No water is coming out of your Sage
If you hear the pump working but no water comes out, the water path is blocked somewhere. On the ThermoJet models (Bambino, Barista Pro, Barista Touch and Creatista) it is most often scale inside the ThermoJet heater itself, where the water runs through a very narrow channel.
What you can check yourself
- Check the water tank is full, sits all the way down, and that the valve in the bottom isn’t bent or blocked.
- Take the water filter out of the tank and try without it. An old filter can block the water. Sage recommends changing it every two months.
- Run hot water or steam for half a minute. It can clear an air lock from the system.
- Remove the portafilter and press the brew button. If water comes out now, the coffee is ground too fine or tamped too hard.
- Check whether anything comes out anywhere: the group head, the steam wand and the hot water outlet. On the ThermoJet models all the water goes through the same heater. If nothing comes out anywhere, that is usually where the blockage is.
- Descale the machine following the manual. If no water gets through at all, the descaler can’t reach the scale either, so descaling rarely helps.
Tip: Unplug the machine before you clean it or take parts off. If it needs opening, leave that to us.
Typical causes when the checklist doesn’t help
Scale in the ThermoJet heater
The ThermoJet heats the water as it runs through a narrow channel. That makes the machine fast, but the channel scales up easily, especially with hard Copenhagen water. First the flow gets weak and sputters, and in the end nothing gets through.
Scale in valves and hoses
The solenoid valve or a hose is blocked by scale, or by flakes of scale that have broken loose.
Air lock
The machine has run dry, and the pump can’t pull the water through.
Faulty pump
The pump is noisy but moves no water.
When does it need repairing?
If there is still no water after the checklist, the blockage is inside the machine. On the ThermoJet models the heater and the water path need taking apart and cleaning, or the heater replaced if the scale is too stubborn. It is almost always worth it.
Get a fixed repair priceQuestions and answers
Can scale stop a Sage completely?
Yes. The ThermoJet models in particular can scale up so badly that no water gets through at all.
Which Sage machines have a ThermoJet?
The Bambino, Bambino Plus, Barista Pro, Barista Touch, Barista Touch Impress and the Nespresso Creatista Plus and Pro. The Barista Express has a thermocoil instead, and the Oracle and Dual Boiler have boilers.