simonc Whenever asked, I’ve always made it clear that you can get water or descaler in and out of the service boiler both ways and I choose to do it the way I do it just because I prefer it for my convenience. I don’t want to have to empty the water tank out and refill it with water I’ve distilled and remineralised when I can just leave it alone. I don’t want to listen to the pump and mess about with scalding hot water, turning the machine on and off and get distilled water in the tubes to the pump when I can just pour it into the boiler, which is the only place I want it….when I descaled my old machine I always ended up getting descaler into the brew boiler too, drove me made rinsing that out, which is why I started siphoning in the descaler anyway.
It’s the anti-vac valve, not the level probe, that I remove (it’s the one on the right edge of the picture you posted). On mine it’s fitted with PTFE, and it was just a little over finger-tight, not sure if that’s how it is with yours. I don’t think you’d be able to see into the boilers by removing either fitting, so if that’s why you want to do it I wouldn’t bother…..I think Dave has said in the past the threads on these things can snap off if they’re not moving easily.
