And what is this wire coming out of the heating element?

From the espressoparts page https://www.espressoparts.com/parts/com ... hydraulics it looks like the sensor lead for the safety thermostat, but I can't get the lead out of the heating element. Do I just pull?

Thanks, Ira. Will do.

I did manage to get the element out. I had to tap all the scale loose and after a little squeezing of the elements, most of it broke free.



Since I'll be replacing the safety valve anyway, I'll fill it from there. I have a 110V variac, so I can control the heat to the elements. Q: the blue jumpered connections are ground hot and the red/black/brown ones hot?

Note that not all of the element connectors need to be used at once. You can isolate a pair, measure the resistance and work out the amperage at 110v or 240v, which may be well within normal household tolerance. After that it's easy to just drop the element into a bucket of descaler and heat up a single loop. If you don't mind the smell of hot vinegar you can have everything clean as a whistle within a couple of hours.

Alan

That's great, Alan.

Can I turn the machine on its side and fill the boiler up with the door off and hang the heating element inside?

BTW, where can I buy Calcinet? It doesn't seem to be available much in the US. I see lot's of warnings about using it as well.

BTW, all that dripage on the boiler is chocolate. Maybe when the water inlet tube clogged they converted it to a fondue maker.


.

I'm putting together a parts list for this project. Any recommendations based on condition? I think I'll get a new pressure safety valve, manometer, inlet water solenoid. Do I want a new pressure stat? I've given up on the PID idea as it would measure temp from a single location on a very large boiler, where a pressure stat operates based on the average state of the entire boiler.

Part diagrams show two different group gaskets, a single groove V gasket (F.45) and a double groove W gasket (F.46). Do I need one of each or two of one kind for this machine?



Do I want to replace R102 and R103?

https://www.espressoparts.com/parts/com ... -group?p=2

You will want one of each. The group "will work" if you use just v gaskets and install the lower one V down, I ran one of my groups configured like that for a few months, but no reason not to use a w gasketthat was meant for it, less overall maintenance.

It is important that at least 103 is watertight or the group will leak. 102 you can technically go without, but it is there to allow you to open or close that valve with the machine on without leaking hot water all over the place.

dominico wrote:You will want one of each. The group "will work" if you use just v gaskets and install the lower one V down, I ran one of my groups configured like that for a few months, but no reason not to use a w gasket that was meant for it, less overall maintenance.

It is important that at least 103 is watertight or the group will leak. 102 you can technically go without, but it is there to allow you to open or close that valve with the machine on without leaking hot water all over the place.

Excellent...thanks.

With all that scale, is the pressure stat suspect? They are about $103.

I sent the seller of the machine some pics of the condition and he is refunding me $300 of my $450 investment. He offered the whole $450. Quite the mensch. So now I have some unexpected extra funds to replace some more parts.

Wow, that's a nice surprise!