The Pasquini Saga

[drawonme]

The machine looks to have been put away when it stopped making coffee. No buggered up parts inside and all of the dated parts are the same age as the machine (21st week of 2005). I was the first person inside the machine which is nice to not have to un-fix some cowboy's "repair"

I descaled the boiler first by running a full reservoir of citric acid through it one boiler full at a time. I pulled the wire off of the boiler fill sensor and opened the steam valve to fill the boiler to the top with water so that I got the entire boiler covered with the acid. I would let it sit in the boiler for half an hour then turn the machine on and run the boiler empty through the water dispenser, let it fill again and turn it off for another half hour. I did this until the water stopped coming out milky/chalky/yellow and started to come out blue (down to the copper in the boiler, heating coils, and all of the tubing). I then ran 2 full reservoir of fresh water through it using the same method, fill the boiler, let it sit, drain the boiler and refill again. that took the better part of Thursday and was an all day affair but it is squeaky clean now.

Yesterday I got the 3 way valve in so had to descale the heat exchanger since no water would run through the heat exchanger with the 3 way valve inoperative, otherwise I could have done both the boiler and heat exchanger at the same time. I descaled the heat exchanger by removing all of the tubing going to it and putting the copper tubes into a glass with citric acid in it to remove the calcium deposits inside of the tubing. I used a 30 ml syringe and a 18 gauge blunt irrigation needle (the same one I use for refilling my fountain pen cartridges) and filling the heat exchanger with acid. I let it sit for about a half hour, put one of the tubes back on and put on the plastic over flow tube from the bottom of the 3 way valve (that fit on the other HX fitting) and blew the heat exchanger dry. Then I filled it again. I did this over and over until I used up 1 cup of critic acid mixture.

Then I put 2 cups of water through it to flush out the acid. I put the 3 way valve on and fired it up. Worked like new. Strong flow, good boiler temp. perfect brew temp.

Flipped it on its top and chiseled out the old portafilter gasket which looked to be the original one from 2005 as it was busted up real bad and leaked something fierce.

I mixed the citric acid 1 tbl to 1 cup of water which was mild yet strong enough to remove all of the calcium deposits in the water system.

Citric acid is a food additive and is used in soft drinks and other products where a sour taste is wanted. It can be eaten in a raw powder form (if you can handle the sour) so it is one of the safest acid descalers you can use. It also does not damage any of the seals and gaskets as it is rather mild. It does take a little longer to work than commercial descaling products but those are caustic and you need to make sure all of it is out before using the machine.

After getting it up and running I back flushed it with 1/2 tsp of Cafiza. From the gunk that came out it looked like this was the first time it was back flushed too.

Now it is looks and works like a new machine (better then it did when it was new as the 3 way valve is larger than the original).



Got it off of eBay and the seller covered the $150 cost of the parts (valve was $98 alone + gaskets and food grade high temp lube).

I've got about 1/3 the cost of a new machine into it and am happy with that

Well done!

 

[Mick]

Barely a drip of water will come out of my hot water spigot. I imagine theres scale as I can see some on the bottom of the reservoir tip. Will the citric acid descale process work for this or do I need to start taking things apart? Just wondering if this part is so clogged is it still a good idea to descale?

Try citric acid first.

If it is still clogged go to a commercial descaling product.