# Descaling the Silvia



## Slee

Hi all time again to descale my silvia but I've heard conflicting ways of doing it.

I found an article to do 3rd each time and wait 20 mins each time but is this long enough

How do you guys descale?

Thanks


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## Daren

I followed this guide when I had the Silvia >






Time consuming but essential.


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## Wando64

Slee said:


> Hi all time again to descale my silvia but I've heard conflicting ways of doing it.
> 
> I found an article to do 3rd each time and wait 20 mins each time but is this long enough
> 
> How do you guys descale?
> 
> Thanks


Whether it is long enough will depend on how much limescale you need to get rid of and also on the strength of the descaling solution.

IMO with a Silvia you need to use a fairly strong solution as you will not be able to fully empty the boiler so it will always be diluted with some water. Also with a brass boiler there is no risk of corrosion, (a problem with Gaggia alluminium boilers).

Also essential is to empty the boiler as much as possible before loading it with the descaling solution. I do this by going to steam temp and using the steamer.

Apologies if any of this was covered by the video posted by Daren, but I am writing this from a cafe and I could not watch it.


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## Slee

Thanks all,

I bought some puly descaling powder sachets, hopefully they will be ok.

I will see how it goes. Do you normally see any improvement?


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## Daren

Unless its badly scaled up then you shouldn't notice any difference. Its really a preventative measure regularly de-scaling

Are you having any problems with it?


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## Olliehulla

I descale ever 2-3 months depending on how lazy I'm feeling. 2 months just go with a weaker solution (25g citric acid) or if 3 months have passed, double that.

Keeps on top of things and the difference is only really noticeable on the steam side anyway. Freshly descaled gives it a bit more oomph.


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## JohnPrime

Just in case you want a bit of encouragement, here's how a neglected boiler might end up


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## MrMal

Probably a dumb question but do I still need to descale if I'm using water only from a Brita filter?!


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## Olliehulla

A weak solution, one table spoon of citric acid crystals in a full reservoir every 3 months should be sufficient if filtered water is being used. Run the solution into the boiler and leave for a few hours, machine off, flush and repeat until all run through. It's what I do as I use Brita filtered too.


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## MrMal

Great thanks


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## Adder

I have had my Sylvia since 2015. Other than back flushing and clean the shower basket I have never descaled my machine. I leave the Sylvia switched on from about 7am to about 4pm every weekday 9 hours a day. I use that steaming wand to make lattes about three or four time a Day and then just switch the temp back to Pull shot temp. I don't even purge the boiler to make sure the boiler is full of water not steam. bad eh?

It struck me that.... mmmm maybe I should do a "descale" (im getting old..) surfing the web and youtube I rapidly realised that i might have a boiler absolutely full of scale after 5 years of neglect. looks like I should be descaling every few months or so.

So , I opened it up and removed the boiler expecting to see an absolute nightmare!.. this pic shows what I found. I seriously thought it would be scaled beyond belief. That element looks brand new!!! all I can attribute this pristine looking boiler to is using bottled water exclusively. I live in maryland US and the water is not exactly soft here.

So my two cents? Use bottled water!


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## Doram

Adder said:


> So my two cents? Use bottled water!


 Maybe you can share the label of the water you are using (with the part showing the composition)? It could be useful to know, as bottled water could be many different things. Your boiler looks fab BTW. 🙂


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## Jasetaylor

Adder said:


> So my two cents? Use bottled water!


 Thanks for the feedback, that's encouraging to see.


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## Adder

Doram said:


> Maybe you can share the label of the water you are using (with the part showing the composition)? It could be useful to know, as bottled water could be many different things. Your boiler looks fab BTW. 🙂


 Thanks! It's just regular spring water. Don't see any composition info. This is what I'm using this week. Sometimes it's just purified water from Desani, or Aquafina. Or even Joes no name brand , as long as it's bottled. The ONLY time I have used tap water is to back flush and to set the bar pressure valve. That's it.


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## Doram

Adder said:


> Thanks! It's just regular spring water.


 I also thought that bottled water is all the same, until I started reading about it. Some bottled water is super soft, and others can be very hard. Some have perfect composition for coffee and others completely off. In the UK the composition is on the label, but I guess this isn't the case in the US. But hey, it works, so great for you! 🙂


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## Adder

Doram said:


> I also thought that bottled water is all the same, until I started reading about it.


 Doram.. so now you got me thinking. 
maybe I need to find out what I'm using, to ensure consistent good coffee taste. The boiler scaling is sorted using bottle water , so I found this. The Deer park seems ok looking at TDS. Yes?


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## Doram

Adder said:


> The Deer park seems ok looking at TDS. Yes?


 Oh, I wish it was that simple... 🙂 Water is a minefield, and I am far far from being any expert. I think there are people here who really know their stuff, but unfortunately I am not one of them.

Yes, I think TDS of 90 is considered okay for scaling, but there is much more to it. There is Calcium and Magnesium, and there is Bicarbonate, and dry residue. (which if too high causes scaling)... There needs to be a total number, for TDS but you need some minerals, and the balance between them is also important. And then there is the PH, with your Deer Park being slightly alkaline at 8.05 (ideal is neutral at 7).
One thing is to make sure your water doesn't scale in the machine, and this you seemed to have under check. Then the water needs to have enough minerals (and the right ones...) to enable the best extraction and taste of the coffee. I myself don't know much about it, so for now I use Tesco Ashbeck water, which isn't ideal as far as I understand, but has low dry residue of 85mg, which I think should not scale too much. You can see the info that comes on the bottles in the UK if you scroll down this page: https://www.tesco.com/groceries/en-GB/products/258016892

One last tip about descaling Silvia (you probably don't need it, but others may do): when you have scale in the machine, the steam tap will not torn smoothly as it does without scale. So if you start to feel some resistance when turning the tap, you probably need to descale (and when you do it - the tap will turn smoothly again).


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