Steam Boiler De-Scaling

[BillK]

My water softner stopped softening, and I didn't realize it. I found out what had happened when the steam boiler got noisy. I wound up de-scaling the steam boiler, which eliminated the noise. Here are some details:

I normally check the water quality at the beginning of each month. I forgot to do it a month ago. I began to notice noise when the steam boiler heater was on. The noise is a hard rapping/banging sound, as you might observe when a steam kettle is just getting up to a boil. I was pretty surprised that there would be a scale buildup in what must be less than two months of operation with hard water, but our water is very hard and it obviously happened.

I called Chris Coffee to discuss the problem, and talked to Jason. He was very helpful and gave me a very simple way to handle the situation. I got through to a competent tech in about one minute; it is so nice to have this kind of support!!

To de-scale, I took the top metal grate off the machine (one Phillips screw). I removed the overpressure valve, which is located on the top of the steam boiler. I needed a 20mm deep socket to get at it from the top. There are three sets of wrench flats on the overpressure valve assembly. I used the top flats and needed to apply almost no torque to remove the valve, as it is screwed into the boiler using teflon tape - there was no danger, at least in the case of my machine, of accidentally dis-assembling the overpressure valve by not using the flats nearest the boiler (which would only have been accessible with an end wrench, which would have required taking the covers off the machine). I siphoned the contents of the boiler, which amounted to a bit over 16 oz. of fluid, using a 1/2" O.D./3/8" I.D. clear, flexible plastic hose. Using a long-neck plastic funnel, I poured in a bit over 3 pints of a 50/50 solution of water and white vinegar, which was near-boiling hot. I let it sit for a half hour. I siphoned and repeated the process two more times. (When I siphoned off the solution the second and third times, I notice a slight blue tinge to the solution, probably indicating that I was down to exposed copper. Presumably the heating element is made of copper - I couldn't see it using this de-scaling method. I don't know what else it would be, since the boiler itself is nickel.) I replaced the overpressure valve, re-applying teflon tape. I turned the machine on and flushed the steam boiler repeatedy until I got out all of the smell and taste.

The noise is gone, and it was a surprisingly easy job. I think that if I ever need to de-scale the brew boiler, it would be similiarly easy. There is what appears to be a plugged access hole right on top of the boiler. I think the procedure would be the same, except I would need a much smaller plastic hose.

I have new sofner elements coming from Chris Coffee. Jason told me that there is a description on their web site of how to re-generated the softner element and save some money. I cannot find it. Anybody here have a procedure for re-generating a softner element, or who can point me to the right part of the Chris Coffee web site?

[bobroseman]

Very useful information. Thanks!

Bob

[Barry]

Bill, why did you opt for vinegar rather than a mixture of citric acid?

Regards and thanks,
Barry

p.s. here is the article on re-charging the softner

http://www.chriscoffee.com/faq

[BillK]

Bill, why did you opt for vinegar rather than a mixture of citric acid?

Regards and thanks,
Barry

p.s. here is the article on re-charging the softner

http://www.chriscoffee.com/faq

I main reason I used vinegar is because I could not find citric acid at a store near me. I spent more time looking for citric acid that it took to do the de-scaling - really. Also, Jason from Chris recommended vinegar.

Thanks for the reference, Barry. The FAQ doesn't say how long it takes for the salt to dissolve. Do you know if it is an hour or two, or an overnight kind of timeframe?

[Barry]

I ran the water at a little more than a trickle for about 3 hours. About half the salt was disolved at that point. I think I paid about $3.00 for 50 pounds of salt. I have 49.7 pounds left. I did the re-charge about 4 months ago. I checked the water last week and it still was showing no signs of hardness so it appears the technique works. I can't imagine it needs to really go any longer than that.

Regards,
Barry

[BillK]

I ran the water at a little more than a trickle for about 3 hours. About half the salt was disolved at that point. I think I paid about $3.00 for 50 pounds of salt. I have 49.7 pounds left. I did the re-charge about 4 months ago. I checked the water last week and it still was showing no signs of hardness so it appears the technique works. I can't imagine it needs to really go any longer than that.

