# Mara PL62 (not Mara-x) - What volume can people drain using the hot water tap?



## Northern_Monkey (Sep 11, 2018)

Hi,

If you are another Mara PL62 (old one not Mara-x) can I ask a bit of a favour, would you be able to measure how much water you can drain off the boiler using the following steps?

Mine has always flushed out around 350-375ml which appears to be on the low side given the boiler volume. @DavecUK suggested a baseline from other users would be handy.

I think it was like this from day one when I flushed the boiler when setting it up. No problems with the machine and it has been chugging along very nicely for the past two ish years.

Thanks

*Steps:*

1-Check the plastic water tank is full

2-Switch on the machine on, let the element heat up and steam pressure build to about 1.1bar

3-Switch off the machine. Place the measuring container under the hot water tap, open tap fully and let the steam pressure push the water out the tap. Weigh the output in the jug.

4-Close the tap, switch the machine on and let it refill the boiler.


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## MediumRoastSteam (Jul 7, 2015)

That seems very low. The boiler size according to Lelit is 1.5L. My understanding is that those machines usually operate with a boiler 3/4 full, so, you'd expect at least 600ml (Approx half) to come out.

for reference, when I had a dual boiler machine with 2.1L service boiler, I remember draining it a couple of times and defo over 1L came out, if not more.


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## Mark70 (Jan 12, 2020)

Mine will come on at 8 so I will check when warmed up. However I don't think it's much more than the amount you are seeing from previous flushes


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## Northern_Monkey (Sep 11, 2018)

@MediumRoastSteam - Agreed it does seem low, but it was the first HX I had so not sure if it was just a quirk if the model.

@Mark70 - Thanks, that would be fab.


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## MediumRoastSteam (Jul 7, 2015)

Northern_Monkey said:


> @MediumRoastSteam - Agreed it does seem low, but it was the first HX I had so not sure if it was just a quirk if the model.
> 
> @Mark70 - Thanks, that would be fab.


 Just a thought - if you wack the pressure up to the maximum possible, do you get more water out? (I.e.: there'll be more residual pressure left to push more water out).


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## Mark70 (Jan 12, 2020)

@Northern_Monkey 380ml through the hot water wand


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## Northern_Monkey (Sep 11, 2018)

@MediumRoastSteam - That would be handy, but I think the steam pressure is non user adjustable.

@Mark70 - Ta, at least two are the same. It does make flushing out the boiler a tiresome effort though!

Interesting, would be good to find out why it is like that i.e. pipe routing or exit port path.


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## Mark70 (Jan 12, 2020)

Northern_Monkey said:


> @MediumRoastSteam - That would be handy, but I think the steam pressure is non user adjustable.
> 
> @Mark70 - Ta, at least two are the same. It does make flushing out the boiler a tiresome effort though!
> 
> Interesting, would be good to find out why it is like that i.e. pipe routing or exit port path.


 I just flush Once weekly to keep the impurities down. Not got to descaling yet as mine is only 5 months old. I'm going to try a descale next month and see if I need to descale going forward as I am currently running it on Waitrose water That will be when I find out if it's a pain to do


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## Northern_Monkey (Sep 11, 2018)

@Mark70 - Sounds like you won't really need to if you are careful from the start.

@MediumRoastSteam - My fancy three way tap and BWT filter is getting installed on the 24th, so hopefully no more descaling for a long time.... 🤞


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## Mark70 (Jan 12, 2020)

Northern_Monkey said:


> @Mark70 - Sounds like you won't really need to if you are careful from the start.
> 
> @MediumRoastSteam - My fancy three way tap and BWT filter is getting installed on the 24th, so hopefully no more descaling for a long time.... 🤞


 What tap are you fitting? I have installed a Quooker combi which is fantastic and a BWT filter. Just running down my bottled water before switching to the BWT filtered

My water in Yorkshire had a hardness of 22ish and in day 1 the BWT filter reduced it to 3. BWT estimated a life for the cartridge of 800 litres At 400 litres it was 5. Life got in the way and I have now used 1200 litres and the hardness has increased to 13. Still doing a good job. I have a 2XL filter ready to fit when I have a minute but as I'm not using it for the Mara yet a few more days won't hurt


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## Northern_Monkey (Sep 11, 2018)

One of these, got it cheaper though as didn't need the filter or meter kit.

