# Descaling Expobar Brewtus DB



## Rob1 (Apr 9, 2015)

So I finally got to decaling the brewtus and foolishly thought it would be easy. I had the idea of syphoning the descaler in and out after a few hours before flushing. In my mind this would have been a lot quicker and easier than running the pump.

Turns out I couldn't get he wrench on anything and even if I could I wouldn't have been comfortable with removing anything on there. Can anybody give me a tip here? What's easiest and best to remove? I was thinking the manometer fitting on the brew boiler and temp probe on the steam boiler, but could go for the vacuum breaker too.









Also, I was going to up steam pressure while I had it open but it doesn't seem to want to turn. Clockwise to up the pressure? Does it have something on it to prevent it from turning (that will cause it to break if forced?).








UPDATE:

It turned out to be easy.

I got a pair of grip pliers onto the silver nut which sits against the boiler (first picture front left) and put a small adjustable wrench on the brass nut. It turned off easily enough and the little brew manometer tube moved over to the side to allow access straight down into the boiler. There was no sealant on the threads to worry about replacing.

I used a basic syphon tube from wilko with a straw shoved into the tap that came with it (the tube is a little too big to fit into the boiler). You could simply suck all of the water out through a straw if you don't have a syphon tube. An alternative is to use the teflon tubes that connect to the pump as they fit in the little hole too.

I drained the steam boiler through the tap.

After reconnecting the manometer I ran some descaler through the whole thing (steam tap, wand and brew head, with a backflush just to be sure the manometer gets the treatment) and I'm now sitting here waiting for a couple of hours to drain it.


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## DoubleShot (Apr 23, 2014)

@Russ @PeterF

Both have descaled their Brewtus DB, I believe?


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## PeterF (Aug 25, 2014)

Dear Rob1,

You are turning a relatively simple, straight foward job into a complete nightmare??!! There is absolutely no need to touch anything internally to carry out a de-scale! Simply follow the step by step proceedure in the Bella Barista manual, which you get with this machine. If you did not buy it from BB let me know & I will PM you the relevant paragraph. Merry Christmas


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## DavecUK (Aug 6, 2013)

PeterF said:


> Dear Rob1,
> 
> You are turning a relatively simple, straight foward job into a complete nightmare??!! There is absolutely no need to touch anything internally to carry out a de-scale! Simply follow the step by step proceedure in the Bella Barista manual, which you get with this machine. If you did not buy it from BB let me know & I will PM you the relevant paragraph. Merry Christmas


Although to be fair, the brew boiler is a complete pig to do unless drained!

Oh that pressurestat, if they are still using the same old horrible Parker (I think) one, if the adjuster won't move easily, leave it alone!


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## Rob1 (Apr 9, 2015)

How do you drain the brew boiler? Running descaler through the system using the pump would take forever to fill that brew boiler (if it ever got filled) because of the way it's designed. I'd prefer to make sure it's properly descalrd inside rather than just through the relevant pipes.

What does it say in the bb guide? I didn't buy the machine from them.


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## MediumRoastSteam (Jul 7, 2015)

I asked the same question a while ago here on this forum and, for those machines which do not have drain valves, it is almost an impossible task to drain the brew boiler. There are videos from Seattle Coffee Gear and Whole Latte Love where they turn the machine on the side and where they remove the top of the mushroom and turn the machine upside down to drain the brew boiler. Someone on this forum also said that, in order to drain the brew boiler, you can remove on of the compression fittings and siphon the water that way. The challenge is to find a silicone tube that's slim and malleable enough to go through the 90 degree bend of the compression fitting into the brew boiler.


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## DavecUK (Aug 6, 2013)

Rob1 said:


> How do you drain the brew boiler? Running descaler through the system using the pump would take forever to fill that brew boiler (if it ever got filled) because of the way it's designed. I'd prefer to make sure it's properly descalrd inside rather than just through the relevant pipes.
> 
> What does it say in the bb guide? I didn't buy the machine from them.


The brew boiler does have a drain plug, but it's not in a fantastic place....sort of "we put a plug there so we can say we did" type of drain plug.


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## Russ (Nov 15, 2011)

@Rob1

When I did mine I did it the conventional way but as said it takes ages! to drain and flush all the citric acid from the brew boiler. The steam boiler is easy via the hot water tap and getting the citric in is easy for both boilers via the water tank.

When I do it again I think I'll adopt a hybrid method something like this:

Get citric into both boilers, leave it to do its stuff.

Drain and flush the steam boiler repeatedly via the hot water tap

Then I think I'd syphon the brew boiler, refill and repeat by removing the pid probe sensor on top of the boiler (black wires on yours I think from memory mines grey) using some thin gauge silicon or ptfe tubing (plenty on e bay) I've not measured but I think 4 mm would be about right)

I have to stress this is just an idea I've not tried this method!

What model is your Brewtus? From memory yours looks different internally to mine but that may be the camera angle and my poor memory?

Mines a IV but an early model. No drain valve on mine as far as I've noticed. I believe on the later models the PID sensor is in a brass protective sleeve that screws into the boiler. Mine wasn't but it is now as I had to replace the sensor post descale as the citric seemed to kill it!

This is my new probe https://www.bellabarista.co.uk/expobar-temperature-probe-for-dual-boiler.html which sits inside a brass sleeve which contains thermal conducting paste I believe. The original didn't have the brass protecter so was exposed direct to the citric acid on descale. I believe the old type are commonly killed during descales. The new version is a direct replacement for the old type.

Cheers

Russ


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## Rob1 (Apr 9, 2015)

Yeah, I'm thinking a hybrid method might be best now too. I can't see a drain valve on mine. Maybe the fact you can remove the heating element makes them say it has a drain valve. My machine is a IV and was only built in May. Or maybe it was March....


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## Russ (Nov 15, 2011)

@Rob1

Interesting yours is a new one but dosn't look to have the protective brass sleeve on the brew PID sensor as far as I can see.

Russ


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## Rob1 (Apr 9, 2015)

Thread updated.


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## DoubleShot (Apr 23, 2014)

Just out of interest, did you check inside the mushroom for any signs of limescale prior to descaling?


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## Rob1 (Apr 9, 2015)

Yeah. There were tiny flakes caught on the mesh and on the mushroom itself and in the thermosyphon I could see a fairly large deposit (nowhere near enough to block), but this was a couple of months ago. The steam wand has been squeaking and feeling a little gritty so I thought I'd do the full descale, backflush and lube at the same time.

I filled the brew boiler three times with clean water and sucked it out. I could just about detect some citric acid, so I'm guessing a fourth and fifth time would have removed it completely but then when I started running water through the group I obviously got a whole lot more. I'm going to have to leave it as it is over night now and continue flushing in the morning. I dread to think what it would have been like doing it just with the pump, or maybe the boiler itself just wouldn't have been descaled so well.


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