Originally Posted by
Trsnrtr
WhyFi I finally got all of the parts and the nerve to disassemble my espresso machine and lo and behold, the three way solenoid was plugged. The boiler had way more scale in it than I would have imagined in 9 weeks.
I'm going to start using bottled water. I keep my machine in my work room in the basement and have been using water from the bathroom sink. I'm thinking the plumbing isn't hooked up the soft water and I can't check because my lines all under plaster ceilings though I guess that i could have the water checked for hardness.
Anyway, machine functions fine, now.
Wow - surprising. Like I said, I've descaled once or twice and I've only ever used tap, but it's always gone through one of those filter pitchers, a Brita or the like (I can't imagine that those are too effective in terms of reducing mineral content), and we've lived in cities with proud water facilities.
If you do go to bottled water, be aware that some machines don't like deionized water. IIRC, I think that it's usually the fill sensor that needs to see some conductivity or it'll think that the boiler is empty and keep cycling the pump.