My machine instructed me to ventilate. Once that began, the "hot water" words started flashing above the ventilate prompt. then, the machine would not finish the ventilate procedure and there were little pools of water beneath the machine. Completely shutting the machine down, letting it cool and restarting it made no difference

Place a jug under the milk frother and turn the steam knob to allow hot water to flow.
Ventilate will clear after a short time

Run the hot water cycle for a few seconds, there is an air lock in the hydraulic system.

Having read the other reviews here, I was prepared for the cryptic "VENTILATE" message. (The manual refers to this procedure as "Loading the circuit", which doesn't help to clarify things.) Of course this refers to what Americans would call "priming" the machine. As mentioned in another review, there is a plastic hand pump supplied for priming, but that is only needed in the event that the electric pump fails to self-prime. All I had to do (following the quick-start instructions) was to select the Hot Water function; the internal pump quickly primed itself. i hope this helps Lee Davidian

i had this problem too once. its also could be because you have put hot water in the water tank....i had a family member do that and thats what it said....run cold water through wand and see what happens...

check hous from tank to steam valve,maybe just plugget out,or your flowmetar is not good any more

Open the steam valve when the hot water words appear above the ventilate

Run the hot water cycle for a few seconds, that will clear the air lock.

When it says to ventilate, it is asking you to prime the pump. Put acup under the panarello wand ( the steamer/frother) to catch thedischarged water and press the hot water button (upper left button onmy machine). Wait until air stops coming out with the water, usually3-5 ounces, and then press the hot water button again.

You machine is now ventilated (primed) and should be ready to go.

I went through 3 machines (both Gaggia and Saeco--both have the same Rapid Steam system), hours of searching the Internet, and phone conversations with support(?) staff before I came up with what seems to be good options for both fixing the problem and then preventing it from being a problem again.

The Fix. Fixing the problem works better with two people, so I will refer to person 1 (P1) and person 2 (P2). To fix the problem: 1) P1 uses either a turkey baster or the small plastic (and leaky) pump packaged with the machine; 2) while the readout says "ventilate", P2 pushes the hot water button, then turns the machine off and removes the water tank; 3) P1 fills the plastic pump (or baster) with water and inserts it into the water intake valve (as best as you can, it doesn't fit perfectly); 4) P2 then turns the machine on and opens the steam wand while P1 pushes water into the intake using the plastic pump or baster; 5) as soon as P1 is finished, P2 turns off the steam valve. Repeat steps 3) through 5) until the machine has accepted 4-5 good pumps of water. If you get the "fill watertank" message, you must begin the entire process over again (if you get the "fill watertank" message every time, just keep following the process until you get the machine to accept 4-5 good pumps of water); 6) turn the machine off and reseat the water tank. 7) Turn the machine on, press the hot water button, and open the steam valve. It may take a minute, but you should finally get water. Run it until it becomes a steady stream, and then some more...about 8 ounces worth. I have found that this process doesn't always work if the machine is hot. When it's hot, it sometimes won't accept any water into the intake valve.

Prevention. To prevent the problem, I have been successful (so far) by: 1) after steaming milk, I push the hot water button and run hot water through the wand until it is a steady stream, and then about 4 oz more. 2) I always steam the milk first, then run hot water through the wand, and then make the espresso. 2) I always run water through the wand after making coffee.

This seems like a lot of steps, but it really doesn't take that long once it's part of your routine. I've been successful with this process for the last several day and before that, I was getting the ventilate message every time I tried to steam milk. I'm hoping it continues to work! It's really a shame that the technical staff have not come up with a better solution or, at the least, addressed the problems people are currently experiencing. When I called Saeco, they told me they didn't know why it as happening!

I fixed my ventilate problem! After 2 days of utter frustration and pushing many buttons, I read another guest comment about resetting to factory settings. Push the up button under the small coffee icon. It should say factory setting with the asterick next to it. Push OK. Then push "yes" for factory settings. Then my machine started working again! Hallelujah! It erased my personal coffee cup setting, but who cares.

Big thanks to the person who posted their solution on Dec. 2007.