Regards,
Barry

Barry, I did this today. I mostly filled the cannister with water softner salt and put a very slow stream of water through the filter housings for about 5 hours. At the end of this time, most of the salt was dissolved. I re-arranged the softner and carbon filter, and flushed. Then I re-connected the filter system to the espresso machine and did a lot of flushing of both boilers. I still get a high reading on hardness, which I don't understand. Did your hardness go way down immediately?

[Barry]

We don't have particularly hard water here so I suspect the resin in my cartridge was more capable of taking a charge than yours may be. If you have particularly hard water, it may be that the resin in your softner is simply incapable or taking a second charge. You may want to give Chris a call and get his feedback. The process that you followed is essentially the same process a large tank unit utilizes, although those systems are careful to go through the procedure before the resin has completely exhausted its ability to soften the water.

Regards,
Barry

[BillK]

Barry, it actually did work. For whatever reason, the initial hardness reading I took immediately after re-charging the softener and then flushing the boilers indicated hard water. However, after about a day and a half of use I took another reading and the hardness is out of the water. There was some residual hardness someplace in the system, and it is gone. Thanks for the help!

[Barry]

Barry, it actually did work. For whatever reason, the initial hardness reading I took immediately after re-charging the softener and then flushing the boilers indicated hard water. However, after about a day and a half of use I took another reading and the hardness is out of the water. There was some residual hardness someplace in the system, and it is gone. Thanks for the help!

That is great. Now that we have two actual proof statements, we know it really works.

Regards,
Barry

[deeluk]

I've been staring at the FAQ on the ChrisCoffee page but I cannot find the reference softener recharging method. Does anyone else see it? I assume it is in this section of the faq: When do I charge my softener. But I'm just not seeing it. Could someone outline the process for me?

From what I've read here, it sounds like:
- dump some softener salt in the filter
- run a trickle of water through the filter for a few hours
- rinse and you're done

Where can you find softener salt? Big Orange?

[deeluk]

Oops, one other question. Has anyone ever run something like CleanCaf through an S1? I used to do this every once in a while to my old Silvia, but since I have a fancy schmancy softener + filter system in place with the S1 I figured it wasn't necessary. Now, I'm wondering if a once a year descaling might be wise. Just to be sure, you know.

[admin]

Check out this thread:

http://www.s1cafe.com/viewtopic.php?t=2 ... t=recharge

They don't have Big Orange back here. Home Depot or an Ace Hardware store would have it. Unfortunately, you may have to buy at least a 25lb bag. On the plus side it's cheap.

[deeluk]

Thanks so much. Time to make some salty water! Oh and Big Orange == Home Depot. Sorry. Some sort of silly disparaging nickname that gets constantly bandied about around here. Maybe it's not even disparaging. Their color is orange and their stores are big. Who knows.

[Barry]

I've been staring at the FAQ on the ChrisCoffee page but I cannot find the reference softener recharging method. Does anyone else see it? I assume it is in this section of the faq: When do I charge my softener. But I'm just not seeing it. Could someone outline the process for me?

From what I've read here, it sounds like:
- dump some softener salt in the filter
- run a trickle of water through the filter for a few hours
- rinse and you're done

Where can you find softener salt? Big Orange?

While I have used the technique that is described, I have gotten identical results by simply making a brine solution using softener salt and water and simply leaving the resin cartridge in a bath of the solution for several hours turning it occasionally. This is essentially how a commercial water softener works. If you think about the actual process that is taking place between the resin and the salt ions, it does not need to be very elaborate to work. You simply want to make certain that all of the resin is exposed to fully saturated salt water for some period of time.

[chas]

I would have just used the brine method, too, before I read the method that used to be posted on the Chris Coffee FAQ page. I am not sure why they took the detailed explanation off their web site. It seemed like really useful information.

I am lazy, however. Even though I have a bag of salt I've just been buying a new cartridge. My water is not that hard so a charge lasts a long time. If I was depleting a cartridge every month or two, I'd definitely recharge.

The salt is so large and chunky that making a brine is probably a bit of a hassle. Perhaps that was the thought for Chris' option.