Bacek wrote:@gchapman with this amount of moisture on top cover looks like that you have faulty orings on water or steam.
Or this is this elbow fitting failure result? It can cause failure of triacs module .

This was the result of the failed elbow in the photo! Water everywhere!!

I pulled the plug, dried it thoroughly and at length with a hairdryer, put in a second elbow (same type that failed) and fired it back up. No damage, thankfully, and it held pressure through today's normal use.

I am now on the hunt for an elbow that has the needed high temperature/high pressure specs. Have a couple of promising leads, but they are not cheap, and are usually sold in lots of 10. Will keep BDB modders posted...

Geoff

Check this out, you will have an elbow plus additional features.

Breville 900XL - brass OPV + vibration dumper

pcrussell50 wrote:......... I'll have to start with the (dis)qualifier that I have never de scaled my -920 and I don't ever plan to. Not only because of the stories of de scaling's gone wrong, but because I use scale free water like LaMarzocco recommends or like the shops with their commercial machines, so take with a grain of salt...

Something I read on the Aussie forum said this machine likes "threes". What you might try is unplug, tap the power switch. Plug back in. Do factory reset by holding the 1 cup button while pressing the power button. "Reset" will appear in the window. Press the "menu" button and the machine will factory reset and ask for your water hardness (which I set to lowest). Do the whole factory reset as described, three times ("Breville rule of threes ").

I do three consecutive factory resets about once a month in order to avoid getting the "de scale" prompt.

And hey, report back how it goes, would you? I'm curious.

-Peter

Peter, I want to avoid descaling my machine as well. I will follow your procedure in order to reset the machine and avoid the 'descale' message.

I have been using my BES920XL since the beginning of March and so far the only thing I have being doing maintenance wise is the cleaning with a tablet every two weeks.
I am planning to replace the water filter inside the tank according to the suggested schedule. I could not find the new type of conical filter that came with the machine so I ordered this set which includes the old style holder: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01F3 ... UTF8&psc=1
I use only Deer Park bottle water.
I pull 6-8 espresso daily and I steam milk one to three times per day.

Is there anything that you think I should change/correct?

Also, do you think that using bottled water as I am doing is a good way to avoid descaling or should I switch to an RO system (field totally unknown to me, I would have to start from zero, so I would prefer to avoid it for the time being unless really necessary)?

Good that you are open to taking your water seriously. There is a reason the coffee shops and advanced home users take it seriously too... Expensive repairs.

You have three choices: buy bottled water, mix your own, or use a softening filter. They each have considerations.

1) Some bottled water may contain too much CA or Mg (the components of hardness) or the wrong pH to keep what Ca or Mg is there, from scaling. You should go to the "water" section here at HB and provide as much information as you can about the components in your bottled water and ask them for their opinion on if it is safe. Alternately, La Marzocco has some bottled waters that they recommend for their home users. You would for sure be fine with those.

2) Mix your own: get some potassium bicarbonate from a wine making or home brewing store, or EbayZon, and mix 100mg/l into pure distilled water. This will keep your sensors working and safe for your machine, and no possibility of scale since there is no Ca or Mg.

3) Use an under the sink softening filter system. This is what the shops use. They are fairly cheap to buy... Not much more than $100 if you shop well. But you will need to change filters every 4-10 months or so depending on how hard your water is. These systems are smaller and less bulky than RO, but still require you to tap into the cold water hose under your sink.

By the way, the reason not to use RO or any overly pure water is that the machines sensors need some electrolyte in the water in order for it to conduct electricity. Without that, you can actually burn out your heaters.

-Peter

Deer Park Spring water looks good to me. (https://www.nestle-watersna.com/asset-l ... dp_eng.pdf). 160 TDS, 110 Hardness, 34 Calcium, 10 Magnesium. Most people aim for 50-150 TDS, which puts you on the higher end of range but its fine. You can blend that with distilled at a 1:2 ratio if you really want to be on the low end of the spectrum.

You want to avoid using only distilled water. The water sensors in the machine require some mineral content in the water in order to operate properly (due to conductivity).

Also, true distilled water has no taste. If you do a taste test between various bottled waters, you'll find that you like some better than others -- the only difference is in the mineral formula. Considering that espresso is primarily water, you want the water to taste good. Some people like to use a blend of distilled (0 hardness) and tap (for mineral content) to achieve a balance between water that tastes good and water that doesn't scale excessively.

There is a whole water subforum if you are interested in more info.

Thank you guys, as usual good information.
I have tried to read that forum but having zero knowledge about the subject eventually I gave up trying to understand what it was better to do.

mrjag wrote:Deer Park Spring water looks good to me. ....... You can blend that with distilled at a 1:2 ratio if you really want to be on the low end of the spectrum.
.........

Never thought about that but it looks like a very simple ting to do, at least for the time being. I think I'll try it and see how it tastes. Great!

One of the systems mentioned on the La Marzocco web site is the Soma filtering pitcher which seems very simple to use. I was thinking about giving it a try but it has a lot of horrible reviews on Amazon.

So I've been battling a leak for quite some time now. I end up replacing the o-rings on top of the boilers every couple months and the leak keeps returning. Keeps tripping my GFCI. Well... I finally found the leak that I was missing each time I replaced the o-rings. Its on the bottom of the steam boiler. And it looks bad. Lots of scale buildup from all the leaking. And looks like it will be a PITA to get to.



Also, this last go around, looks like I lost an o-ring in the brew boiler. Somehow folded up and slipped down inside. Now the big debate will be whether I return it to BB&B or if I pay for Breville service.

Hmmm... tough decision. If you go with Breville, they might not want to do that repair, or at least not get it done in the promised three days, in which case you will get a refurb or a brand new. If they send you a new one, it will be the latest spec. Lately the vibe is that they are out of refurbs and shipping new ones. Plus Breville will be have another data point for this kind of leak for future durability updates. I have found leaks on the side of the boiler to be exceedingly rare. If you avail yourself of BB&B, you will get a new machine for sure, but you won't know if it's the latest spec.

Not sure what I'd do. Just laying out my thoughts. I suppose I'd roll the dice and go with Breville. One thing worthy of note is that even the new spec machines don't make better espresso than the older ones. That is all the same. What they offer is either more durability for some of the common issues, or easier fixes for some of the common issues.

-Peter

I had mine leak at that same spot. It was after about a year of service. Go figure. It was not bad though. When I would have my machine open to tinker, I would fire it up before I buttoned it back up to make sure it didn't leak. I would hear a very faint sputtering but I could never figure out what it was. A few months passed and I finally found it. Mine was not bad at all, no visible scale or corrosion. BUT it was very hard to get the brass ferrule to seat. I had to fashion a special bendable pusher tool with a clothes hanger, dremmel and bench grinder. It was a real adventure.

May I ask if I have to periodically empty the steam boiler?