After spending the last week cleaning my 1992 Elektra D1, I am ready to turn it on and check for leaks. What is the procedure when starting this machine for the first time? The boiler is totally empty. After all my effort, I don't want to ruin the pump or the heating element because I did not follow the required steps. I tried looking for a user manual but I had no success.

Thanks!

Hi there,

I would say disconnect the heater (simply unscrew two cables from the Pstat so it doesn't switch anything on, just make sure you insulate the ends of those loose cables with some insulation tape, you don't want live AC contact flying around touching stuff!), turn the machine on and let the pump fill the boiler. Turn off, connect the cables and turn on again. This should provide enough protection for the heater, so it doesn't overheat when the pump is filling the boiler and it's heating up air only.

To be honest I think I let mine fill the boiler with the heater connected and nothing bad happened, but I would advise to disconnect it just to be sure. You can also pour some water in the boiler before tightening the nuts on top so it starts with the boiler partially filled. This way you don't have to disconnect anything, but make sure you don't pour too much water in it, I'd say 2L would be enough.

Oh and be 100% sure that the pump has water connected on it's inlet, otherwise you'll run it dry and destroy it (something I did a few days ago, but luckily the pump survived as it only ran for a few seconds).

Regards,
dsc.

Easier then removing the wires insert couple of silicone hoses or some insulation material between the pressurestat contacts; once the boiler fill is done then remove them