# Contaminated



## grumpydaddy (Oct 20, 2014)

Lets go with the thought that the butter incident contaminated the whole system. Somehow there is a mild tint to the taste just now

I would like to think that this will not require a full strip down rather just pushing a large amount of "water" through but....

Any thoughts about what to put in the water?

Clearly if it has to be stripped I will but I would prefer to try alternates first.

Soaps ?

Alcohol solutions ?

Other ?


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## Glenn (Jun 14, 2008)

Are you talking about the steam boiler or espresso boiler?

What machine?


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## grumpydaddy (Oct 20, 2014)

It is an L1

I guess some got in the tank and the machine before I remembered an removed the tank


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## MildredM (Feb 13, 2017)

Yuck! Silly question but have you drained the system . . . then refiled, a couple of times?


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## grumpydaddy (Oct 20, 2014)

Drained via water wand so far. Thinking that I may use a low suds dishwasher liquid for a couple of cycles then dump via pipework while hot followed by refill twice with clean water and flush again while hot


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## Stanic (Dec 12, 2015)

Omg a real bummer


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## espressotechno (Apr 11, 2011)

Try a solution of Sodium Bicarbonate (Bicarb of Soda in the cookery section in a shop).


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## grumpydaddy (Oct 20, 2014)

It occurred to me in another thread that I had not updated this

I got a hint from Frank that the best person to talk to was garydyke who came up with the following:

I could suggest completely filling the boiler with a Sodium Percarbonate solution (3 tbl spoons per litre) but the water needs to be 50-60 celsius and held inside for 30-45mins. It would 100% remove any organic material .

So you then need to follow up with a couple of plain hot water rinses and a final fill and drain with a starsan (as per bottle dilution rate) or citric acid solution , before one final cold water rinse .

So in summary :

1. sodium percarbonate solution for 45 mins (destroy organics and sterilise)

2. hot water to remove sodium percarb solution

3. starsan or citric acid solution (to remove all trace of per carbonate and to sanitise)

4. cold water to remove all traces of starsan

This all sounded like a pretty scientific approach so I ordered the gear

The reservoir is made of Nylon so no issues with chemicals or heat I proceeded to 3/4 fill it with the percarbonate solution @ 80° then switched the machine on to fill the boiler

Points to note: This stuff foams a lot..... You will need towels.

Disconnected the boiler level wire to fill boiler to top then leave for 45 mins. with machine off for first 30mins

Initial drain through group (cleared a bunch of coloured water) and steam wand finishing up with hot water outlet and machine tilted

Repeated

Flush with cold water added to tank and drained as above

Flush with Star San and cold water using same method

Another cold water flush

Done

The end result was exactly what I was hoping for. It took a couple or three hours start to finish

Now I really must get around to putting the panels back on soon


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## MildredM (Feb 13, 2017)

Phew! What a relief. I had thought about about this a few times but hardly dared ask the outcome. I'm so glad you've sorted it (and the info could be useful for others in future).


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## Snakehips (Jun 2, 2015)

A bit of a rigmarole but really pleased you are sorted and 10/10 for garydyke.


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