Hello all, I have my brewtus IV since about 2-3months. Recently I had to replace the defective temperature probe. When I removed the old one, I was unpleasantly surprised to see limestone already building up on it (see attached photo). Of course I was using the water softener for the reservoir (which was renewed after one month). Also recently I began to pre-filter the water using a Britta device. Now, after so short time this is a bit alarming, but maybe to be expected since the water is really very hard in my area 15°D in medium up to 17°D max. So this situation, I have a few questions for you experts out there.
a) My seller recommended to send in the machine in about 10 months for maintenance. Given the quick pace in which the scale seems to build up (see photo): do you think I should wait that long? Do you think I should better use bottled water instead in the meanwhile (e.g. in the Long Water FAQ they recommend Volvic)? b) Concerning de-scaling: there seems to be a strong discrepancy between recommendations from the side of people on this forum and sellers. While here it seems to be the general opinion that de-scaling is not too risky given one performs the correct steps (e.g., Barry Luterman posts his procedure in https://groups.google.com/d/msg/brewtus/T2V7_dGS6Tc/BPLRsu53GEQJ, or on home-barista they recommend using a siphon tube http://www.home-barista.com/tips/descaling-expobar-brewtus-3r-t12047.html), sellers usually warn users not to do it and better to give the machine to professional maintenance. Now for people like me who live in hard-water areas this is pretty much a letdown: to send in the machine in frequent intervals is not just costy (shipping + maintenance) but you also don't have your machine around each time for at least a week. So it seems like it's best to learn it yourself at some point. Now in my case this is problematic since if I do anything wrong I will lose my guarantee. - Is de-scaling really that risky for parts of the machine? (e.g. done by Luterman's procedure, or by means of a siphon tube which seems to me even less problematic since the machine doesn't even heat up with the citron acid inside) - Are there people in this group who would advice me against de-scaling myself and for what reasons? c) Barry Luterman mentions in his procedure "directions in manual for draining steam and brewing boiler". I cannot find these in my expobar-manual. I know that there is also a manual of this group, and that bellabarista have their own manual. I cannot find links to these manuals. It would be great if someone could send me links or the manuals to my email. There may be other useful information I am missing out. E.g. I heard that in the bellabarista manual there is also an instruction for de-scaling... Thanks a lot for all replies in advance, Christian -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Brewtus" group. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msg/brewtus/-/pLCwKuEDUW0J. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/brewtus?hl=en.
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