Gah! dropped cotton bud into steam boiler on BES 900 after successful descale!

[latte1978 Member Find all posts View Profile Close latte1978]

I now have the machine upside down hoping to dry out the steam boiler in hopes that the cotton bud will dry out and fall back down towards the (inverted) access holes. I could cry!! Any advice/suggestions?

[amberale Proud & Upstanding Member Find all posts View Profile Close amberale]

Buy a tiny triple fish hook from a fishing store and attach it to an old guitar string or other piece of wire.

[latte1978 Member Find all posts View Profile Close latte1978]

Buy a tiny triple fish hook from a fishing store and attach it to an old guitar string or other piece of wire.

i was thinking of wire - and I have an old guitar string - I'll try it!

[Jackster Pox doctors clerk Find all posts View Profile Close Jackster]

Do they float? Fill boiler and empty into sink, hopefully bud will wash out.
Keep it inverted and run a small hose into boiler, rinse and maybe will wash bud out

[latte1978 Member Find all posts View Profile Close latte1978]

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Keep it inverted and run a small hose into boiler, rinse and maybe will wash bud out

Already tried floating it out - great idea about inversion and washout - will try that too! Have ordered an led probe camera that has a small enough diameter to fit in - should help if necessary (surprisingly only $15)

[DownerDaniel Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close DownerDaniel]

Already tried floating it out - great idea about inversion and washout - will try that too! Have ordered an led probe camera that has a small enough diameter to fit in - should help if necessary (surprisingly only $15)

Were you able to get it out?

[lastlineofdefence Member Find all posts View Profile Close lastlineofdefence]

Have a search for small or micro retrieval tools.
You can buy these to pick up small screws and the like. But it might suit your need. How big is the hole?

[Xanthine Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Xanthine]

Another idea - you may be able to suck it up with a piece of clear pvc tubing attached to a vacuum cleaner hose. It should be able to hold onto it if it gets close enough. Just make sure there is no water left in the boiler first or it may not improve the vacuum cleaner!

[latte1978 Member Find all posts View Profile Close latte1978]

Thanks all for your input here I ended up spending $13 on ebay to get a 5.5mm probe camera, hooked it up to my laptop, located the little bugger and used two bent fire sparkler ends to nab it and pull it out. Phew!

Put it all back together and it's worked for the last month but every so often it would have the same problem that our friends' did a few years ago - heats only to approx 70 degrees. I have reverted back to the EM6910 for a bit as I'm busy at work for the next few weeks and I don't want to take it apart again. When I took our friends' machine apart - all I did was prime the piping again, but if that doesn't work on ours? Any ideas? I'm about to go through the old threads as I'm sure another CS would have something on this! Is this the steam pump or the water pump? Does the machine even have both??!!

[Jackster Pox doctors clerk Find all posts View Profile Close Jackster]

Maybe vacuum breaker is sticking, giving false boiler pressure so turning pressurestat off too early

[latte1978 Member Find all posts View Profile Close latte1978]

Maybe vacuum breaker is sticking, giving false boiler pressure so turning pressurestat off too early

I think you are right. For anyone interested, all I did was remove the water container and drip tray etc and invert the machine. I could hear bubbles in the pipes or something, and then righted the machine and it's all good again - bit of a tip there if you are having the same problem