Random spurts of hot water from steam wand

[timothyst.j]

Has anyone else felt that their pitcher of milk was in danger of being flooded with hot water from a steam wand that shoots out hot water and steam? When I start my machine up in the morning, I let it heat up for about an hour before I use it. Lately, I've had to purge the steam wand for about 10 seconds before I can get consistent steam without random spurts of hot water. But, even after I do that, I still get these random spurts of hot water shot into my milk.

I always purge before and after each steaming, and I soak the tip of the wand for about 20 minutes at the end of using it.

Any tips?

Tim

[Bob_McBob]

This usually means the boiler is overfilled. On a machine with autofill, the probe level may be set too high, or reading too high because of scale.

[HB]

To elaborate on Bob's point, scale can slowly build up on the water level sensor probe, resulting in a progressively higher water level. Eventually this leads to wet steam. Chris' Coffee FAQ How to properly replace a liquid level sensor probe provides good removal instructions, caveats, and photo.

[timothyst.j (original poster)]

thanks