I lived in Chicago for almost 14 years. Yes, there must be some magic in that North Side water. (I got my first espresso machine - an Olympia Cremina ordered from Zabars Nov. 1987 - while living in East Rogers Park - only city water went into that machine for nearly 10 years ....


Howard

another_jim wrote: 2, Use regular water for espresso and descale frequently (once every two months or so) using exactly the same method as any home machine -- fill the tank with descaler and run it through the group while the machine is hot. Flush with water till the it runs tasteless (i.e. no citrus or wine acid taste)

Descaling a Semi for dummies question (ie me).

I've searched for instructions on descaling HX machines, but the directions I keep finding are for autofill machines, which must be more complicated than the instructions for a machine like this.

I've only had levers before, so I've never descaled an HX or DB. I have always used distilled in the boiler, so that part is fine, but for the HX do I just put in one liter of descaler and just run it through the group until it runs out or does pace matter (I assume the brand isn't important, but I picked up some of URNEX's descaler)? For example, should I just run through a quarter of it every 15 minutes until I've used up a liter of solution and then run fresh water through until it is flushed clean?

I guess the focus of my question is 2 part - 1) is it good or bad for the solution to heat up in the actual HX (my assumption is its good, but I figure I should be certain) and 2) how long should I draw the process out for?

I like cleaning the machine, so I might as well do it right since I'll enjoy it.

Another question for Jim or anyone with an opinion - I use distilled in the boiler, but am not making many steam drinks right now, so I almost never have to fill it (less than 2 gallons in 4 months). Would you dump it out and put in fresh distilled ever few months in that situation? I did so just to be safe, but perhaps this is unnecessary.

da gino wrote:For example, should I just run through a quarter of it every 15 minutes until I've used up a liter of solution and then run fresh water through until it is flushed clean? I guess the focus of my question is 2 part - 1) is it good or bad for the solution to heat up in the actual HX (my assumption is its good, but I figure I should be certain) and 2) how long should I draw the process out for?

Sounds good to me. You can check its MSDS to be certain, but I believe Urnex's descaler is a mixture of citric acid and mild detergent. Ian's HX only instructions in Simplified HX Descale [PourOver] cover the steps, though it's a bit simpler for the Semiautomatica since you don't have to worry about boiler autofills occurring at an inopportune moment.

da gino wrote:Another question for Jim or anyone with an opinion - I use distilled in the boiler, but am not making many steam drinks right now, so I almost never have to fill it (less than 2 gallons in 4 months). Would you dump it out and put in fresh distilled ever few months in that situation? I did so just to be safe, but perhaps this is unnecessary.

You and I live in the same area. Assuming you're on city water, you don't need a water softener (see image below from the last time I checked). Depending on usage, your espresso machine will need very mild "preventative maintenance" descaling once or twice a year. I would not worry about freshening up a steam boiler that's only seen distilled water, unless it disturbs your OCD nature.


Cheap water hardness test strip (untreated city water)

Dan, thanks for the answer. Do you use city water with no filter at all? I hadn't realized that. I'm always torn between city water, filtered city water (which drops the TDS from 60 to 40 - yes I am OCD enough to have bought a meter) and designer water. I was a little afraid of using city water with no filter in case not all hardness was created equal and somehow even though the water was on the soft side it still might be bad for the machine, but it seems like conventional wisdom is that 40 is a lower reading than one would ideally want.

Right now I am experimenting with Circqua AB formula packets water
Cirqua AB Formula Packets for Pourover Machines
but haven't had any indisputable conclusions on which water to use for coffee. Certainly the Cirqua water makes good coffee, but I haven't been able to do any side by side tests to see if differences in the water are obvious or subtle. I'll be interested in Jim's water testing. I won't be able to make it over to one of the Friday mornings at Counter Culture until mid-December when our semester ends, but if you were interested I'd gladly bring some Circqua, set up our Semi's next to each other and do a casual water comparison.

da gino wrote:Do you use city water with no filter at all?

A few years back, I did an informal blind taste test between city water, carbon filtered city water, carbon filtered water with softener, and a quality spring water. The carbon filtered city water and spring water essentially tied. Only my wife was able to accurately identify the softened versus unsoftened water. Since then, I stopped using the softener and use only a generic carbon filter. To my taste, it's very good water. Without the filter, the distinct taste of ammonia or chlorine is present, depending on the time of year (the city switches the disinfectant a couple times a year to avoid bacteria developing immunity; the water during the "spring time" flushing has a rather nasty ammonia smell/taste).