Hi there,

I'm moving in a few days, and will bring my Oscar 2 with me (I tried selling it but didn't work out)

As I move internationally, my stuff will be send in both Air-freight and Sea-freight (2 separate shipments)

Does the machine really have to be drained?
My guess is yes for air-freight as liquids are prohibited + things are likely to freeze in air-cargo.
But what if I put it in the sea container? (it's quite hot right now both in departure/destination countries and in between )

Just prefer to avoiding opening the machine as much as possible as I am not a tinkerer

Do you have the original packing? My Quickmill came in a pretty nice set of boxes. I am no expert but I would empty the tank and seriously consider emptying the boilers - you don't want water in the electrics. Perhaps a local dealer/repairman can advise or do the prep. What would make me nervous is the uncanny ability of shippers to ignore "this side up" stickers.

Yes, still have the original package.

On the drain, was thinking to try putting it on all it sides to see if that makes some water come out, if so, drain a bit, if not then should be fine for shipping. Shipping company is quite pro, they won't be playing football with the crates

Seems if I really want to drain the boiler, I'd need to disassemble panels, and then unscrew a piece of plumbing on the boiler to let the water out.. Really don't trust myself in doing this, but if I absolutely have to do it I'll do it. I doubt I can find someone to do this service for me and moving in a couple days :S

Draining HX boiler without hot water tap

Siphon it out or use the trick at https://www.elektros.it/it/en/tips_tricks.html to empty the boiler through the steam wand. (search for "empty the water boiler") are the methods mentioned in the thread.

Fantastic, thank you so much for sharing, will try this!

Wonder if you put hand Auto Brake Bleeder Vacuum Pump on it to draw out water. about 20 bucks

I don't know the specifics for an Oscar, but there's surely a fitting for the steam pipe entering the top of the boiler. If so, you can remove it and siphon out the water using a length of silicone tubing (no pump required). If you have a helper, you could also remove a fitting and just turn the machine upside down. Needlessly to say, the machine should be unplugged.

Even if it's transported in a truck, it's better to assume "this end up" labels will be ignored. Or, for a larger, more expensive espresso machine, box it up and strap it to a mini pallet, in which case draining isn't required.

Ok just, tried the trick from Elektros. It worked for a little bit, but then the water stopped coming out, I got maybe just around 100mL of water out this way. Not sure if the trick doesn't work on Oscar #2 or if I misunderstood the protocol

Then I tried opening the box to try opening the boiler pipe fitting as HB mentioned, as seen on this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x6HfGFWncdA

Unfortunately, I do not have a Hex key for this fitting.

So instead I just tried holding the machine almost upside down while keeping the steam wand open (and of course the machine cold and unplugged). Water came out, slow, had to hold it a good 5min this way for the water to stop coming out.

Okay I'm sure what I did cannot be recommended and likely bad for the machine, best to order a Hex key. But I am quite in a hurry and it seems to have done the trick

Sounds like you did fine.