Descale questions. Boiler Cap melted
Posted: Mon Dec 14, 2009 11:52 am
Hi,
I finally got around to taking care of the automatic boiler refill alarm, and I did clean out some deposits as you guys suggested in that previous post. Thanks!.
I decided to also descale the boilers. I took apart the steam boiler, but before doing so, I noticed that a couple connections looked melted or burned slightly. The black plastic cap that goes over one of the heater elements has melted and was easily cracking. It's part # 489 in the book I believe.
Also on the steam boiler, I noticed that one of the solderless connection insulators was blacked slightly and all of them seemed to have suffered from heat damage and are cracked. I don't see how the former issue is a problem as they are right on top of a heat source, but I wonder why it looks burnt?
On the issue of descaling, it seemed like my steam boiler and heating element was covered in a light, but formidable black soot. I scrubbed off as much as I could, but I could reach all the way into the boiler to scrub. Is this good enough, or do I need to use some kind of stronger chemical? As has been noted before, vinegar didn't seem to touch it at all! It took forever to get down to the copper on the heating element and there is still some between the rings that I can't get to (not sure if this is too much of an issue....
With the group boiler, the heating element and boiler it self looked pretty good, except where some amount of the typical green scale formed around the ring where the boiler halves meet. I scrapped and removed as much as i could. But it looks pretty good.
Lastly, I didn't really notice a gasket between the boilers, perhaps it's melted away? I'm assuming that I should replace it. I'm referring to part #499 and #7418.
Thank you for any help. I feel like I'm taking apart the space shuttle without a manual!:)
I finally got around to taking care of the automatic boiler refill alarm, and I did clean out some deposits as you guys suggested in that previous post. Thanks!.
I decided to also descale the boilers. I took apart the steam boiler, but before doing so, I noticed that a couple connections looked melted or burned slightly. The black plastic cap that goes over one of the heater elements has melted and was easily cracking. It's part # 489 in the book I believe.
Also on the steam boiler, I noticed that one of the solderless connection insulators was blacked slightly and all of them seemed to have suffered from heat damage and are cracked. I don't see how the former issue is a problem as they are right on top of a heat source, but I wonder why it looks burnt?
On the issue of descaling, it seemed like my steam boiler and heating element was covered in a light, but formidable black soot. I scrubbed off as much as I could, but I could reach all the way into the boiler to scrub. Is this good enough, or do I need to use some kind of stronger chemical? As has been noted before, vinegar didn't seem to touch it at all! It took forever to get down to the copper on the heating element and there is still some between the rings that I can't get to (not sure if this is too much of an issue....
With the group boiler, the heating element and boiler it self looked pretty good, except where some amount of the typical green scale formed around the ring where the boiler halves meet. I scrapped and removed as much as i could. But it looks pretty good.
Lastly, I didn't really notice a gasket between the boilers, perhaps it's melted away? I'm assuming that I should replace it. I'm referring to part #499 and #7418.
Thank you for any help. I feel like I'm taking apart the space shuttle without a manual!:)