish pliers.
2) The knob that releases the steam looks unremovable and blocks you from getting the top lid off. It doesn’t screw off, you just need to pull upwards with some strength and care. It comes off cleanly and will go back on easily. Here’s a picture to prove it:
Hope this helps somebody!
Martin Albisetti's blog 
26 responses to “Disassembling a DeLonghi eco310.r coffee machine”
Oh thanks
I Has Been try to open and was imposible until see your comment,
Thanks
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Thanks, I was struggling to open mine, with the steam knob being the problem, and your post gave me exactly the info I needed. Mine still doesn’t work, but at least now I can start looking for the problem (tomorrow morning, that is!)
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It helped me – cheers
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Yes it did. Thank you
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Thank you very much. As far as Switzerland, it was a big help!!!
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i have trouble to remove the steam wand from the machine
and also i dont know what bits to use to unscrew the four bolts in the base of the machine is it torx ?
i have tried torx bit but the dont fit
any suggestion
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Hi some help needed ,where do I attach the earth wire I know the one end ia attached to the top cover but I forgot where th other end is assembled to
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wow! I was just wondering how remove that steam ball. Now I can continue with the maintenance, Thanks so much and greetings from Chile!
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Thanks mate, exactly what I needed. For the torx screws I managed with a regular screwdriver, they were not too tight
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Your post is so helpful to me. I tried to remove the knob but it’s unavailable until read this. Thanks you so much.
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Thank you so much! A simple piece of tube had come loose – easily fixed once I knew how to open the casing. We were about to throw the machine away!
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I had a problem with the flow-rate on my DeLonghi ECO310BK. It was taking ages to fill a cup. Tried de-scaling the machine, but that did nothing to help, so I decided to “go in”. Dis-assembly was reasonably straight forward as long as you have Torx and Philips Head screwdrivers. First took off the top lid and checked to see if the pump was OK. I did that by disconnecting the feed-tubes to the boiler and “frother”, and then connecting one to the other – just push one into the other. Then push in the top two operating buttons on the front of the machine, plug in to a socket, and then throw the socket switch for a FEW SECONDS only. n.b. Don’t leave it on for more than a few seconds as the boiler is running “dry” and will overheat. Alternatively, disconnect the two wires at the top of the boiler and tape them up with insulating tape. Mine showed that the pump was fine – as expected. Solenoid pumps are reasonably robust.
So, I let the boiler cool and took it out of the metal “chassis” that it’s mounted on – easy – just four bolts – but you have to disassemble the base to do this as you need to disconnect the feed tubes from the water reservoir. The boiler then splits apart (top “element” and bottom “reservoir” halves with a rubber seal in between) – no other bolts or screws to undo.
When I’d split the boiler, I couldn’t believe the amount of lime-scale inside. Cleaned it out with household lime-scale remover; rinsed down both halves thoroughly; reassembled it.
The machine now runs as good as new and I’ve saved myself £200.
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Thank you, thank you Thank you.
I was getting frustrated there for a while till I read your post. Actually makes a good cup of coffee that machine.
Cheers from down under.
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Any body seen a wiring diagram? I changed the switch’s and stupidly got in a spot of bother.
There’s 2 thermostats. One’s for the heater and one is for the steam. Higher temperature for steam I assume.
Any one know? Then I could work out the wiring myself.
Thanks
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Brilliant! I’m always afraid of breaking something by pulling too hard. Now to find where the residual current is coming from. Thanks
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thanks, that saved me breaking the knob off.
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Thanks. I didn’t know how to remove the steam ball.
Alex from Toowoomba
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Thanks for the tip on the steam knob – same process on our ec330s. It was also just the tube to the steam wand that had come loose so a quick fix.
For the ec330s you don’t need to remove all of the screws to take the top cover off, it’s just the two small ones at the top back behind the water container and then the five screws on the underside of the top (near where the sump assembly – the bit you put the coffee in – is).
Dead easy to fix 🙂
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Wow thank you! I was actually stack on the air screw as i thought it wouldnt come off. Im on it now thanks so much! Hopefully i will get back to my home lattes soon !
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Thank you so much
Husband was getting frustrated
Know came off as you said 🙂
Turns out the tube off the Hot water
Tube had come off
Cheers from Australia 🙂
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How do you get at the water pump and pressure valve?
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I’m trying to stop the leak at the entry at the back of the steam hood but don’t know what to use as the tube fitting is the issue and cannot be removed to use high temp tape. I would be very grateful for any help/information to get it back in operation.
Thanks, Keith
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Thanks! You’ve saved me expensive repair costs/buying a new machine! I was about to give up on fixing it myself, and then found this. Highly appreciated!!
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I can’t put the steam valve back on
any tips?
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Thanks, it did help :))
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I had to replace the steam valve (tap) as it was very tight and impossible to shut so there was a constant stream of water coming out of the steam pipe. I ordered a replacement from a UK website and now I’m waiting for it to come. I’m looking for a service manual for the machine where I could find some technical information, especially what torque I should use to tighten the boiler back together and also what torque to use to tighten the valve in the boiler. I’m sure there must be a recommendation as overtightening might damage the boiler, but it the same time I do not want to have it loose so it does not leak..
Any ideas anyone?
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