Hi all, Happy Friday!

I have an Astoria SAE Jun re-branded Mr. Espresso. I took the panels off it to clean the inside and noticed something I haven't seen before. Around the boiler weld it looks like green/white powder that's crystalized on the outside. I have another "growth" as I call it, on the top right, that's orange in color. I also noticed green/white on the outlet of my rotary pump.

The unit is direct plumbed in, no filtration, I have city water and thought it would not be necessary.

Have a look at the photos. I'm somewhat bummed right now, this was my first commercial espresso machine restoration and it's been running for me in my house like a champ till now. I'm looking to find out what this stuff is, is it going to destroy my machine, and how can I fix it.

Here is the orange growth


Here is the bottom of the boiler


Here is the pump

Unless I'm mistaken, that's limescale buildup reacting with brass. Your boiler is leaking (first picture). If it's a pinhole leak, then the scale may actually have sealed the leak. Your boiler options are to either leave it alone and hope that the scale has sealed the pinhole leak or go get it brazed. For the connection (third picture), I'd disassemble the brass parts, soak them in vinegar or other light acid to dissolve the scale, then reassemble.

For the scale at the weld... that one's out of my league.

Thanks for the fast reply! I'll have to keep an eye on it then. I'm wondering if I can just braze it with fluxed brazing rod, or does it have to be some kind of special food safe braze? Your probably right about it resealing itself, if it's been like that for a while now, it may have resealed, but I'd rather not be relying on that and would like to get it fixed.

That is a hole in your boiler alright. The scale on the bottom of the boiler, if it is on the same side as the pin hole leak you could be seeing where the water had dripped down the boiler and crusted before the hole self healed with scale. You probably need a descaling, badly from those photos. Problem with that, it will open the leak up again. Good part, it is on the weld so the hole is probably from a bad weld and not a boiler going paper thin and about to rupture. You could try brazing it with some solder and flux but a real brazing rod on a welder would be better. The scale on the pump is just from a drip. You may want to look in the FAQ's about boiler descaling and how to check if you need it. If you have never tested your water for hardness you may want to.

The blue green "scale" on the pump seems more like a copper salt than calcium scale. I have no idea why its there or what to do about it.

Marvin

Well I wrapped a rag around the inlet on the pump which is above the outlet (or vice versa, I'm not awake yet) and it was all wet, so I tightened it up more and it hasn't leaked since. Going to need to clean that pump up and then replace the crush washers.

As for the boiler, I wish that the scale on the bottom was from a leak higher up but they're on opposite sides of each other. Both are in the weld and not the copper itself from looking closer at it.

Now I've googled how to braze a espresso boiler, probably too generic of a search but I've come across posts stating that you can use lead free silver solder?

I have brazing rod but it's flux coated, not just a rod of brass. I'm not sure if that makes a difference in the outcome. I've access to propane, mapp gas, oxygen, torches.

I've brazed before just not sure if there's some mystical trick to know when applying it to things that actually deal with food.

What's funny is that the wife is so bummed out that the machine is down right now. I never thought she'd be so disappointed that she can't get her morning latte

I'll get a water test done up this week and see what the results are.

Thanks everyone for the insight. I'll check the FAQ again (damn noobs) and go over the scaling bit.

I've had small leaks in my brew boiler (where I installed a new thermocouple) and while it made a whitish mess, I was still able to make espresso. Perhaps you can continue to use your machine while setting up the repair?

Got a few days off coming up. I broke my KA Proline out of storage and got that setup as my backup machine while I repair the boiler. Going to braze the holes up with fluxed rod and hope for the best!!!

Well after getting the boiler out of the machine, and turning my wife's kitchen into a tool shop, I removed the boiler and the HX tube. I noticed the HX tube had some white, almost calcified, growth along the bottom where the cap is welded on. I sanded that all down and cleaned it up and brazed the cap all the way around again. Have to finish grinding it down so I can get that teflon gasket back on now. As for the boiler itself. The thing is a beast as many of you know. Acting as a massive heat sink, it took the entire bottle of mapp gas and oxygen to get it red then the bottles ran out. Ultimately I can't get the boiler hot enough to braze the holes up

My options now are, buy a oxy-acetelyne kit cause I can't seem to find a place that could braze this up for me. I have a Miller Mig but not sure if I could use brass wire? I should have paid more attention in metallurgy class!

Would it be possible to use Silicon Bronze mig wire or should I stick with traditional methods, i.e.: oxy-acetelyne and brass rods?