So after a week of cleaning and replacing parts thanks to Chris Coffee assistance my La Spaziale Vivaldi S1V1 is up and running. See pic below. The prior owner really had no clue what they were doing so I still feel I have a bit of work in front of me. I replaced the group head screens, gasket and diffuser. The prior owner had the ese pod adapter installed. There was quite a bit of dried on coffee all over the group head, screens etc and I had to spend a bit of time cleaning and removing the coffee residue. I am able to pull a decent shot with the machine but am still a little nervous to actually drink the espresso at his point (I have sampled a few shots). I'm currently using Lavazza Super Crema that I grabbed off Amazon quick. Next on my agenda is researching roasts.

Judging by the buildup on the outside of the machine I assume the boilers are in desperate need of a descale. The prior owner never descaled or backflushed and was using regular tap water. I have read a bit on this forum and S1 cafe about descaling. It appears most Vivaldi owners just open the machine and remove the boilers to descale. I would prefer to avoid this and would like to descale without removing the boilers and seeing how well that works. Any suggestions for a plumbed Vivaldi?

You'll find my old posts & pics on the S1 forum regarding descaling. While you don't have to remove the boilers you will definitely want to at least remove the boiler covers & inspect the insides. The steam boiler comes out easily & you need to inspect the fittings where the water lines attach for scale build up. The drain can also partially or fully clog with scale.

The brew boiler has raised sections inside that trap debris & you can find some pretty ugly mineral deposits growing out of the sides. The heating elements come out with the covers which will make descaling the element much easier. Personally I prefer bead blasting the scale off of the elements as it takes minutes instead of hours/days. If you flip the machine onto it's face you can fill the brew boiler with vinegar or citric acid solution. I've found white vinegar to be more effective & it doesn't need to be hot.

Make sure you have the brew boiler cover o'ring & steam boiler cover gasket on hand.

I use normal citric acid to descale. For a plumbed machine you can hook up a pump (a small water pump like a submersible aquarium pump "should" work for descaling, just don't over run the pump capacity and get the boilers low on water.... take your time). 5 gallon (or smaller if you keep an eye on the water level) bucket to draw from.... I use critic acid because it is available in bulk at a local health food store so I can gert a few lb for very little $$$ so that I can do a through job of descaling without breaking the bank on product. Use what you can find locally and if not, look for a commercial product online or at a restaurant supply house.

Remove any/all screens and the seam tip so that you do not restrict flow or clog them with calcium depots that will flow out.

Empty the boilers. More than likely you will need to turn it upside down and open the water and steam to completely drain them.

Attach your pump to your machine and bucket with the descaling liquid.

Fill the boilers (keep your valves open to make sure you evacuate all of the air and the boilers completely fill)

Let the machine sit for 5 minutes with the descaling liquid before running a fresh/cleam set of descaling liquid into the boilers.

Let it set for another 5 minutes.

At this time you can then flush the acid out and refill with fresh water. Flush the boilers at least 4 complete times before using it for coffee.

this is why most remove the boilers to descale... Decide which is easier for you.

****************************************** Cleaning Residue ***************************************

As far as cleaning off your coffee residue, use Urnex Cafiza (I use this particular product because it is available locally at a restaurant supply but you can use any of the products that are designed specifically for removing coffee residue). Add some to boiling or very hot water then put your dirty.

you can use Cafiza to back flush also (which you should do to clean the 2 way and 3 way valves)

="turtle"
Let the machine sit for 5 minutes with the descaling liquid before running a fresh/cleam set of descaling liquid into the boilers.

Let it set for another 5 minutes.

At this time you can then flush the acid out and refill with fresh water. Flush the boilers at least 4 complete times before using it for coffee.

10 minutes of descaling may make you feel better but it isn't going to do a damn thing to a scale build up in the boiler or on the heating elements. It takes HOURS of soaking to remove a heavy scale build up, possibly days.

A lot is going to depend on how nasty the local water supply is.

Go online and search for your municipal water quality report to find out your water quality

If the water was good low deposit then a minor descaling may all that is necessary.

I am lucky that I have almost perfect public water so I only need to do a light descaling once a year.

If your water is perfect you should never have to descale. Descaling can cause too many other problems to be doing it as regular maintenance. I'm on a well & I've seen what my untreated water will do to espresso machine boilers. With a softener cartridge, carbon cartridge & a simple mixing valve set up I keep my hardness between 2-3 grains & the brew boiler stays clean. Every couple years I pull out the steam boiler heating element, blast off any build up & rinse out the boiler. I haven't used any type of descaling solution in my machines since the early days with my Vivaldi V2 7 years ago.

I gauge my descaling on the deposits that collect on my Russell Hobbs kettle (open coils). I use the kettle every day and when I see deposits I descale my commercial Bunn, my espresso machine and my kettle as all get used on an equal basis.

So my schedule is determined by actual build up on a water boiler that has visible heating coils.

No guessing required.

Pic of the inside of my kettle as of a little while ago. No descaling needed as of today

Thanks for the info. I should have picked up the brew boiler o ring and steam boiler gasket with the rest of my parts order. I was planning to descale this weekend, my Cafiza and citric acid just showed up from Amazon today. Aww well looks like I will have to wait until mid week to descale. I am a little nervous to see what the insides of the boilers look like but will post pics.

I got the o-ring and gasket yesterday so I am now working on opening up the boilers to do the descale. I am having some struggles opening the brew boiler and getting the brass nut off. I tried tapping it with a mallet and piece of wood but no luck. I am going to run to the hardware store to pickup a pipe/adjustable wrench. I am also not sure how to go about descaling the steam boiler. I have seen instructions for the mini on S1 Forum but my machines boiler looks different. I read for the mini I should remove the vacuum breaker and pour in the citric acid. I believe there is a drain plug to remove the solution on the Vivaldi v1. Heres a pic of my progress.... Or there lack of.

Well I got the boiler open but now I have a problem. It appears the the heating element is warped and I can't get it out of the boiler. I think the curved loop expanded and now won't fit out of the boiler. I am debating just putting the descale solution in the boiler with the heating element inside. Either that or just buy a new heating element which may be the smart move considering how gunked up it looks.