There might already exist a thread that covers this but i have not been able to find it by searching.

I am about to descale my SemiAuto for the first time and need good advice of how to go about doing this. If anyone can take the time i would be very thankful for a "step by step" for doing this.

The boiler refills manually, so you can chose what water to put in. So my basic overall advice is

1. fill the boiler with distilled water and never descale it (when the boiler needs a refill, wait till you need to refill the tank, empty it out completely, put in a little distilled, and refill the boiler -- at one cappa and one mach a day, I refill about once every 5 days
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)

If you do need to descale the boiler you'll need to drain it of water, fill it with descaler, then drain it and refill with water. The no mechanical aptitude required way to do the draining is to let the machine cool, open the steam wand, turn the machine upside down in the sink, standing it on the tank, and let the boiler drain slowly through the vacuum breaker. You can remove the tank and take off the vacuum breaker for a quicker drain, but this will require being careful with the decorative bolts holding the tank. Tiny scratches on the finish on the tank rim won't show since they are covered by the lid.

Leave the descaler in the boiler for a few hours if hot, or overnight if cold. 1 1/2 tablespoons of citric or tartaric acid (wine acid) makes a good, food safe, descaling solution. Run the descaler through the group when the machine is hot. Use about 1 to 1.5 liters, running about 1/4 liter at a time, then waiting 10 to 15 minutes for the next round. The water will be slightly blue tinged from the copper.

Niad-

I moved your topic over here to the Espresso Gear forum.

Jim can comment directly to your machine, since he has the Elektra.

These are the go to threads for descaling if you want further reading:

Water, Scaling and Descaling with HX machines?
How do I descale my espresso machine?

I would caution you to flush a lot before you do Jim's taste test above, while it is unlikely that you would ever hurt yourself, I will attest to the fact that it will taste very awful, and possibly for quite a long time.... trust me on this one!

jesawdy wrote:These are the go to threads for descaling if you want further reading:

Water, Scaling and Descaling with HX machines?
How do I descale my espresso machine?

These are good reading; but the nice thing about the Semi is the manual boiler fill -- one can fill it occasionally with distilled and forget about it when it comes to descaling. So the machine works like a simple homer for descaling.

I would caution you to flush a lot before you do Jim's taste test above, while it is unlikely that you would ever hurt yourself, I will attest to the fact that it will taste very awful, and possibly for quite a long time.... trust me on this one!

1.5 tablespoons citric acid per liter is about the same as straight lemon juice -- it won't harm you, but it will get your mouth ready to see what that 10 point acidity Kenya tastes like as an espresso

Thanks for the great advice. I will descale this week and then use distilled water for the boiler in the future.

Today, an espresso machine repairman suggested that I use reverse osmosis water in my Elektra Semi-Automatica boiler, rather than distilled water - he seemed to claim there was lime build up even with distilled water. He thought the reverse osmosis water better at preventing lime scale.

I also had a failed Jaeger p-stat, after about a year use. He thought using Brita water in the main tank - was the cause of p-stat failure - to much lime build-up. He also suggested using reverse osmosis water for the main water tank. Seems expensive way to go - with all the flushing one has to do between shots.

What would you do?

The repairman is clueless.

-- Distilled water has no minerals, period, and creates no scale. RO water has a small amount of minerals, but also won't cause scale problems.

-- The Pstat problem is from the aluminum membrane oxidizing and getting stiff. You can remove the oxidation by putting the section with the membrane with a little citric acid and get some extra service out of them; but the problem is inherent in using these pstats underwater.

The water you use for brewing espresso never makes contact with the pstat, unless you use the boiler refill switch.

Thanks for the response Jim. I guess that probably means the inevitable yearly p-stat replacement then, alas, with the Elektra Semi - I might as well use a Mater, or Ceme then. cheaper than a Jaeger. (I still think the Elektra is worth the bother and expense, though)

I usually replace the p-stat myself, but this time I brought it someplace to be checked out - hence the "repairman's input," who did say he found milky white stuff in the line behind the p-stat - could that be oxidized metal?

Howard

Everything that precipitates out of the boiler ends up in that line. That's part of the problem. I'm sorry to hear your Jaeger bit the dust, mine has held up about 21 months now, and I was hoping it was immune.

Jim - I guess I got about 13 months use out of my Jaeger p-stat; perhaps your procedures are somewhat - somehow - less corrosive than mine - or you just got lucky. (Or, I got unlucky - I wonder how much longer you will get with it... have you taken it out in the 21 months and cleaned it?)

Howard