The second picture doesn't help?

The 2nd photo doesn't have a model. Gigar makes a model for every day of the year.

Something like this should be on one side:

Cafe IKE --
RE: The Gicar: no other labels visible, one side is tight against the back of the casing and I'd rather avoid extra disassembly, if possible.
However, did your pump trick and the tan (centerish) connection is the low water so the red must be the high. So I'll lower it a bit and see if it helps with dryer steam.
Thanks !!

Now that we have the probe sorted, has the steamer ever been descaled?

If the low water probe is too low, depending on the element shape, there is a risk of exposing the heating element when drawing hot water as the pump cannot keep up with the hot water flow rate.

I know this because a fellow in my office pulled about ½ liter of hot water for his tea from a 1 liter boiler and repeatedly exposed the heater. After repair & posting a max ¼ liter notice, the element is still going strong several years later.

I think the low water probe is fine -- especially as there's no hot water tap, only steam! I haven't descaled it but I am careful with water and it's not very old. But my attempted adjustment of the high water probe is on hold. Not sure if it's visible in the photos but the bracket that retains the pressure gauge is welded on to the front panel and prevents a normal 12mm combination wrench from going on, so I guess I need a flare nut wrench AS YOU RECOMMENDED (but I didn't really understand!!) or a super thin box wrench. Why, oh why, did they put the bracket for the gauge there? Unprintable expletive repeated many times.....

Since the steam has been getting wetter of late, that may be an indication of rising water level and less steam volume.

Fancy waters may have lower conductivity, so need more probe contact to trip the control thus raising the water level.


Steam is nearly pure H20, so any minerals are left behind, raising the ion concentration. If the machine is off most of the time, the boiler will eventually dry out, 'plating' the probe. As the water evaporates, the ion concentration increases.

What does Quick Mill say about descaling?
Without a pump out port, it's going to be a problem.

In terms of water purity shouldn't the boiler water be getting more mineralized as more evaporates? I concur with too pure water causing an overfill situation - when I had had the steamer for a few weeks I had the brilliant thought that I could do what I did with the Bellman stovetop steamer; to use distilled water- of course the boiler overfilled - but I was able to correct that with proper water, once I realized my stupidity. The machine returned to normal after that and was fine for several months of use.
I don't have any info on descaling -- the steamer is an odd ball model that Chris Coffee had to order from the Quick Mill factory and they don't have much experience with it. It was exactly what I needed as I was using the Carola (espresso only) with a Bellman stovetop steamer and wanted a regular steamer - this is made to match the Carola. Chris did recommend that I pull the water level probes and clean them.
In terms of emptying out the steam boiler (to start with fresh "correct" water again) I found this for machines without a hot water tap -- perhaps on HB -- that I might try. I was thinking of removing the steam tip to facilitate draining for this process. What do you think of this approach to draining?

I would be inclined to remove the steam out tube or Inspection [???] port plug and syphon out the water

Thanks -- once I have the tools I will attempt!!