Descaler warning ?

[Jethro_uk]

We have a B2C coffee machine (de Longhi) which has a warning light when the thing needs descaling.

Given that we live in a soft water area (maybe the softest. Our kettle is like the day we bought it) I am surprised that the machine "thinks" it needs descaling every 2 months or so.

So yesterday, I put my suspicion to the test by running the descaler sequence (press buttons, add descaler+water to tank, run, rinse + refill tank, run, rinse + refill, run) but without adding descaler.

Annoyingly, at the end, the light was still on.

So it's *not* on a timer.

But I'm curious as to how it *does* know it's scaled up ?

(If you like coffee, btw, it's a great machine).

[Andy Burns]

I think it's based on the number of cups you've made and the water hardness you told it when you first installed it (I presume you did get the little indicator test paper with it and had to enter it via the buttons/leds?) I now use a filter jug for filling the machine and making ice cubes, so it should be a little less limescale for it to deal with now, it doesn't ask to be de-scaled too often anyway, I use the Oust lactic acid de-scaler, 1/3 the price of deLonghi's own.

Agreed, I bought my parents one too (unfortunately the place I got them from as "refurbished in original box" has stopped selling complete machines, only spares).

[Jethro_uk]

But surely just running the descale programme should have seen the light off ?

I did all the test, and (as I said) had the softest water possible. (From Wales, doncha know ?)

Thanks for the tip. The machine came with a small bottle of descaler, and for some reason (maybe because we bought it in a Black Friday thing last year) they sent us another litre free .... (which is still going).

We dipped our toe in with a machine for £50 from £130 in Sainsburys. I couldn't justify more on a purchase that - at the time - SWMBO said she wouldn't really use.

But when we got it, espresso every day ! So we knew a step up (the first one was coffee in the basket type) wouldn't be wasted.

Having grown up in a coffee household, it's nice to see the UK finally getting a taste for decent coffee.

[Andy Burns]

I would have thought so, provided it believes you jumped through the proper hoops.

I think you when you register the machine, they claim to send some freebie descaler, mine never arrived (I assume because it was a refurb and my serial number wasn't eligible).

[GB]

What's coffee in the basket? I assume you didn't get a B2C machine for £50?

I use citric acid crystals for descaling. £7 for 2 kgs on ebay or Amazon.

[newshound]

We have a DeLonghi and I descale it every month or so. Sometimes that clears the descale light, but sometimes it does not.

Wonderful machine, so I forgive it for having Italian quirks.

[Clive Arthur]

Possibly measures the element temperature, maybe by measuring its resistance. Scaled up would get hotter, of course.

We have an electric rice cooker, it contains an Aluminium pan which sits atop a spring loaded disk in the centre of an annular heater element. I think the disk contains a temperature sensor, and when the water is all absorbed by the rice, the temperature starts to rise above 100'C which triggers the cooker to drop its heater power to just keeping warm.

Cheers

[Jethro_uk]

There's a handle thing you tamp ground coffee into (like a shop espresso machine).

Fun for a while, but B2Cs convenience wins out ...

[Bob Eager]

I agree. I got a nice chunk of money as a leaving present when I retired. Even from low paid academics, I was able to get a nice Bosch B2C unit. It is great.

[Brian Gaff]

Could be the heater They seem to scale up a lot faster than the pipes and receptacles in these things. Brian

[Peter Parry]

The problem with DeLonghi (or at least the Magnifica I have) is that they are a bit like Alfa Romeos (which I used to have several). Both need a live in technician or for the owners to love DIY.

Electrics and Italians do not appear to mix. Alfa renamed their implementation of CANBUS so the C stood for "can't". (Or more usually "Won't until I feel like it"). Knowing which bit to whack to make various electric bits worked was precious knowledge.

I can now disassemble the Magnifica in about 10 minutes. Changing the steam generator (for the 4th time) takes a bit longer. The weird motor which drives the coffee tamper up and down needs a morning to replace - but half of that was 3D printing a little roof over it so when the unreliable water valve above it fails (again) the water doesn't cascade down onto the motor. The water on the motor made it poorly so it decided to take out the controller board. The coffee bean grinder failed quite quickly because it is held by three 4mm self tappers into plastic so in transit the very heavy grinder bounces around and snaps the plastic bits which you notice a week after the dealer went into liquidation. It's fine if transported upright and carefully, but it is Italian and delivered by Italian drivers so forget that. The high pressure push fit water fittings are located so that the feeds in to them are bent as they enter the fitting so they all leak until the pipes are relocated. The power connections for the steam generator (small blade terminals) are located just below the high pressure leaky inlet to the generator so they corrode as the water from the leaky steam generator connection falls onto them. The push in milk frother eats silicon O ring seals but fortunately a box of 1000 from AliExpress cost less than 1 from DeLonghi.

Apart from that I haven't really had many problems with it.

[Huge]

Hear, hear.

[newshound]

I had the Alpha analogy in mind, although I have never actually owned one.

Turning to coffee machines, I have not (yet) had to open up my Corso and it has had daily use for just coming up to two years. Apart from the descaling issue it has been completely trouble free, if you discount the fiddle to get the internals out for cleaning after pressing buttons in the wrong sequence.

Not sure what extra the Magnifica offers?

[S Viemeister]

On 12/9/2017 10:45 AM, Peter Parry wrote:

[Peter Parry]

The problem is that when it is good it is very very good, but when it is bad it is awful. During its good phases it produces excellent coffee without fuss and no washing up (other than the mugs). I keep remembering these times rather than the ones where it is in pieces all over the kitchen. Fortunately the kettle still works so I can have a nice cup of tea during these times and mutter "ommm".

[S Viemeister]

We've had a number of nifty machines over the years. All gone, now. I chuck the cone in the dishwasher along with the mugs.

The kids gave us a fancy tea-brewing machine for Xmas one year. I only use it when my daughter-in-law visits, so as not to hurt her feelings. Sometimes simple is best - not as much fun to play with, though...

[harry]

Vinegar.

[Vir Campestris]

The great thing about citric is that the next few cups don't taste of vinegar. Or ants.

Andy