Delonghi Eletta troubleshooting

You can enjoy delicious coffee beverages for years with regular cleaning and maintenance of your Delonghi Eletta. However, with use and time, these coffee machines may begin to develop some issues.

I have created this guide for common troubleshooting, enabling you to know what to do if your Delonghi Eletta experiences any of these problems. Remember, don’t discard it without attempting to repair it first. Also, don’t forget to check the troubleshooting guide for the Delonghi Magnifica; many of its issues are common to the Delonghi Eletta.

Water leakage from the front of the Delonghi Eletta cappuccino top

This issue is not exclusive to Delonghi or the Eletta model; water leaks are common in all coffee machines. These leaks can occur in different areas, the most common being the coffee preparation area and the machine’s base.

Issue: Whenever you try to start the Delonghi Eletta Cappuccino to brew coffee, water drips from the front, not precisely from the coffee dispensing nozzles but behind them. Additionally, the drip tray is always overflowing with water.

Cause: Over time and with frequent use of the coffee machine, it is normal for worn or damaged O-rings to appear in the internal connections of the machine. Some leaks due to O-rings are easy to identify, but others occur in less visible areas, such as, in this case, inside the piston valve of the coffee brew group.

Solution: If you cannot locate the water leak easily, it is most likely that one of the piston seals has deteriorated. To replace it, you have to follow the following steps:

1. Turn off and unplug your Eletta.
2. Disassemble the coffee maker.
3. Locate the infuser piston and remove the yellow cover.
4. Check all the parts until you find the damaged gasket and replace it.
5. In some cases, when the piston structure has been damaged, it will be necessary to replace it completely.
6. Clean all removed parts thoroughly before putting them back in place.
7. Reinsert the piston back into the coffee maker.
8. Assemble the Eletta.

No milk comes out of the Delonghi Eletta Cappuccino Top frother

If you enjoy coffee preparations with milk, it won’t be pleasant to discover that one day, the frother on your Delonghi Eletta stops working and no longer dispenses frothy milk. Fortunately, it’s repairable, and you’ll learn how to do it here.

Issue: When you start the Delonghi Eletta to froth milk, you notice that, even though the machine starts normally, the milk doesn’t make its way into the cup.

Cause: Proper and regular cleaning of the coffee machine is essential to prevent blockages. If you don’t clean the frother nozzle after each use, milk residues will accumulate inside, eventually clogging or blocking the liquid flow.

Solution:

1. Place a container under the milk frother.
2. Press the hot water button to dispense a bit into the container, and press it again to stop this action.
3. Wait a few minutes until the milk frother has cooled down.
4. Press the gray button above the frother and gently remove it from its place.
5. Disassemble the frother and remove the steam nozzle.
6. Check that the nozzle opening is not blocked, and if necessary, clean the opening with a toothpick.
7. Clean all parts of the milk frother thoroughly with a sponge and warm water.
8. Reinstall the nozzle and other frother parts.
9. Reinstall the frother in its place.

The Delonghi Eletta Cappuccino Top doesn’t grind enough coffee

Understanding the correct operation of the coffee machine, as well as performing proper maintenance and cleaning, is of vital importance. This will allow us to promptly identify when things are not going well with the machine without affecting the final coffee preparation.

Issue: The coffee produced by your Delonghi Eletta keeps getting worse; the machine is not grinding enough coffee needed for a good cup of coffee. What the machine manages to grind is insufficient for a high-quality final preparation.

Cause 1: Every time the coffee maker performs its grinding function, coffee residues may be left in many places inside the machine. Hence, regular cleaning is important, as accumulating residues in one place eventually leads to obstructions and blockages.

The infuser (a key component in coffee brewing) is highly susceptible to damage due to the accumulation of dirt. If the infuser is clogged, you won’t get enough ground coffee for your preparations.

Solution 1:

1. Turn off and unplug the coffee machine.
2. Remove the water tank, and you will find the door leading to the infuser; open it.
3. When the infuser is visible, press the two red release buttons, and while holding them, pull the infuser outward.
4. Place the infuser in a container with water and immerse it for about 5 minutes.
5. Then rinse the infuser with running water.
6. Use a brush to remove coffee residues that may have remained on the infuser and its support.
7. Reinsert the infuser in its place.
8. Press the “Push” button firmly until it clicks, indicating the infuser is in place.
9. Ensure that the two red buttons are locked.
10. Please close the door and replace the water tank in its place.

Cause 2: Since the grinder comes pre-set in a position allowing correct coffee delivery, you rarely need to readjust it. But if, after many uses, you begin to notice that your coffee is coming out too fine, with very little crema, or it’s dispensing too slowly (drop by drop), you will likely need to correct the grind size by adjusting the knob.

Remember that the grind size can only be adjusted when the grinder is in operation.

Solution 2:

1. Start the coffee maker to prepare a coffee.
2. If the coffee output is too slow or not coming out at all, turn the knob one position (just one), clockwise (towards “7”).
3. To get coffee with more body and a better crema, turn the knob one position (just one), counterclockwise or opposite to the clockwise direction (towards “1”).
4. Never turn the knob more than one position at a time, or else the coffee may be dispensed drop by drop.
5. Brew two more coffees to observe the effect of your grind size adjustment.
6. If you’re not satisfied with this setting, turn the knob one more position until you achieve the desired grind size.

The coffee prepared by the Delonghi Eletta Cappuccino tastes very bad

There are fundamental factors that influence the final taste of coffee, and among the most important are the type and freshness of the coffee used and the quality of the water used for brewing.

Issue: Despite regularly cleaning the machine and ensuring that coffee grinding is done optimally, we notice it has a strange taste every time we prepare coffee.

Cause: Since 98% of the liquid in coffee is water, it must be fresh, neutral-tasting, and colorless for the coffee to have an optimal taste. It is necessary not only to change the water in the reservoir frequently but also to descale the coffee maker regularly, as an excess of limescale inside the Delonghi Eletta affects the coffee’s flavor.

It’s also essential to ensure that the water hardness level recorded in the coffee maker is correct. Depending on the water hardness level we use, we may need to descale the coffee maker more or less frequently.

I programmed my Delonghi Eletta Cappuccino incorrectly

The Delonghi Eletta Cappuccino, like all others, comes with a factory default configuration but allows us to modify this configuration to suit our specific needs better.

Issue: I tried to set up my Delonghi Eletta Cappuccino to my liking, but it’s not working as expected. The programmed quantities are not what I want; everything got out of control, and now I don’t know how to fix it.

Cause: If it’s the first use of your Delonghi Eletta Cappuccino coffee maker, and you want to explore what each menu button does, or you want to change the machine’s settings to your liking without taking the time to read the user instructions you have likely messed up the coffee maker’s configuration, and it may be necessary to reset all menu settings.

Solution:

1. Press the ESC button to enter the menu.
2. Press one of the scroll arrows until the option for factory default values is displayed, and then press the OK button.
3. A confirmation option will appear; press the OK button again to confirm and exit.
4. When you are done, you will have reset all menu settings and programmed quantities to default values, except for the language, which will remain the same.