How often do you refresh your boiler water?

DrD

Hi everyone, I am interested to know how often, or if ever, people refresh the water in their boilers?

A bit of a background story to why I ask ... I have a Rancilio S24 at work that helps keep me awake, along with a number of workmates. Everything was going along swimmingly until a new guy turned up who wanted to be served long blacks. I got quite a surprise when I emptied some hot water from the machine into a cup; it had quite a tinge to it and didn't look that appealing to use. After reading the manual (yeah, I know ... but I had to find one first, it's an old machine ...), I noted that it recommended draining the boiler on a weekly basis via the hot water dispenser, I presume to keep things "fresh". After repeating this process once or twice, and sticking to a regular weekly boiler drain thereafter, the hot water looks very clear and I feel far more confident looking after the long black drinkers.

The S24 has a fairly large boiler (3.9 L), so perhaps there is a tendency for it to get stale more readily than smaller boiler units? I use a Giotto at home (1.8 L boiler); don't recall reading any recommendation to replenish the boiler water from its manual.

Be interested in any feedback. Thanks, Dan.

GeekKopi

Hi mate. I use the hot water outlet on my VBM on a daily basis but not for long blacks. I use it to warm my cups before pulling shots and at the end of the shot to prompt the machine suck in some new water in the boiler. That way I keep circulating water in the boiler on a daily basis - this also helps dilute scale causing compounds in the water. Yes I fill my tank more often but it's a small price to pay.

Brett_H

GeekKopi wrote:

Hi mate. I use the hot water outlet on my VBM on a daily basis but not for long blacks. I use it to warm my cups before pulling shots and at the end of the shot to prompt the machine suck in some new water in the boiler. That way I keep circulating water in the boiler on a daily basis - this also helps dilute scale causing compounds in the water. Yes if fill my tank more often but it's a small price to pay.

Snap... Me too! I only take a coup a day from the boiler (mine is a dual boiler) but I do it for freshness and to lessen the inevitable scale build-up.

DrD

Thanks GeekKopi and Brett. I too use the hot water on my home machine to warm cups. I also got into the habit of running a bit extra through the tap before I turn the machine off for the day, so that the boiler would be primed - that way it doesn't activate the pump first thing in the morning when some of us are still trying to sleep!

Brett_H

Does that work? i must try it..... Cheers!

DrD

I just run ~ one third of a cup out of the hot water tap, the pump then adds water to the boiler, and I turn the machine off. I have it on a timer system so that it starts before I stumble out of bed in the morning, and this usually avoids a boiler refill when the timer fires up the machine ... and waking the kids a little earlier than I would like 🙂