Which side is the top on this heating element?

#1: Post by **espressojoe** » May 11th, 2022, 4:38 pm

It's for an Iberital l'Anna one group. Also I've got a ton of lime scale. Any advice on cleaning it out? I might have to see if I can open up the other side of the boiler so I can get in there.

I'm trying to figure out which side is the top on the new heating element. The blue tape represents the top on the old one. I thought maybe lining up the typing on the side might do it. Any advice?

#2: Post by **ira** » May 11th, 2022, 4:41 pm

We need to see the other side to know. What matters is that the shorting bars are connected the same way to the elements. Besides that you want the element as low as possible in the water. I don't think anything else matters. Your old element is currently wired so you only use 2 of the 3 elements so you're only using 2/3 the power.

May 11th, 2022, 5:21 pm

Thanks! I was wondering what that configuration was about. No wonder why it took forever to heat up

Here's a pic of it wired. I'll get a pic of the other side. It's not pretty because the lime scale took over, I saw that there's a bar that comes in and is soldered to the element. I figured that I'd line those up and it would. be fine but the 2 heating elements don't seem to be identical in the placement of the soldered bar.

#4: Post by **ira** » May 11th, 2022, 5:34 pm

That's unexpected. Do the 2 wires on the right go to the same place? Given how the bonding plates were set, I assumed there would not be a black wire. If those 2 wires connect to the same place then it's using all 3 elements. A machine like that might take an hour or more to warm up.

#5: Post by **ira** » May 11th, 2022, 5:37 pm

I just realized this is a one group machine. Never seen an element like that in a one group. They are usually designed that way so you can wire the machine for single or 3 phase connection which would only make sense for 208V or more.

May 11th, 2022, 6:06 pm

Well, I assumed that I would follow the same layout to reconnect. A big problem is that there's a ton of lime scale. I leaned the unit back and filled it with water a couple of times. Some came out. I don't know if I can open the tank on this one. The specs (https://espressoresource.com/service-pr ... rital.html) seem to show that one side comes off but I'll have to look. If not I have a mini shop vac that can probably take some out. I just don't think it would be 100%. I probably need to do a heavy descaling. Any advice on what a good descaling solution? It's weird because I thought that I was using a filter that took the lime out. It may have been developing from the previous user though?
Thank you for your help!

May 11th, 2022, 6:48 pm

The limescale must have been slowly developing but it's heavy now. Strange because I was using Everpure filters that claimed to have limescale control. Maybe I wasn't changing them fast enough? I don't know. I'm surprised that I didn't notice a taste from it. Yuck.

May 11th, 2022, 10:00 pm

Here's the side view. I'm embarrassed about that lime scale. I'm not sure if I should run it without figuring out how to clean the inside or do I need a new tank? There's a lot of lime scale bits at the bottom. I'm going to try my mini shop vac on it and them work on descaling.

Anyways, These 2 are lined up the same way that I have them lined up in the earlier picture where they're front facing and the printing of the voltage is on the left of each. The piping isn't configured in the same way exactly. The soldered pipe that is a bit off to the left on the new one and on the top on the old one. Is the white piece supposed to be the gasket?

#9: Post by **ira** » May 11th, 2022, 10:16 pm

So each pipe is a heating element. you need to hook one side of all three with 2 of the connectors and any two of the other sides with the remaining connector. How you do that doesn't matter. That scale is nothing like the machine I descaled, Took me a few days of descaling and carefully breaking off large chunks of what scale I could get to before the element would even come out. It was not pretty!

May 11th, 2022, 10:36 pm

Thanks! Any chance that you can draw a diagram? Both units are in the same position in the 1st photo and the last photo. They don't however seem to line up in the same way on the back side. Do you think that I can copy the configuration from the old one? What happens if it's not connected right? I blow a fuse? It's on a dedicated GFC so it'll go fast in that case.

Also, If I get most of the lime scale out of the tank, can I put a descaling agent in the tank before I put the heating element in and just let it descale from there or is there a better way?

Thanks again!
Joe