So, throwing caution to the wind, I picked up this baby for what I thought was a very reasonable 760 USD.







Its missing the eagle and a group drip tray, but other than that its apparently in good nick and working order. Bar changed hands and was not required.

I've had some good advice from HB Paul from NZ, and I've put out a personal plea to Stefano from http://www.espressocare.com for advice, but if anyone else has some wisdom to offer (particularly all you Elektra owners), I'd be glad to hear it.

1. Recommendations for transport out of the UK (to NZ)
2. Best packaging strategy.
3. Ideas for the best way to drain the boiler, that I will need to ask a non-coffee guy to do.
4. Do I need to drain the HXs? if so, anyone know the best simple way.

The seller indicated he can still get power to the machine, if that helps at all.

Assuming the machine eventually arrives intact, it will largely be a showcase item in the (future) cafe, but I would like to use it for newbie classes to teach HX use. So the intention is to restore it to its former glory.

Hopefully it will be worth the risk.

Thanks for any ideas, Chris

Here's a thought for quick and dirty draining of the boiler/HX.

Power up the machine to hot with no water attached.
Briefly run each group to clear the HX (bad for pump, but lesser of two evils?)
Disconnect all power (not sure if autofill would activate pump and isolates heating element)
Open hot water wand to purge as much of boiler as steam pressure allows.

Anyone see any problem with doing this, other than its not good for the pump?

Cheers, Chris

First of all, I would insist the machine be shipped on a pallet, similar to how Chris' Coffee ships the Elektra A3:



If its containing box is strapped to a pallet, there's no risk the machine will inadvertently be laid on its side for the journey. Given that assumption, draining the boiler isn't a concern unless it will be subjected to freezing temperatures. In that case, adding an antifreeze to the boiler (e.g., Michael Teahan once suggested cheap vodka) and draining the boiler as you suggest would be prudent.

Thanks Dan, I will definitely get it shipped on a pallet. I had heard the vodka thing before, great idea, but I think the seller might get a bit impatient with too many requests. Stefano has kindly advised that he thinks as long as it is on a pallet it should be fine, even without draining the boiler/hx, since its northern hemisphere summer at the moment and you don't get arctic-like temperatures down to NZ anyway.

Nonetheless, I think I'll ask him to do the quick and dirt drain as I posted above, and that should be 90% of the way there.

As I expected, shipping is looking to be expensive.

Cheers, Chris

Unfortunately there may be some problems. The seller believes there has been some damage while in storage, presumably from freezing. I haven't been able to talk to the tech he had look at it, but from what I gather.

1. Pump not going, but receiving power
2. Leaks from seals
3. Heating element not powered.

I have asked for some photos. Pump could just be stuck after 8 months storage, seals are just seals and do leak over time, particularly if never changed. Heating element, not so sure about that, could be a number of things, damaged from freezing, stuck pressurestat, who knows...

My main concern is damage to the boiler from freezing as its cold up near Scotland and been in storage for 8 months. I am hoping to verify a lot if I can get some photos, but wondering if anyone has some experience with boiler/hx damage from freezing and what it would look like externally.

Regarding the boiler, if water was freezing I am hoping it would have the necessary room to expand since its not a saturated group design (ie boiler only half full with water), with air venting through the vacuum breaker?

As for the HXs - since its a rotary pump, when unhooked would the water in them have drained out through the pump? Or would that have at least provided a pressure relief path?

Any experiences or photos would be great.

Cheers

Ice in a boiler could easily crush an HX tube running in the ice expansion area, as well as overstress the boiler itself. A detailed check out would be in order.

Procon and other pumps like it love to work, they hate to sit. A pump with a life of 10 years will die much more quickly in storage. I could only guess what ice may do to the internals.

But odds are if you can free the bearing on the top of the pump that the rest will come back as well. I have had one that felt quite hard to turn, but after a bit of working with it would happily hold 9 bar pressure. I do have to say though it was a good bit louder than the rebuilt one I ended up putting in to be sure. It had a louder whine sound while the fresh one just makes a nice growl.

As usual YMMV.

-Cecil

Thanks, thats an interesting point regarding crushing the HX. I'd been thinking along the lines of the water in them expanding and causing damage that way... I had thought that there would be a reasonable chance of seeing this externally by damage/deformation at the mount. But if they were crushed then that would be much more difficult to detect. Hmmmm.

Freezing is very bad. It will rupture lines, break valves, burst seals, pretty much ruin a machine. I love elektras and think the Belle line is the best looking machine on the market, or a tie with the speedster. But if it was put up wet, and sat in freezing conditions, and was going to cost a fortune to ship, I would pass. You could end up with a $1600 paperweight. But, it could simply be sticky parts and just need a good cleaning. Unless you can put hands on the machine and tear it down to look at the parts it is hard to diagnose.

There is definitely going to be a big risk associated with it. I've managed to find a reasonable rate for shipping, but I am wanting a fighting chance to be able to get her up and working, and in this respect boiler/multiple hx damage is the big worry. The rest of it, I'm not afraid to get my hands dirty on.

I've searched to try and find example of damage from freezing on a rotary plumbed HX, but haven't found any. Found several on the brew boiler of DB machines, but it hasn't affected the steam boiler.

Dave, I recall seeing a thread ages ago on a 2 group with HX damage - that wasn't yours by chance? Can't find the link, but curious as to the cause of the damage in that case.

Hopefully more info will come to light in the next few days. I am willing to take a punt on it if I can get some good photos of the boiler and it appears ok.

Cheers

Found it...

http://www.home-barista.com/espresso-ma ... 85-60.html

I take it nothing was visible from the outside then. Do you think it was freezing damage? Would be interesting as to why one would fail and not the other, with no damage to the boiler itself.

All just speculation I guess at the end of the day. Cheers.

It looks lovely. Fingers crossed for you, Chris....

From the outside, there was no visible damage. I did not realize it was broke until the rebuild was finished and I went to run it. Water froze in one of the HX's and ruptured it. In the end I just capped off that group and had a 12 liter 220 single group. Still have the machine in fact. Been thinking of selling it off cheap since I dont use it any more.

Thanks for the info Dave. Its now looking unlikely to proceed unfortunately. Seller is refusing to send photos or let me talk to the technician he supposedly had look at it. Seems like he is just trying to back out of the deal and use 'damage' as an excuse. As to whether there really is any damage or not, who knows?

Cheers Chris