Advice regarding build-up in boiler

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sfl
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Joined: 8 years ago

#1: Post by sfl »

Silvia has served me well since 2010 but recently her boiler gave in (probably the gasket). I decided to play it safe and replace the boiler seeing as it's an older model with built-in element (it might just be a matter of time till the element goes anyhow). When I opened the boiler I was surprised to see significant build-up (see URL below). Considering I've been using bottled water all along, and even descaling regularly, I'm a surprised to see such build-up.

The element doesn't have much build-up on it nor does the boiler wall which I would have expected with scale, it all seems to be at the bottom of the boiler, any idea what this black stuff is and how I can avoid it?

<missing video>

Thanks in advance!

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thecatch83
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#2: Post by thecatch83 »

Wow...I would call it quits on miss Silvia and upgrade. 6 years is a good run, but dumping money into an antiquated machine is not something I would recommend.

sfl (original poster)
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#3: Post by sfl (original poster) replying to thecatch83 »

Thanks for the reply. Indeed, I'm tempted to upgrade but most E61 equipped machines are a tad more (as in 10x more) than replacing a boiler. Anybody have thoughts as to what that build-up is? Alternately, if anybody knows how I get get a hold of a rotary+e61 equipped machine (cellini evoluzione, brewtus IV-R, R58 etc.) for ~1k I'd definitely upgrade :)

sfl (original poster)
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#4: Post by sfl (original poster) »

Update: replaced the boiler/element yesterday and Silivia is back in business this morning (word of caution to anyone wanting to do this, don't do this half way, commit and take it apart , it wasn't really made to get to the boiler without taking most of it apart).

If anyone knows what that deposit is I'd love to know as I'd like to avoid it in the future.

Cheers!

Marcelnl
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#5: Post by Marcelnl »

If you mean that black crud that looks as coffee residue with probably some scale....backflushing and cleaning with something like cafiza gets rid of coffee oils. Big question is if that is true and if so how all of that gunk ended up in your boiler. The heating element does not look too affected by scale (hard to say from a wobbly video with my aging sight)

Do you ever backflush and use cafiza (or any triphosphate cleaner)?
LMWDP #483

Alan Frew
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#6: Post by Alan Frew »

The black gunk is a mixture of scale and highly overheated bits of copper spalled off your element. The bright element colours are a sure sign of overheating.

Alan

nuketopia
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#7: Post by nuketopia »

Agree with Alan. Copper oxides are black. Mixes with the whitish lime and magnesium scale.

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homeburrero
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#8: Post by homeburrero »

Alan Frew wrote:The black gunk is a mixture of scale and highly overheated bits of copper spalled off your element. The bright element colours are a sure sign of overheating.
Good to know. For the benefit of others, here are a couple snapshots from the video:



Pat
nínádiishʼnahgo gohwééh náshdlį́į́h

sfl (original poster)
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Joined: 8 years ago

#9: Post by sfl (original poster) »

Marcelnl wrote:Do you ever backflush and use cafiza (or any triphosphate cleaner)?
Thanks for the reply Marcelnl, sorry for the bad video :(. I do backflush every time I use it , right after my shot as to get the most oils out. I backflush using joe glo every couple of months or so. I'd steered clear of descaling excessively (was doing so every 3 - 4 months) seeing as I was using bottled water and some material suggests it might be hard on the internals. From the sounds of it I should be descaling more often.

expressoshoppe
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#10: Post by expressoshoppe »

Your gunk is limescale, probably discolored with magnesium and iron - very common. The amount in your photos is not excessive - I've seen MUCH worse.

You mentioned that you use bottled water - which is good, but not soft (low in dissolved calcium/mineral content). Bottled water, in fact, often has mineral salts added to it to make it have a good mouthfeel and taste. Distilled water is tasteless and "thin" because it lacks these minerals - but it's bad for your machine (because it's acidic) and for your coffee (because it doesn't carry the dissolved elements of taste very well).

In the future, continue to use bottled 'drinking' water (or filtered tap water) to get good-tasting coffee. You can get a softener (many Silvia models came with an in-tank softener) to reduce (but not eliminate) hardness from your water. And - descale every few months using a citric-acid solution to prevent buildup.

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