Complication is we have gravity fed hot and mains cold, plumber confirmed the HW exceeds the 0.5 bar needed. Saves drilling an extra hole though.


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## El carajillo (Mar 16, 2013)

What is the relevance of the hot water pressure being over 0.5 bar. Are you not going to filter the water ?


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## Northern_Monkey (Sep 11, 2018)

@El carajillo - Tap minimum pressure is stated as 0.5bar, plumber said that is over cautious by the manufacturer though.


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## El carajillo (Mar 16, 2013)

Presumably you already have filter fitted? ( not needing filter and meter) Are you just exchanging the tap to have a separate filter supply to reduce the amount of filtered water usage ?


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## Doram (Oct 12, 2012)

Does anyone know of a 3-way tap that also has a pull out spout? Only one I could find is part of a Grohe kit, but although it's made by BWT and is the same as Bestmax, the thread of the head is different from BWT and incompatible with standard BWT cartridges: 
https://www.plumbingforless.co.uk/?i=1683370&&gclid=CjwKCAjwrvv3BRAJEiwAhwOdMy6Q0UKFN4XF54btVq3CMjre466IPewQQi_1nl_xFYm_hUmmlr8Y_BoCCe0QAvD_BwE

BWT has it's own kit with a 3 way tap - much cheaper, but it doesn't have the pull out spout and filter exchange timer:
https://www.screwfix.com/p/bwt-3-way-deck-mounted-filter-tap-chrome/3900x


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## MediumRoastSteam (Jul 7, 2015)

El carajillo said:


> What is the relevance of the hot water pressure being over 0.5 bar. Are you not going to filter the water ?


 On a gravity fed system, the water flow will be sub standard. I caught me once on a bath tap.


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## DavecUK (Aug 6, 2013)

Pretty sure the pipe pokes up inside the tank like in a fuel tank to prevent crud clogging the valve/pipework. I think they may have increased the distance it goes into the boiler since I tested it 3 years ago..

Just have to make sure you don't get it scaled up...and if you do it's more flushing to get it out. More like a machine with a horizontal boiler....where it's also difficult top get the descaler out with flushing.


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## 17845 (Jan 10, 2018)

@Northern_Monkey,

Did it 3 times 325, 350 & 300 mate,

I have never done that before so I wasn't sure what to expect, pure clean water with no scale or sediment.

Is that what should come out ?


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## El carajillo (Mar 16, 2013)

MediumRoastSteam said:


> On a gravity fed system, the water flow will be sub standard. I caught me once on a bath tap.


 I fully understand that, he seemed to be linking the flow with the machine which made me wonder.

Having read a later post I see the tap has its own filter built in ?? hence not needing the filter & meter.

Am I understanding correctly ?


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## Northern_Monkey (Sep 11, 2018)

@El carajillo - Sorry, I should have been clearer. Going to take a pic after it is plumbed in, will just connect to the hot and tee fitting for the mains/filter feeds.

The three way tap normally is bundled with a separate tiny "ever clear" filter unit/head and cheapo meter. Just a standard under sink in line filter to the third little lever on the front of it.

I bought a separate BWT filter head unit and a larger V sized bestmax filter with fittings to get ~800 litres at my water hardness.

No filter in the tap itself, the only fancy bit is the hollow stainless deck fixing bolt used for the filtered supply which takes a push fit fitting on the end.


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## Northern_Monkey (Sep 11, 2018)

@hubcap - That is fine, should be nice and clear if you are taking care of your water properly. Makes sense to drain some off once in a while though as if you use the steam it can keep on increasing the relative concentration in it.


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