Rancilio Silvia: The steam works only for about 10 seconds

Silvia has two bimetalic switches that control the boiler temperature. One for brew water and one for steam. They are not exact and they can go bad. They are cheap and easy to replace. Just Google for Rancilio parts.

A much better fix (and more expensive) is to switch to PID control. Google for Rancilio PID control. The conversion is $250+ but once you've gone PID, you'll never go back. The temperature is exact, fast, and totally under your control.

Hi There,
Your coffee group is blocked, with lime or coffee oils.

Try descaling 1st Pulycaf coffee machine descaler . You will find descaler and cleaner in this rancilio silvia kit. Rancilio Silvia gasket kit . Descaling should be done every 3 months or so.

If the descaler does not work - you may have to remove the solenoid valve and descale that - not an easy fix. Takes 20 min.

There are two thermostats, one for water, one for steam. Replace the one for water. You can get the themostat here
Rancilio Silvia Parts

Unplug machine and remove the top panel, check the thermostats on of them tripped reset and you should be back in business.

Remove the top panel one of the thermostats on the tank tripped, reset thermostat, and turn machine on.

Hi

There is a reset button inside on the front side of the boiler (you have to take the top of the machine off. There are 4 screws and remove the water tank). It is located between 2 black wires and is a red button. Push it in and test. There is also another problem that you might have. If the brew thermostat is bad it won’t heat. To test for this, push the steam switch and wait 15 seconds. Then open the steam knob and push the middle button and see if the water is warm. If it is then you need a new brew thermostat. That is the thermostat that has the red dot on the top. It sets on top of the boiler next to the steam thermostat. If you take the top off, make sure that the machine is unplugged.
If none of these things work check the heating element with an ohms meter. The reading in the terminals should be from 12 to 16 ohms. If no reading the elements is bad and you have to replace the boiler.

maybe is just air in pump,try prime water on steam wand.open steam valve and press button for make espresso,keep couple seconds

I had the same problem. I took the steam wand off, and checked for steam out of the unit. It was OK, so I stuck a thin wire up through the steam wand and dislodged what look like pieces of a green washer or O-ring.
In short...the wand was plugged.

For the coffee - make sure the machine has heated up for at least 10 minutes. I've found the grind is the most important in getting a good shot of espresso with a good crema.

It takes trying different grinds to find what works best. When we grind at the store we choose the second finest grind from the finest - we put it to Turkish and then turn it back one notch.

On the steaming side - it takes practice. Sometimes I get froth, sometimes - I usually let the wand go near the bottom of the steaming cup and heat the milk to 160 deg. f.

Sounds like your Rancilio needs a service, this problem could be caused by the boiler not working correctly, possibly a leak from the boiler or a valve malfunction causing a drop in pressure.