New ECM Technika IV profi experience

[Yelta]

Great advice Yelta.
Cheers
JT

Well done Andy/JT.

[Yelta]

A useful thread guys, thanks.

For someone who has had a technika IV for just over 3 months this made for a great read.

I have gotten a regular maintenance routine going thanks to this thread, backflushing every fortnight or so but am planning for the day I will need to go and do the group head seals. Does anyone know the exact sizing? Looking at a few websites it looks like they come in a few sizes. I'd like to have a stock of a some on hand so the machine isnt out of action at any point. Are there any other spares that are good to have on hand while I am at it ?

Also considering doing some minor upgrades as well...shower screen...naked portafilter handle...new basket

If this has already been discussed, please feel free to send links to the thread my way.

cheers,
andy

Welcome to Coffee Snobs Andy.

Most subjects get revisited regularly, try the search feature at the top right of the page, I just typed in Technika and got heaps of hits.

[tammma]

A useful thread guys, thanks.

For someone who has had a technika IV for just over 3 months this made for a great read.

I have gotten a regular maintenance routine going thanks to this thread, backflushing every fortnight or so but am planning for the day I will need to go and do the group head seals. Does anyone know the exact sizing? Looking at a few websites it looks like they come in a few sizes. I'd like to have a stock of a some on hand so the machine isnt out of action at any point. Are there any other spares that are good to have on hand while I am at it ?

Also considering doing some minor upgrades as well...shower screen...naked portafilter handle...new basket

If this has already been discussed, please feel free to send links to the thread my way.

cheers,
andy

[MediumRoastSteam]

Very interesting this. For what is worth, here in sunny GB, the consensus on the coffee forums dot co dot uk here is to use bottled soft water.

In the UK there are only 3 main brands of water which will not scale up your machine, one of them being Volvic. Contrary to popular belief, a lot of bottled water is very hard an high in minerals.

There has been tests done and, on a hard water area, a Britta filter will lose its effectiveness pretty quickly, sometimes as fast as 3 weeks.

I personally use bottled water which I know it is soft (you can look into the water composition and work out), but as a general rule of thumb you want something below 110 TDS. However, ironically a tasty espresso needs water which is rich in minerals, so one technically goes against the other.

I've checked my mushroom not too long ago and all is good (1 year or so from new). One member in the UK forum has been using Volvic for 2 years and the machine has no signs of scaling up.

One forum member descaled his Rocket machine and the mushroom showed signs of corrosion.

For me, when the time comes for descaling, I think I'll take the machine to be serviced at the authorised dealer and they can take care of that as they know what they are doing more than I do. :-)

Some reading material on the matter:

http://users.rcn.com/erics/Water%20Q...ater%20FAQ.pdf

http://londiniumcoffee.blogspot.co.u...o-machine.html

[Yelta]

Thanks for all of your replies. Appreciate it.

I have been using bottled water since Day 1. Although I have never checked the hardness of my water, I am quite sure that it should fall under the "soft" category.

I will try to check the mushroom. When doing so, what should I look for? I have been searching for a tutorial video on YouTube without any luck so far (found one but it was not really great).

Thanks.

This is what you don't want to see.

After descale.

[kopiku]

Thanks for all of your replies. Appreciate it.

I have been using bottled water since Day 1. Although I have never checked the hardness of my water, I am quite sure that it should fall under the "soft" category.

I will try to check the mushroom. When doing so, what should I look for? I have been searching for a tutorial video on YouTube without any luck so far (found one but it was not really great).

Thanks.

[Caps]

I discussed this with the Australian importer of ECM machines just last week when i had to replace a leaking boiler element seal, my ECM Technika Profi is about 3.5 years old.

Firstly and most importantly - exactly what trentski said, what is your water like?

I was descaling mine about every 6 months, not because I had any problems just because I thought it was the right thing to do. I have soft water to start with and I also use a filter/softner. The descaling solution had degraded the seal causing a leak. There is also something in the descaling solution which is not good for your SS boiler. He also mentioned it has a bad effect on the some of the other parts in the group head.

So my new cleaning routine now as suggested by the importer is (providing you are using soft filtered water) is to back flush with water once a day, back flush with cleaning solution once a month (but this would depend on how many coffees you make daily/weekly - I also clean the showerscreen reguarly) and descale every 2 years - but again as trentski said, I will be checking the mushroom every 6 months for scale, and when i do that I will also be checking the boiler water level probe.

[trentski]

That doesnt sound like two different opinions.

Tell us about your water.

You can always pull the mushroom and check for scale. Descaling an hx isnt for the faint hearted

[kopiku]

Hi,

It has been a while since my last post. For all ECM users out there, do you regularly descale your HX machine? I read two conflicting opinions. First says that you don't need to descale an HX machine as long as you are using good water filter, resulting in a soft water. The other opinion says otherwise. You need to descale regularly. The manual books suggests that you should regularly descale your ECM machine.

I've been using my ECM for almost a year now and I've never descaled mine. Any thoughts?

[kopiku]

Thanks, Yelta and Readreal. I'll keep the boiler full, and refresh the water before using it again.

Very helpful discussion.

[Yelta]

For a couple of weeks its probably a case of 6 of one or half a dozen of the other Al, had not thought about the tank being stainless.

On the other hand we are told to keep diesel fuel tanks topped up during long periods of idle time, reduces the volume of air on top of the fuel resulting in less (not eliminates) condensation and possible corrosion, although I suspect this is also because water causes big problems with diesel fuel pumps.

[readeral]

Well yes and no. It's not like your boiler is full to the top with water, so there is exposed boiler full or otherwise. But I agree with your thoughts, and I guess at worst it makes no difference, and at best it will reduce the likelihood of corrosion.

Long term, they do suggest emptying the boiler, so there is SOME merit in emptying it, even at a short length. JetBlack when I emailed them last summer suggested it'd be fine to leave water in for a week or two, but to drain if going into storage for 6 weeks.

The other thing to keep in mind is that this is a stainless steel boiler. I haven't a clue if it makes a difference, but I'm sure that's something for someone more educated than I to advise about.

So - maybe I change my tune: I'd follow after Yelta's advice, keep it full and change the water on return - but if you're away for more than two weeks, to follow the manufacturers advice and to empty it.

[Yelta]

Hi,

I have question that I hope you guys can help. I'll be away for about two weeks, and my ECM will not be used during that period. Do you think that I need to empty the boiler? Thanks.

I'd be inclined to leave it full, even if you drain the boiler there will still be some residual water/dampness, this will cause more problems than the boiler remaining full.

If your concerned about water freshness run a tank full of fresh water through it on your return.

We frequently go away for extended periods and don't drain the boiler, never a problem.

Think about drowned electronics and cameras, on retrieval the first thing you do is wash it down then immerse it in fresh water to exclude oxygen then get the object to a repairer, moisture will result in faster corrosion than total immersion.

Hope that helps.

[kopiku]

Thanks! Will empty the boiler then. :thumbup:

[readeral]

I don't know that it'd matter too much for two weeks in terms of protecting it, but you might as well empty it anyway just so you don't have stale steam/hot water when you return. Talk_Coffee always mentions using a bit of your boiler water each day to refresh it, so it'd probably be worth emptying it. I empty it every time I take my machine somewhere.