Newbie who recently acquired a 2005 Elektra T1 and 2006 Semiauto from a national retailer's summer clearance sale. I bought the semi first, then went back and rescued the T1 the next weekend (further substantial discount). The semi was still in its sealed original box and the T1 was a display unit but had never seen any service, but had been dropped at some point in its life. Broken plastic foot, some frame damage, motor clamps popped lose, and the pump pressure gauge not reading off of 'zero'. The T1 was torn down, straightened, orifices cleaned of 'gunk' (manually cleared small orifices with fine gauge wire), re-assembled and made operational. I think that whatever produced the 'gunk' I found obstructing the pressure gauge might be the cause of the off flavors I experiencing. The water from the T1's boiler and HX have distinctly off flavors. The boiler is far more pronounced. It is plumbed and the source water is NOT this bad tasting. I'd expect that 9 years of sitting unused has allowed oxidation of the boiler's internals and copper tubing or some other reaction (e.g., mold?). Could this be the source of these strong off flavors? Will a descale with citric acid correct?

Are there any other suggestions? Thanks in advance.

Is the water out the group good just water from the water tap? There is a heat exchanger inspection port on top of the boiler. You could open that up and see what it looks inside the heat exchanger.

The boiler is a bit more difficult. You could remove the vacuum or pressure release valve and try looking in but your field of view will be very small. Best way to see the internals is to remove the heating element. If the water out the group tastes good, it could be lube in the water/steam ball valves. I would do a dozen boiler flushes to clean it all out before I used more evasive methods and started pulling parts. If it sat a long time full of water and not running the water could have gone slimy and funky.

At least I know now how to strip down a T1, thoroughly clean and reassemble. The inside of the boiler and the hx were just plain nasty. Required a 36 hr soak in 3.5% citric acid solution to get the black whatever it was out of the boiler and hx.

Thankfully I have a well equipped metric tool box, only had to buy the 12 mm hex wrench to remove the hx cap.

Thanks to all for the feedback.