Laranzato espresso machine - continued

I've continued to work on the Laranzato with generally good results today.

Cleaning continues with considerable more to be done.  This doesn't affect the machine's operation though so I decided to connect the machine to water and see what happened.  After verifying that there were no leaks I turned the machine on.  The pump motor ran for 2 or 3 seconds then all was quiet.  Holding my hand over the boiler I could feel heat coming off so it seems the heater works.

I pressed each of the 5 coffee dispensing buttons and water came out of the group head as expected for times that seemed reasonable.  I also pressed the continuous button and as expected water came out.  All very encouraging.

Initially water did not come out either the hot water nozzle or the steam nozzle when the respective valves were turned.  As the machine got hot, things changed and both seemed to function.  That makes some sense for the steam valve but I'm not so sure about the hot water valve and so will investigate.

I have some concern about a couple of fixtures on top of the boiler.  When the machine got hot a bit of steam escaped from one.  The other occasionally wept a few drops of water and the retaining clip on its top spun rapidly.  It is also threaded to apparently accept some sort of nut.  Both these things need to be investigated.

There is also an issue with water seeping from under the group head.

The final concern is that the pressure gauge did not seem to register.

All things considered very encouragins.

I got good shots of several important elements.

Manufacturers nameplate

Bottom of boiler.  Is this a drain?

 

Something loose.

It seemed to go here