While rebuilding a Cremina I usually don't take before and after pictures, but this is such an amazing example of scale that I couldn't resist....don't everybody reach for the citric acid at the same time!!!

Wow! I don't think I've felt such compassion for machine in long time

Cheers

Mike

The surprising thing is that the machine still worked just fine....heated right up! This was by the way after a long soak in citric, so a lot of the cake on the boiler sides has fallen down onto the element but the element is (was) encased in what seemed like porous cement. Amazing.....and you thought you had hard water!

Nifty that it was still working, also nice that the stainless steel parts will remain useful for as long as someone cares for the machine.

Mark

Doug,

How do you go about cleaning a heating element and boiler with that much scale. I realize you started with citric acid, but then, what else would you do? Do you immerse the boiler and heating element in a tub with Urnex? Just curious, because as you say, this is an extreme example?

Steve, in Ft. Worth

The final cleaning was all mechanical using a pick and knife blade etc....the stuff was porous and like crumbly cement so it all came off and then to finish plugged all the holes in the boiler to be able to pour in some citric with the boiler upside down to get the bits off the dome of the boiler, and the finale was to brush it all off with a brass bristled brush and the last step is to find someone (Barb) with a small enough hand to reach into the boiler with steel wool. The citric softens it all up enough to be able to mechanically clean it....it now looks pretty darn good and is back together and humming along. If you have a really neglected machine and can look down the boiler neck with a light and see a bunch of gunk on the element it really is a pretty easy job to take off the bottom boiler plate and clean it.....most people avoid the boiler scouring job but it is easier than you think as long as the 6 bolts that hold it together are stainless steel and loosen easily. About the only downside to it is the possibility of breaking a bolt.

Thanks, Doug.

I appreciate the insight. On the "average", approximately how often should one change gaskets on a Cremina's boiler, group, steam-arm, sight glass, etc? I use a faucet mounted Pur filter for all of the water that goes into my machines. Does one area's gaskets need replacing more often than others, i.e. Boiler Vs Group? Should gaskets be replaced every time the machine is disassembled, even if they "appear" to be in good shape? Sorry to throw all these questions at you at the same time , I just don't [b]ever[b] want to let my machine get to look like that. It's kind like seeing pictures of the lungs of a smoker back in grade school Health class ! I'd also be interested in hearing from any else on HB about their maintenance/upkeep routines.

Steve (Scared Straight) in Ft. Worth

I think the boiler scour job is best employed on a machine which is sorely neglected and has some slow heating issues. A well maintained machine would not show this level of scale. The change the gaskets while you're in there question is a good one, and for the group and easily accessible parts I would not change them unless there was a leak. If the sight glass was leaking and you had no maintenance record I would go ahead and put in new seals there even if you could stop the leak with a good wrenching....sooner or later those overtightened fittings are going to come back to haunt you. Same with the boiler cap, even though you can stop a leak by overtightening, the seal is so easy to change it only makes sense to replace it. It is a pleasure to use a machine with fresh seals, finger tighten the boiler cap and steam wand, but that boiler seal really only needs a change in case of a leak or if you are opening it up for a full inspection. One of the things to look out for on a new (to you ) machine is strange tastes or odors from the steam wand....chemical maintenance of the boiler does not get off the accumulations on the dome and if the machine has had an overheat event it often has a black coating on the upper surfaces of the boiler which don't come off with citric or urnex or whatever....often the best approach is manual cleaning with lacquer thinner then a good scour with steel wool.

Scared Straight Steve.....just when you thought it was safe to pull a few shots. Different Cremina, different maintenance issue.

Oh my God! This is worse than road killl