Removed the asbestos from a newly acquired 1971 Cremina and was surprised to find a chrome (?) plated boiler underneath the insulation.

Anyone knows when Olympia started to chrome plate the boilers?
I believed it to be a decade later or more..

If someone later on replaced the boiler would it then have the asbestos cover?

wow, yeah usually when the insulation comes of it has that brass/copper colour. I'm interested in what your findings are.

The only person who probably can authoritatively answer this is Doug from OE. Personally, I didn't know they ever switched to chrome plating the boiler. Even the boilers in Cremina 2002 up to the present are just stainless steel inside and out.

Perhaps, someone chrome plated the boiler in question, especially after removing the insulation material (asbestos?). Certainly the machines up to around 82 had this material around the boiler.

My '90 Coffex has a chrome-plated boiler. I don't think anyone has done a fancy restoration job on that machine so Olympia must have done it.

chopinhauer wrote:
Perhaps, someone chrome plated the boiler in question, especially after removing the insulation material (asbestos?). Certainly the machines up to around 82 had this material around the boiler.

original poster's machine had this material around the boiler as well, until he removed it to the newspaper seen in photo no. 1

what i want to know is how will it be disposed of ?
i am wrestling with this question myself before tackling a rebuild on two early olympias

coelcanth wrote:original poster's machine had this material around the boiler as well, until he removed it to the newspaper seen in photo no. 1

Right, here's the soaked boiler.



Think it's safe to say that Olympia did the insulation job and chrome plating. So at least we know that the chrome plating was not done for cosmetic reasons.

In my search I have been able to find only one other early boiler model with chrome plating. Photo posted by Gregory Q in 2006: Asbestos Fix for Olympia Cremina 67?

coelcanth wrote:what i want to know is how will it be disposed of ?

Oh, you didn't watch The Sopranos?

coelcanth wrote:what i want to know is how will it be disposed of ?
i am wrestling with this question myself before tackling a rebuild on two early olympias

I'm sure if you do an online search for "asbestos disposal" or "hazardous waste disposal" in Brooklyn they'll point you to a site where you can take it, securely bagged.

Seing the boiler in a kitchen sink, above, I certainly hope nobody drained asbestos down the drain

BTW I still don't get why my governments (Canada and Québec) both insist on pursuing asbestos extraction...

Does anyone know why the Cremina boiler made of solid brass have internal copper plating?

I don't think it does. If you've just descaled your boiler the descaling solution brings copper to the surface of the brass so the color changes.