Wanted to share this story. I have owned this machine for about ten years now and have only on a few occasions ran some vinegar through her. In the early years it was she was a used and abused. Living with five roommates in college who all loved to make a drink or two during the day; 5 to 10 shots a day was not uncommon. The best was when a newbie would pull the portafilter off too soon and the remaining pressure would shoot hot grinds all over them..the abuse. In the later years it did not see much use. Two years in storage, and a shot once a month if that. I had since become slightly obsessed with drip coffee, abandoning my love of cappuccinos. Until recently when I was sampling a great roast I picked up from loony bean roasters, and decided I wanted to see how an espresso would taste. I fried up my ol'Export. When I pulled the leaver it squeaked and the shot was terrible. It was time to restore!

I had already started to clean it before documenting with photos... shame the grime was amazing.

I do have a question about descaling. I have read and read many different ways, lemon, vinegar, coffee cleaning detergents, toothpaste.. I tried them all. I finally bought some CLR but am weary to use it. Says not to use on brass, why? Also does this product leave a residue? Is it safe for my heating element?

My only experience with CLR is having repaired 12 leaks and replacing a boiler element on a Maximatic which the owner descaled with CLR. He more or less decided not to use it again on his espresso machine. Citric acid works well and since you have the machine all taken apart elbow grease is likely the least invasive....wire brushes and steel wool, 3m pads, or a soda blaster would make short work of it all.

here are a few pictures of my progress. nice n shiny.

Be sure to replace the boiler plate bolts with stainless steel - ask Doug at OE for details.

Did you notice how much rust , if any, was on the boiler plate bolts when you removed them? I'd like to see photos of that?

Great to see the PV being loved again. My love for PV espresso just keeps growing.

PC

I soaked it in lemons and water in for a few hours. It helped some for scrubbing. Here are some progress pictures. There is still lots of calcification. Should i worry about the scratches where the group head should go?
or the scratches on the inner tank? bacterial growth? IF I stopped scrubbing here, would the remaining black and white junk lead to a poor tasting shot? are we there yet?

here is the only shot I have of the screws before I took it apart. They were stainless.

And.. Just above the arrow the heating element sealant was coming loose and got wet. Any concern?

As I was scrubbing away I saw some discoloration in the corrosion, some reds and greens. In order to limit myself from possible poisonous copper compounds, I was considering electroplating the broiler in a nickle or chromium, and dove into some searching on the possible negative effects of doing so. Here was a response I found interesting.

Question:
"1) the boiler is made of copper (brass?), and appears to be plated with a dull grey metal (not scale, maybe nickel?). someone has over zealously acid-cleaned/scoured about 1/3 of this plating away inside the boiler. do you think there is any significant lead leaching into the boiler water, or danger from the nickel plating continuing to "flake" off?

2) the portafilter (handle that holds the coffee grounds) is made of brass, and was chrome plated. the chrome is mostly worn away from scouring, but bits remain on the edge. again, is it dangerous to have this chrome plate potentially flake off and end up in the coffee?"

Answer:
"You are of course correct in saying that lead is added to some brasses. The amount is normally about 2-3% by weight and it is called "free machining brass". The lead acts as a dry lubricant and smears over the cutting surface. This is good for machining brass, but creates a problem if the brass is electroplated because instead of plating into copper or zinc, you are plating onto a possibly poorly adhering layer of lead. Ideally the lead should be removed by careful cleaning prior to plating, but it is not easy to do. Hence, it is best practise to use lead-free brass if you are going to electroplate the material.
Some manufacturers will plate brass or copper to either make it look pretty or perhaps to prevent corrosion. Generally copper does not corrode in water, although there are a few circumstances when that is not true, but for 99.9% of the time, we can assume copper does not corrode. Brass, however, is more likely to, due to attack of the zinc. So, plating can reduce attack if it acts as a barrier between the brass and the water. However, the plated parts will be subjected to thermal cycling between room temperature and 100C (or more if it is the element that is plated) and this could ultimately result in a delamination of the plated layers from the substrate. Consequently it is not a recommended good practice to plate such components. However, if we assume the substrate is copper or zinc, the most likely plating is nickel followed by chromium. Cheaper plating may just be nickel, but of the article is left in water for some considerable time and then allowed to dry off, the nickel will slowly turn green due to the formation of nickel salts. The time this takes depends on the water composition (tap water is not just pure H2O!). If the nickel is plated with chromium, it will remain shinier much longer.
As far as chromium is concerned, all chromium metal is Cr(0), that is it has no valence, or oxidation state. However, if it is attacked, or "oxidized" to make it dissolve, the resulting chromium salt will be either Cr(III) or some other oxidation state. Chromium can take on numerous oxidation states, but the most "unhealthy" is Cr(VI) or "hexavalent" chromium. These compounds are often seen as orange or yellow in colour. It must be stressed, if you have chromium as just the metal, you CANNOT have hexavalent chromium present.
Finally, I reiterate my comments about metal flakes, namely these should not be knowingly drunk, as they could damage the gastric tract. I would not be too concerned about your coffee attacking the chromium, as we have used stainless steel vessels and utensils of preparing food and beverages (including coffee)for many years and there has been no cited evidence of chromium poisoning from foods or drinks prepared with these tools."


I am not plating my boiler.

I used California Plating in national city to chrome the base, wouldn't go there again. bad customer service, dented the front, staining on the plating, and it didn't bind well in some places.. looks good enough.

my electric hario grinder:

The pstat on that machine is quite different from the newer ones, and also the older Sama I have. Yours seems to sit on an additional brass tube, and is mounted sideways. The ones I have are both screwed into the boiler directly.

Good to see they used ss bolts. Hope they did on mine as well. My Sama has some rust on them, so I hope they come out ok when its time to switch them.

Lets just hope they used lead-free brass for the boilers, but I consider a healthy layer of scale as a safeguard against leaching.

PC

I ordered a new bottom tank gasket from orphan, installed nicely.

It is leaking from one of the screws. top treads were rusted and thus "stripped" the bottom few threads were fine.

It was also leaking from the hole on the back of the piston , so I am going to order 3 new piston orings.


how do I fix the leak from the bottom of the tank??