Putting Silvia into storage - advice needed

cjbailey1

Now I have the Bianca the silvia (v3) will be going to a new home, unfortunately it needs to be stored for the next six months or so. What is the best way to prep for storage? I probably need to give the whole thing a service and maybe insulate the boiler while I’m at it but I don’t have much time. I did have a quick hunt for a guide but didn’t manage to find one.

DavecUK

Where will it be stored?

cjbailey1

It will probably just be stored in a cupboard in the kitchen. Certainly nowhere with a risk of freezing.

hornbyben

The advice in the Silvia manual is:

empty the water tank
open the steam valve and run the pump with the hot water switch to empty remaining water. Stop immediately when out of water.
switch off
clean the machine
unplug
cover and store in a dry room not exposed to environmental elements

Norvin

hornbyben

Wouldn’t that still leave water still in the boiler? It may be possible to empty the boiler by opening the steam valve and tipping the whole machine upside down. A surer way would be to disconnect the steam pipe from the top of the boiler before inverting the machine.

cjbailey1

Norvin thanks for that, I don’t have a manual as the machine was second hand and I didn’t think to look online. I have already essentially done what the instructions state but I was worried about the boiler (knowing people have issues with elements blowing) and wasn’t sure if it was best to leave full of water or split it and empty it.

I’ve never had the boiler apart, is that something worth doing as it is now 13 years old? Are the spares (gasket I’m presuming?) readily available and do they need to be OEM or are there decent aftermarket ones?

hornbyben

Norvin it would definitely leave water in the boiler, but I guess the real question is does that matter. If it went to steam temp previously that will have made everything sterile, and if it’s not use then there’s no thermal cycling, so if it wasn’t leaking to start with it shouldn’t develop one. Obviously if you put it somewhere that could freeze it’s different, but if not I expect it doesn’t really matter.

Norvin

Undoing the six boiler screws would also work to empty the boiler but it may get messy. If you did this I would advise you to renew the boiler O ring seal. I usually carry out a service on any new machine and I would also split the boiler to look for scale and other problems, just for peace of mind. A suitably sized Viton O ring would do for the boiler gasket but if you are going to renew multiple gaskets kits are readily available from eBay or one of the suppliers, I don’t think that you need OEM.