Dumb questions - attempting descale and maintenance

This forum contains various threads with photos on how to perform various maintenance and repairs on your S1.
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fade2greyuk
Latte
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Joined: Sat Sep 27, 2014 2:11 pm
Location: Manchester, UK

Dumb questions - attempting descale and maintenance

Post by fade2greyuk »

Hi,

After a bit of neglect, I’ve decided that I want to give the old girl a new lease of life. Not major issues other than occasional overfilling of the steam boiler.

Have ordered a top end seal kit so have a bag with a LOT of orings in! Not entirely sure where these all go but hopefully will become evident.

Failing at first hurdle though. I can’t get the water pipes off the steam boiler. Looks like there a brass fitting and some sort of clips on the inside of the pipe. I’ve tried pushing, pulling etc and worried I’ll break the L shaped elbow at this rate! Any advice?

Also the top seal, seems to have baked to a black crust, does it sit in a recess? I guess so - how gentle do I need to be removing the old seal from the channel?

I’m sure I’ll have LOTS of other q’s so thanks in advance.

Cheers
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chas
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Re: Dumb questions - attempting descale and maintenance

Post by chas »

The large O ring for the boiler lid should be obvious from its size. I assume the rest of the O Rings are much smaller. Most of these probably go in the steam arm, the steam arm valve assembly, and the hot water arm. I wouldn't take anything apart to check them out unless one is already leaking. They do tend to crack with time. If any of them are in bad shape, dismantling the part to get at it will probably destroy the current O rings which is why you shouldn't mess with them unless it's necessary.

The plastic water tube at the boiler inlet uses a variant of a metallic John Guest fitting. You have to push in on the small metal ring while you pull out the plastic tubing. Even when you do it right, it will fight you. Worst case you'll need to buy a new fitting and perhaps a new length of tubing. It should be possible to remove or replace the necessary parts without destroying the elbow.

The old boiler lid O ring will need to be chiseled out probably using a small flat screwdriver and perhaps a small hammer, if necessary. Clean that groove out really well before inserting the new O ring. The process is a long, pain-in-the-@ss.
Chas
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fade2greyuk
Latte
Posts: 21
Joined: Sat Sep 27, 2014 2:11 pm
Location: Manchester, UK

Re: Dumb questions - attempting descale and maintenance

Post by fade2greyuk »

Chad thanks for the quick reply..

Been chiselling the gasket out, you’re right, it’s a pita.

Not nearly as much of a pita as those jg fittings though, getting very close to just ordering new fittings and tubes to stop the profanity :)

Truly epic scale in the steam boiler though. Which is odd as I sent it off for a service and descale 2 years back - looks suspiciously like it wasn’t descaled. I’m sorting it now though so will be nice to have it back working properly!
fade2greyuk
Latte
Posts: 21
Joined: Sat Sep 27, 2014 2:11 pm
Location: Manchester, UK

Re: Dumb questions - attempting descale and maintenance

Post by fade2greyuk »

Okay still can’t get the water lines off - any suggestions of where to buy replacements (uk) as I can’t find any. Can you just replace the collet or is it the whole elbow? Will need tubes as well give I can’t shift any of it.
fade2greyuk
Latte
Posts: 21
Joined: Sat Sep 27, 2014 2:11 pm
Location: Manchester, UK

Re: Dumb questions - attempting descale and maintenance

Post by fade2greyuk »

So finally got the water lines out. I misunderstood how they worked, so for anyone else struggling with them - the ones on mine were basically like any other olive compression fit. There is a small part which fits to the tube to create the olive.

Once the compression nut is out of the way, Rather than pushing the brass collar into the fitting it needed rotating to break the seal and then just lifted straight out.
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