Expobar Pulser descaling

[jcoda95]

I am about to descale my Expobar Pulser. I am using Dugol Swiss Espresso for the descaling/cleaner. I've been advised to remove the boiler to descale this machine as its an HX unit. Is this necessary? Can I descale this machine without removing the boiler? And can anybody recommend a food safe high temp epoxy for reassembly? Thanks, Jcoda95

 

[CCafe]

How long have you had the unit? Depending on usage you may not even need to descale right now. From what I can see it has a standard vertical copper boiler and removal would be pretty easy. As for cleaning Durgol is okay, I would use citric acid instead as it does a better job and faster. Only bad thing about citric acid is you need it to be hot. The hotter it is the better it works.

http://www.freshwatersystems.com/p-1955 ... ckage.aspx

As for boiler removal you can do that. The other ways is if the machine is plumbed in is to take the water off and insert it in to the acid. Depending on how strong your pump is you can suck it up pretty quickly. Bad part about this is the acid can wreck a pump. Honestly I would tear the whole machine down and throw it all in a 5 gallon bucket, mix up the acid in the same bucket and let it all go to town. Reassembly is easy for the most part you won't even need any Teflon tape. Most of your fittings are tapered and are pressure fitted to the machine.

If there is small leak try snugging it down a little tighter.

If you do descale by adding acid to the whole system please be advised that any acid that comes in contact with the body will stain it instantly. When it dries it will look just like the water spots on your dishes after they dry.

 

[jcoda95]

I've had the machine for two years and have not had to descale it. The reason I thought it was necessary is the flow out of the PF has slowed and I've had to adjust the grind a bit more coarse and barely tamp. Needless to say the crema has disappeared and it takes 35 seconds to get 2.5 ml. The pump works fine and the group head is clean. I've checked out the filter on the outboard side of the pump and it was clear. Not sure where else to go but descale. Any thoughts or comments on why the flow would diminish? Thanks, Jcoda

 

[shadow745]

Try this...... with the machine ON and warmed up a bit remove the portafilter, hold a cup under the group and run the pump for 10 seconds. You should be getting something like 3-4 oz. of water from the group every 10 seconds. If this checks out OK, but the flow is still really slow like you've mentioned while pulling shots there could be something internally like a pump issue, the 3-way not closing properly due to clogging and letting water divert in another direction, etc..... Later!

 

[jcoda95]

I went ahead and did the descale. I used the Durgol and it worked great. I ran it into the Boiler and let it sit for 30 minutes. Flushed it through the group head. Ran the solution back in again and flushed it through the hot water outlet. Drained the boiler using the hole at the top of the boiler where the pressure valve threads in. I fed a silicone tube in and drained it three times refilling with clean water each time. Than I ran two tanks of fresh water through the system and flushed through the group head and than the hot water outlet. The water is crystal clear. I did measure the time it took to get 2.5 ml through the group head with the screen off and it took 10 seconds for 2.5 ml. So the flow is good and after resetting the grind settings the first shot was pretty damn close with good crema. I'll dial it in a bit more tomorrow. Many thanks for the comments. J