Lelit Elizabeth steam wand leak - changing the stem didn't help

profarvin

Hi all,

I posted this question on another popular coffee forum last week but haven’t found people with similar problems - hope this forum can help!

I’ve had Lelit Elizabeth for 6-7 months and I’ve always had this fizzling steam wand issue. It had been relatively mild so I lived with it preferring it over overtightening the steam tap. The problem has become worse recently. I disassembled the steam tap, checked the stem, and found that the PTFE pad looked a bit worn out. I ordered the tap stem replacement 2200075 and started to close the old tap stem tighter while waiting for the replacement delivery. I found that using just a bit of force to close the tap stopped the fizzle and leak.

When my new tap stem arrived, I replaced the old one and found that the fizzle had become even worse. Gentle tightening or even slight force doesn’t stop the leak.

I use water from Brita filter + Lelit resin filter but water in London is relatively hard (300ppm as per Thames water). I thought the leak can be caused by some limescale on the steam tap seat so I’ve done descaling but it hasn’t solved my steam leak problem.

Has anybody had similar issue when a new tap stem didn’t help? Any suggestions what I should do with it?

Here is how my old stem looked like (btw, putting the part into the descaler didn’t remove the black substance. No idea what it is):

DavecUK

profarvin Do you use any lube (Dow corning Molycote 111 to the o rings, seat etc..?

This may help as well https://coffeetime.freeflarum.com/blog/1387-compression-type-steam-and-water-valves-important

MediumRoastSteam

profarvin I use water from Brita filter + Lelit resin filter but water in London is relatively hard (300ppm as per Thames water). I thought the leak can be caused by some limescale on the steam tap seat so I’ve done descaling but it hasn’t solved my steam leak problem.

Not easy to tell you what’s going on, specially if you have actually changed the steam tap spindle already and the problem hasn’t gone away.

My Elizabeth is 3.5 years old, I always used either distilled water or water from a ZeroWater jug. I also live in the wonderful Thames Water region, where I don’t know which one one is harder, to have a shower or to sleep in a bed of nails. ;-) - Contrary to yours though, my Elizabeth is still good as new (as it has never been fed hard water, thus never descaled), and the steam tap open and closes exactly as it always did. No leaks, no hissing. Nothing.

So it might be you have limescale built-up somewhere in that tap.

You may want to try and lubricate those o-rings as per Dave’s advice, but not sure if that might fix your problem.

Good luck.

profarvin

DavecUK I did use food-grade silicon grease when I replaced the stem. it’s a no-name grease but the tube says it’s designed for espresso machines so I guess it should do the job. I don’t know if there was any grease on the old detail - I hadn’t noticed it when I first disassembled it. Re your link - thanks, I’ve seen it, this is one of the reasons why it has always leaked - didn’t want to tighten it.

MediumRoastSteam thanks for feedback, maybe I’ll try to descale again - using Dave’s instruction this time though. I used Lelit Insider’s instructions and felt it was too gentle (few mins of descaling only) and might not done the job properly.

DavecUK

profarvin thanks for feedback, maybe I’ll try to descale again - using Dave’s instruction this time though. I used Lelit Insider’s instructions and felt it was too gentle (few mins of descaling only) and might not done the job properly.

Are these the Ones in the Sway documents ( think I put some in).

If you can, I would put the machine upside down (on a towel) and drip some strong liquid kettle descaler into the steam valve (remove the arm) and open the valve fully and leave for a few minutes to 10 min.

P.S Don’t get any of the descaler on the stainless

profarvin

DavecUK yes, I’ll use the ones from your doc when you fully empty the boilers several times. Lelit Insider’s instruction is quite different -

DavecUK

profarvin I updated my post specifically for your problem.

profarvin

profarvin @DavecUK btw, do you have any recommendation how I can maximise descaling effect for the steam tap? I’m planning to leave it very slightly open so that the descaling “foam/bubbles” can move through the steam channel - hope this will descale the tap seat and surroundings.

UPD - looks like you’ve just answered my question while I was texting - thanks a lot!

profarvin

I’ve managed to almost fully fix the problem - my steam tap does drip and fizzle sometimes but it has become almost unnoticeable. The few things I tried in their order and what helped me at the end:

Full descaling - did it twice. 1st time I used Lelit insider instruction from Youtube (very time-consuming!), 2nd time - DaveUK’s instruction (much quicker). Both times I didn’t see any improvement on my steam tap leak.
DaveUK’s recommendation - machine upside down, remove the steam arm, and drip strong descaler into the valve - it hasn’t made much difference.
Valve cleaning without removing it. I removed tap stem, cleaned the inside of the valve with cotton swabs dipped into a strong descaler, then wiped the inside with swabs dipped into water. Swabs with descaler ended up very dirty, and you could see the difference as the valve inside had become bright metallic again. It has significantly reduced the leak but still not ideal.
Advice from a chap from another forum - removed tap stem again and gently spun drill bits at the seal pad seat a couple of times just by fingers until it made the seat bright brass color. This almost eliminated the leak so I’ll probably stop here. I guess the next possible step would be replacing the valve completely but it seems a bit expensive and time consuming at this stage.

I’ve also started to use bottled water. Hope it will prevent any further problems.

@DavecUK @MediumRoastSteam thanks again for your help and advices!

MediumRoastSteam

profarvin I’ve also started to use bottled water. Hope it will prevent any further problems.

Bottled water does not mean it does not have calcium or that it won’t cause limescale :-)

You either find bottled water that doesn’t cause limescale, or you start from the basis where the water is pure and without minerals, and then only add what you need. E.g.: ZeroWater + 0.08g (80mg) of sodium bicarbonate (Baking Soda) per litre. That’s the simplest way. Or you can get water from a reverse ozmosis machine or system, etc, etc.

profarvin

MediumRoastSteam yeah, I’ve done a bit of research on this. I’ll see how it goes with Tesco’s Ashbeck. Maybe will try these pre-made mineral sticks that you dissolve in distilled water. Making water by weighting minerals sounds too much for me at this stage but maybe this is the way to go and I just need to grow up to this :).