This post is related to my earlier post "Off flavors in the water of an old but never used Elektra T1".

Forcefully flushed the unit (boiler) with clean water (approx 30 gals) and the hx/group (approx 20 liters) noted a dark brackish coloration of the discharge from the boiler flush. Given that the unit sat unused for close to 9 years, I now suspected a more serious problem with something growing inside the boiler, tubing, hx, and group. I had inspected the Gigleur filter when I first fired up the unit and things looked ok. I removed the group cap after the flushing and noted that the filter and the group were covered in a black slime/sludge.

Tore down the boiler and it too is full of black slime/sludge. If anyone has an idea how to attack this problem, your support is appreciated. My current plan is to power wash the boiler interior with clear water and then into a citric acid bath with the works (e.g., boiler, tubing, etc.). No worries about things electrical, I know not to submerge them.

Hello congrats on your new acquisition! You stated that the machine was never used however these are sign of usage. How does the heating element look?

My assumption that the T1 had never been used is based on all of the accessories still in original factory packages, the unit was very clean inside the case, and the drain basin was pristine. The unit had been dropped or seriously mis-handled and the motor and pump were dislodged from their mount. It could not have been operated in that state. So I concluded that the only time it may have ever been operated and had water in it was at the factory in 2005 when it was produce. Interestingly, its production bracketed my 50th birthday.

Here is a picture of the heating element and water level sensor housing.

In person the color is much darker, appearing almost black. I attacked it with a blue scrubby, but it was fairly resistant to mechanical removal. The entire inside of the boiler and hx have the same appearance. I started with the water level sensor housing in a Citric acid bath and it cleaned up nicely. Next I did the heater and it cleaned up well too. I'm working on the boiler now. The inside of the hx needs another treatment, but I'm still challenged how to get the inside passages of the group clean without damaging the chrome finish.

Clearly I don't want to put it in a citric acid bath. Any ideas?

Your Elektra is definitely on the road to recovery and a long life of great espresso making.Boiler and heating element are cleared so that is great! Those are monetary and timely set backs. Now that is out of the way time to focus on the brew group. The link below has some good instructions, basicaly the brew head must be disassembled and cleaned piece by piece.

Checking an E61 Espresso Machine for Scale

Just in case you are not familiar with the E61 group head here is some info on the inner workings.

Internals of an E61 Brew Head [video]

gashuebr wrote: but I'm still challenged how to get the inside passages of the group clean without damaging the chrome finish.
<image>
Clearly I don't want to put it in a citric acid bath. Any ideas?

What I normally do in this cases to descale the INSIDE of a group
is to cup the heating exchanger holes, the solenoid valve hole and the dispersion hole
rest the grouphead on a vise and with a siring or any small inserting tool (turkey buster)
fill the chamber with descaling solution, let it seat for as long as needed
then flush
let dry and repeat if necessary

A simple and elegant solution. Wish I had thought of it!

Grazie! Stefano,
Geoff

I've completed the rehab of the T1. Soaking the boiler, along with all the copper tubing, in warm 3.5% citric acid solution removed the black sludge, whatever it was. The grouphead cleaned up nicely as well by following Stefano's method.

The only snag encountered was with the heater/boiler flange sealing. Water leaked from the Teflon gasket during the initial fill before there was any pressure in the boiler. Stefano told me that no sealant should be required for the teflon gasket. Stefano also informed me that Elektra never used sealant on this gasket. I listened to Stefano and investigated why, in case of my T1, somebody applied sealant to the heater flange gasket.

I traced the water leak to a low spot in the boiler flange. Where the red circle is.


I lapped down the flange using a 1000 grit diamond coated surface plate to obtain a flat sealing surface and re-assembled with the Teflon gasket. No leaks after resurfacing the flange.

Finally after 9 years this machine is making espresso! Now I just have to master it.