Hello to all ... been coming here on-and-off for years, this is my first actual post.

Me and Lucy have been together for over 30 years.
In that time I've manged to replace many components, from burrs to steam valve washers to pumps, etc.

I recently installed an Auber PID for the brew function only.

My issue is the following:

While it comes to temp and adjusts fine, the water at the brew head is almost always at about 180-190℉

According to the instructions there should be about a 17 degree difference between the boiler and water at group head.

My gap is way, way more than that, and the temp doesn't hold for anywhere near the duration of the pull.

While I know this is an old machine, (I figure it a V1 of Silvia with a grinder) the PID should increase water temp as it's turned up. It does show it's cycling properly as the boiler temperature setting is changed.

I'm measuring the water temp with a Thermapen instant read thermometer. Also, shots are tasting sour.

Do I need to take the boiler apart and do a thorough descale? It has not been backed flushed for most of its life.

Any thoughts appreciated.

baldheadracing wrote:to check temp, you can increase the PID temp until the water barely flash-boils coming out of the shower screen. That indicates a temp of a little over 212F (at sea level).

There's a good video and discussion of this for a different machine at Getting accurate shot temperature displays on PIDed double boilers without a thermometer

Thanks for the suggestion and link.
Will give this a try.