Thanks for the response MrJack; it is appreciated.
I will say on the toluene issue, I read his caution, shuddered and decided, child or not, I ain't having any stuff like that anywhere I might contact it.
I have tried his idea about removing the wand before the steam has finished - I was doing it anyway after my barista course but I tried removing it earlier. The only way I could get a splash of milk was doing it almost as soon as I dialled down the steam and doing it slowly. If I followed the line as he mentioned AND did it smoothly and quickly, the most I got was a few larger bubbles in the surface.
I didn't get from his posts that you are meant to remove the wand at full pressure - he says 'as soon as the sound of the steam pressure drops in pitch remove the wand along the line in the jug' and that the goal is to have the steam pressure drop to zero just after the nozzle leaves the milk. To me that is clearly a timing process designed to be a safe way to remove the wand without risking milk up the tip.
Also, the milk entering the wand is not an either/or issue. The temp of the wand can easily be enough to dry almost boiling milk in the milliseconds after the steam ceases. With no steam pressure forcing the milk to stay outside the nozzle I have little difficulty in understanding the milk might enter the tip - whether it is 'sucked' in or not I haven't worked out as I don't know enough about how the pump works. i.e. if the pump is merely pushing water into the thermoblock, I don't know what effect stopping the pump has - does it maintain a partial pressure or does it create a semi-vacuum when it stops? The first would mean there is unlikely to be much of a 'suck' effect, the 2nd implies there would be.
I am puzzled about the purge issue you mention for a small amount of milk - to me purge is what you do after the texturing but TampIt only mentions the flush of water at the start of the steaming process - is it that to which you refer?
I take what TampIt says as at least indicative of what happens because of my experience with my steam - SOMETHING was blocking my steam system and it burst clear after I left the cleaning solution steaming through it for about 15 minutes. That 'something' left dirty brown water in the bottom of the container I was steaming into and had a smell like burned custard - if it wasn't milk burned to the inside of the wand I don't know what else it could be. The system has had only pure water through it for at least 9 months.
The sound of the pump didn't change so to me that says the blockage was either IN the thermoblock or on the wand side of it. My logic might be incorrect but if it had been a blockage on the pump side of things I would expect the pump sound to have changed and it didn't.
He also advocated a tamping method I have been trying. For me it has evened out the results I have been getting from my grinder. I was finding the same setting (& as best I could, same tamp pressure) would give me one coffee just above the green on my pressure dial (& a slower pour to get my 60ml) and the next would be in the lower section of the yellow. (& a faster pour to get 60ml - i.e. the pressure gauge is behaving correctly)
By following TampIt's method I now get consistent results (and no leaks from the showerscreen at all) and my coffee is improved.
So, from my PoV, from actual results, I have to agree with what he says. He might be slightly nutso to even consider toluene (but we don't know where he used it - perhaps in a well-ventilated shed?) and he didn't actually say bicarb would deal with it, just suggested lactic acid might be neutralised by it. I don't know if what is in the wand would be lactose or lactic acid so can't comment on that and with my steam working as strongly and quickly as it now does I have no need to try it.
I think with the hydrofluoric acid comment he was pointing out the volatility of fluoride, not saying the acid is in tap water - but I am a dedicated opponent of fluoride in water at all so it was a comment I probably nodded along with and moved on. I think it was over in the My New Machine thread. Fluoride IS corrosive in almost any form - it causes many of the symptoms we are told it is being put in the water to cure and in many of its forms is a known carcinogen. Maybe it is my prejudice but I don't have many issues with thinking of fluoride as a causative agent in corrosion.
So I will give you that and the toluene comment, but the rest seems OK as far as I can tell by trying it or by my experiences with the machine.
I will say on the toluene issue, I read his caution, shuddered and decided, child or not, I ain't having any stuff like that anywhere I might contact it.

I have tried his idea about removing the wand before the steam has finished - I was doing it anyway after my barista course but I tried removing it earlier. The only way I could get a splash of milk was doing it almost as soon as I dialled down the steam and doing it slowly. If I followed the line as he mentioned AND did it smoothly and quickly, the most I got was a few larger bubbles in the surface.
I didn't get from his posts that you are meant to remove the wand at full pressure - he says 'as soon as the sound of the steam pressure drops in pitch remove the wand along the line in the jug' and that the goal is to have the steam pressure drop to zero just after the nozzle leaves the milk. To me that is clearly a timing process designed to be a safe way to remove the wand without risking milk up the tip.
Also, the milk entering the wand is not an either/or issue. The temp of the wand can easily be enough to dry almost boiling milk in the milliseconds after the steam ceases. With no steam pressure forcing the milk to stay outside the nozzle I have little difficulty in understanding the milk might enter the tip - whether it is 'sucked' in or not I haven't worked out as I don't know enough about how the pump works. i.e. if the pump is merely pushing water into the thermoblock, I don't know what effect stopping the pump has - does it maintain a partial pressure or does it create a semi-vacuum when it stops? The first would mean there is unlikely to be much of a 'suck' effect, the 2nd implies there would be.
I am puzzled about the purge issue you mention for a small amount of milk - to me purge is what you do after the texturing but TampIt only mentions the flush of water at the start of the steaming process - is it that to which you refer?
I take what TampIt says as at least indicative of what happens because of my experience with my steam - SOMETHING was blocking my steam system and it burst clear after I left the cleaning solution steaming through it for about 15 minutes. That 'something' left dirty brown water in the bottom of the container I was steaming into and had a smell like burned custard - if it wasn't milk burned to the inside of the wand I don't know what else it could be. The system has had only pure water through it for at least 9 months.
The sound of the pump didn't change so to me that says the blockage was either IN the thermoblock or on the wand side of it. My logic might be incorrect but if it had been a blockage on the pump side of things I would expect the pump sound to have changed and it didn't.
He also advocated a tamping method I have been trying. For me it has evened out the results I have been getting from my grinder. I was finding the same setting (& as best I could, same tamp pressure) would give me one coffee just above the green on my pressure dial (& a slower pour to get my 60ml) and the next would be in the lower section of the yellow. (& a faster pour to get 60ml - i.e. the pressure gauge is behaving correctly)
By following TampIt's method I now get consistent results (and no leaks from the showerscreen at all) and my coffee is improved.
So, from my PoV, from actual results, I have to agree with what he says. He might be slightly nutso to even consider toluene (but we don't know where he used it - perhaps in a well-ventilated shed?) and he didn't actually say bicarb would deal with it, just suggested lactic acid might be neutralised by it. I don't know if what is in the wand would be lactose or lactic acid so can't comment on that and with my steam working as strongly and quickly as it now does I have no need to try it.
I think with the hydrofluoric acid comment he was pointing out the volatility of fluoride, not saying the acid is in tap water - but I am a dedicated opponent of fluoride in water at all so it was a comment I probably nodded along with and moved on. I think it was over in the My New Machine thread. Fluoride IS corrosive in almost any form - it causes many of the symptoms we are told it is being put in the water to cure and in many of its forms is a known carcinogen. Maybe it is my prejudice but I don't have many issues with thinking of fluoride as a causative agent in corrosion.
So I will give you that and the toluene comment, but the rest seems OK as far as I can tell by trying it or by my experiences with the machine.



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