Elizabeth boiler leak, replacing gasket.

Brainbox

delta76 AI coffee :-)

delta76

Brainbox huh?

Brainbox

delta76 Automatic remineralisation by “AI” for the good of humanity. Nerdy joke, sorry. :)

Brainbox

To get an impression of the amount of scale …

Adrianmsmith

Brainbox

What ro system do you have. Is it made by Jotun or Dulux 🤗

Elcarajillo

Considering the water you have been using , that is very impressive scale.

How often do you change the filters in the RO machine ?

Brainbox

Yes, quite a bit of scale. I now did put the lower boiler part quite long time in the Citrix acid solution, in a small bucket, so that I could position it at various angles so that all internal places are touched without compromising the solenoid.

I have the Osmium zero, for one and a half year, replaced the filters twice. I did not notice the ppm creep before, maybe try a new set of filters.

Initially used the Lelit with the resin filter for some weeks …

The mineral solution is basically sea water with removed NaCl. It doesn’t mention anything about removal of calcium, just magnesium plus race minerals. Maybe calcium is a trace mineral in their view, will send a mail …

Now wait for the gasket and see where the ship hits the shore … :)

dfk41

Brainbox I am no engineer but if your filters are working on an Osmio Zero (having owned one) then I would expect the TDS to be around 10. This will vary of course depending on where exactly in the world you are and the starting point of your waters hardness. Therefore to see scale build up like the photo you supplied using a Zero really surprises me. I mean, the whole point of spending several hundred £'s is to avoid exactly the scenario that you present to us! Something does not appear correct, but I have no idea what!

And I add this stuff up to a ‘normal’ TDS ppm of about 100 to create natural water,

I do not go down the re-mineralising route that others favour. It is like cooking using no additional salt for flavour, then when you have dished up the food onto your plate, covering it with salt! I state again, the TDS output in my area using a good quality RO machine (in my case a Waterdrop machine) the TDS averages around 10 and I really enjoy the taste of my coffee

Adrianmsmith

dfk41 TDS output in my area using a good quality RO machine (in my case a Waterdrop machine) the TDS averages around 10 and I really enjoy the taste of my coffee

So, i didn’t like to say on the day, but maybe that’s why i didn’t like it ☕🤡☕

Hahaha

No, just joking!!

Brainbox

dfk41 With 200 ppm in (the 300 before was a typo) I get 15 to 20 ppm out. But with a caveat, at the end of a tank filling cycle, when the ppm is higher because the waste water is returned to the tank, it is about 100. I only noticed this recently and don’t know when it started or if this was always the case.

The idea of the remineralisation was to remineralise with good (for the machine and human) minerals. That’s why I used he product mentioned. But clearly something went wrong. Either the suboptimal filtering or the mineral drop content. But at the end, making coffee is probably the ideal remineralisation method, hence I will skip it from now on.

Another point might be that at daytime, the machine is always on because the coffee right after cold start is not as good.

dfk41

Brainbox I never liked the design that many manufacturers use of returning the waste water to the same tank. The Waterdrop A1 that I use has a few settings the Osmio does not, such as the TDS is permanently displayed and the water tank has a divider to keep the waste separated. Just little things I know, but it saves having to constantly check output with a TDS pen.

The reason I went to RO was that I had a MK1 Evo Leva with twin boilers with no drain facility and since I am not giften in the spanners department it is easier to monitor the water than descale etc. So for me, t would be a disaster going to RO then having to deal with the sorts of issue that you are facing. Best of luck! I switched to an Elizabeth several months ago from the Evo and I am a big fan of it for many reasons. One of them being it weighs only 11kg so if I need to box it up and send it back to BB for repair, I can!

Elcarajillo

dfk41 &

dfk41 & MRS ,do you find the steam from Elizabeth a little wet (spits of water)

What temperature do you have steam set to ? Does the wand sometimes get quite warm ? I do wonder if the liner is slightly misplaced (at the top)

Otherwise seems to be going well, just seems a little strange after Verona + I miss the steam pressure.

I am awaiting for a new brew switch for Verona, they are a bit like rocking horse poo.

dfk41

Elcarajillo I run my steam at 140 but I do not use it that much. I have not noticed it being especially wet but will check tomorrow. I find the steam boiler heats up if switched off to 140 in around 4 minutes. Again, I will have to steam some milk tomorrow to check to see if the wand heats up at all……will report back

MediumRoastSteam

Elcarajillo

I find it ok for me. It’s worthwhile flushing the want before steaming though. Mine runs at 140C.

The wand does get a bit warm/hot - it’s definitely not a cool touch so to speak - but you can safely touch it without leaving your skin behind. I remember having this conversation with Dave (RIP) a while back and he assured me that’s normal and nothing to worry about with the Elizabeth.

Adrianmsmith

dfk41 I run my steam at 140

Well, I have to say I’m jealous. Paulo limits the Evo to 130 !!

But I have to say that seems to steam very quickly so not too unhappy with ACS!!

Elcarajillo

MediumRoastSteam Thank’s for the reply, I do flush wand before steaming but it still spits water.

Any other thoughts or recommendations ?

dfk41

Elcarajillo Frank, have you done all the changes in the manual I sent you?

MediumRoastSteam

Elcarajillo - as the machine reaches steam temperature, open the steam wand to drain the condensation off, then blast off some steam. Before steaming, do it again. Is it still wet?

Saying all of that - I never had a machine with proper, good, dry steam. Maybe my La Pavoni… but the steam is frankly rubbish compared to the Elizabeth.

The Pro-700 I had 9 years ago had the steam wet in comparison to the Elizabeth.

John_Yossarian

Elcarajillo "Thank’s for the reply, I do flush wand before steaming but it still spits water.

Any other thoughts or recommendations ?"

Most likely you have sorted it out by now, but I do remember when I had my Bezzera back then, the level of water in the boiler was crucial for the wetness of the steam. Lower boiler water level resulted in dryer steam.
I do not know what the options are on Elizabeth, but if you played with the water probe you might find the right dry steam for you.

Elcarajillo

dfk41 Thanks yes, I have it printed off in large type and coloured and in a folder.

Brainbox

Hi all,

After some more cleaning of the joint between upper and lower boiler part, I put it together with a new gasket and mounted the boiler into the machine. Before mounting all the housing elements, I did put power on the system, did the reset and switched on again. There is no leak anymore, so that part is successful. However, after the 40 seconds, the machine does not switch to normal operation. This was also the case before disassembling. After 40 seconds, the solenoid closes but the pump keeps running forever and the display does not start, stays dark. This goes on forever, hence I stop the machine to avoid pump issues. Next start continues the waterflow with open solenoid, looks like some signal is missing to stop the reset procedure.

While I dig the internet, any advice please?

Edit: I switched off the steam boiler after emptying it some time ago. Could the reset also wait for the steam boiler to fill up which just requires some patience? Still anxious to keep the pump running for a long time.

Cheers, Bart.

MediumRoastSteam

Brainbox - if you remember, when the machine is reset, or used for the first time, after filling the steam boiler, it dumps approx 500ml through the group. This step cannot be skipped. Is this what might be happening?