I've decided to replace my aging Silvia V1 w/ something new although would like to drain the Silvia's boiler completely before putting it in hibernation. There doesn't seem to be any specific instructions in the factory supplied manual. I can guess on this although rather than smoke something, is there a correct procedure?

CaferetroI

Remove top cover.
Detach copper steam pipe from top of boiler.
Feed in a piece of thin, flexible tubing until it touches bottom.
REPEAT suck out the nice water; spit; UNTIL empty.
Reassemble and tag with a warning about the empty boiler.

I would not get "clever" and try this with the pump due to the likelihood of it ingesting precipitate, which could well be of the hard, granular variety (like beach sand) that settles to the bottom of the boiler.

You can't easily drain down through the group because of:
a. the stand pipe
b. the solenoid valve

I suppose you could remove the solenoid valve and invert the machine to let gravity drain it through the boiler steam port, but that seems an unnecessary hassle. "Clever" in this case might mean hot-wiring the valve in lieu of removing it, but I'd be leery of exceeding its duty cycle (of which I have no idea) and toasting the coil.

Thanks for the tips, Once I knew what was required, it provided me with a couple ideas of my own. I'm thinking a large syringe and silicone surgical tubing might work also well through the top of boiler and save me getting a mouthful of boiler residual from bottom.
Caferetro

genovese wrote:Remove top cover.
Detach copper steam pipe from top of boiler.
Feed in a piece of thin, flexible tubing until it touches bottom.
REPEAT suck out the nice water; spit; UNTIL empty.
Reassemble and tag with a warning about the empty boiler.