# Delonghi Icona Cheese Maker!



## Shorty73 (Jun 16, 2013)

After a recent trip to Italy and years of using a Moka and Cafetiere to make coffee we decided to look for an Espresso maker.

My Father in Law mentioned that he had one that "was meant to be good but didn't work and tasted awful". It was mine if I wanted it.

When I looked at it, it was a brand new Delonghi Icona which looked ok. I got it home and decided I'd follow the cleaning process before trying to make a shot. Glad I did!

The machine heated up and the green (ready) light came on. I pressed the coffee button and the machine tried to shake itself apart!! It then "coughed" and the water tank filled with an off white substance. For some reason I decided to use my nose to investigate......

The smell was rancid. Goats cheese left to go off in the sun is too nice a description. It came out of the filter. It came out of the steam nozzle. I ran 20 tanks of water through it before the water became clear. The next day I used citric acid to try to remove any residue and this was fairly successful but there is still a very slight sour milk smell if water is drawn through. I have braved a shot or three and to be honest can't notice it but my subconscious knows (nose) it's there.

Sorry for the long story but does anybody know of how to remove this milkyness for good? Would the Delonghi milk cleaning fluid be suitable?

Many thanks in advance!


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## urbanbumpkin (Jan 30, 2013)

What had be done to it? Filled the water tank with milk?


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## Shorty73 (Jun 16, 2013)

That's what I first suspected. I thought they may have thought that's how you'd make a cappuccino or latte! On some pretty tough questioning they were adamant that they hadn't done such a stupid thing!! I had my doubts









on scouring the Internet apparently milk can sometimes be "ingested" by the cappuccino frother and this can happen even very expensive machines.

However it's not the fact it got milk in it that I need solving but any ideas of how to get the residue out?


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## aaronb (Nov 16, 2012)

Milk can be ingested by the steam wand under certain conditions, but it would only be a small amount. You would know because of a very pungent nasty smell.

I suspect this machine may be a thermoblock rather than having a boiler though, which would make the problem a lot less substantial.

Your options really are running some more citric through it and then flushing plenty more water through it until tis nice and clear, or if you are up to it taking it to pieces and giving it a good clean. This allows you to survey the damage a bit better.

If you live in a hard water area, you might be surprised how milky water can appear coming from the group! Where I am its a problem, you can use bottled water or filtered water to see if that clears it up?


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## Shorty73 (Jun 16, 2013)

I'm not sure how much milk ended up in it but it only takes a little off milk to make a nasty smell. As this wasn't my machine originally I can't be sure how much would have gone in.

Aaronb you mention themoblock being easier to deal with. I'm an Electrical Engineer so am not afraid to dismantle it if needed. I was hoping there would be something I could flush it with. Searching the net shows that citric acid will remove scale but not oily/greasy residue.

The water around here is hard but is running clear now through the machine. There is definitely a slight smell to the plain water coming out.


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## aaronb (Nov 16, 2012)

There are more guides to dismantling machines and cleaning them on 'Home Barista', but it tends to be commercial machines rather than the smaller home ones. Its a good starting point though. There are some stronger cleaners, but again they are meant for commercial machines and may not be suitable for the Delonghi which probably has smaller tubing and plastic components. If it is milk in the boiler you would need to strip it and clean it thoroughly, there should be some info on Home Barista. If its a thermoblock I dont know ebough about them to undo the damage, but it should be as simple as cleaning the pipes?

As you are confident I would open it up and inspect the internals, you should see if anything is coating the pipes or if the thermoblock or boiler is gunked up.

If you live in a Hard Water area I would seriously recommend using filtered or bottled water, think about how often you have to descale your kettle, and then think how small some of the tubes are in the espresso machine!


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## Shorty73 (Jun 16, 2013)

Thanks for the advice. I'll give it a go.


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## Shorty73 (Jun 16, 2013)

http://www.espressounderground.co.uk/fouled%20boiler.html

interesting reading. Although it states bicarbonate of soda won't remove the smell or taste due to limescale, as this is written for commercial machines it may work on mine. Worth a go!


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