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I opted to try decalcification. Bottom line: it's expensive, but works. I've made espresso from this machine almost every day for the last few years, so I have it down pat. Pour it in the tank, add 1 bottle-ful of water to the tank, and then run the espresso cycle. Because what happened then was that small bits of the white calcification, about the size of grains of sand, were plugging up some of the tiny holes where the water pours out of the espresso-maker into the coffee grind. There is a screw on that metal sieve part in my espresso maker, but it was stuck and I only stripped it trying to remove it. You'd think I'd notice a difference, but I can't say that I did.
I was beginning to think the water wasn't spurting out as fast as it used to, so the espresso grind would be soaked too long and the bitter taste would go into the cup along with the delicious early drips. So I waited till it didn't bubble any more - about 5-10 minutes. I can only imagine what the inside pipes looked like. Then I ran the espresso maker cycle and rinsed again. I might have let the build-up go too long. (Elsewhere in the instructions, it said to leave the solution in items like glass coffeepots, until the bubbling stops).
I have a feeling that the solution dissolved completely the lime/calcium in the tank, but didn't have enough time in the pipes to fully dissolve those deposits, so some were just dislodged or broken into smaller bits that plugged the holes. Then I'd have the second bottle for next time. Go ahead and let the solution sit in that tank, and then what I'd do is figure out a way for that solution to run all the way through the pipes and sit for a bit. Tough. This time I let it sit. I noticed that some calcium deposits were left behind. I can't honestly say I've noticed any difference. They weren't all plugged up, maybe only about 10%, but still.
I was sold on using this liquid approach, as opposed to the cheaper powder, since my problem was so extreme. I still had one more bottle to go, so I pour it in along with the water. didn't do outside research, though. What to do. It had at least 1/4 inch of scale, which was fully removed. I wish I had just used the first bottle and let it sit for a long time, sloshing it around and letting the solution sit in all parts of the pipeline, before flushing.
Certainly the product claims that calcification will affect the operation and efficiency of the espresso maker. Maybe more would come. Should I spend $13 on decalcifying, or buy a new espresso maker for $45. But.The downside was that the solution got rid of the huge build-up inside the tank, but I don't know about the bits of piping that lead the water out of the tank into the coffee grinds. The instructions caution against letting the solution touch the plastic or other parts of your espresso maker, but it did mine no harm. The tank was coated with 1/4 inch thick lime/calcification.
Still, it certainly didn't harm anything, and so I'm sure it was good to do.So, in summary, I would say the product works completely great, but if you have a cheap espresso maker like mine, don't worry about all their cautions.
So I researched the decalcification options here on Amazon.
Hard water over 10 years builds up.I got two bottles with this package, and followed the instructions on the first exactly.
This time, the tank was spotless.
So, I decided to just go ahead and use the machine anyway, and it seems to be working fine.Did the product improve the operation of my espresso maker after I used it.
It expressly said NOT to let the solution sit in the tank for any period of time.
I have a 10-year-old $35 Krups espresso maker.
Then rinse a few times.
What to do.
This stuff is GREAT. Price at Amazon was low compared to retail. Both times I've used this decalcifier by running it through the system and voila - good as new. Twice now the steamer has clogged. 201032 X1 Trio Espresso Machine, Red from illy and my wife uses it daily. We have a FrancisFrancis. She carefully cleans the outer surface and the steam arm, but NOT the innards. I'm hoping we regularly use this product rather than waiting until it's completely clogged as it took two bottles to clear our last one.
Some runoff leaked out of the grouphead, so I poured that around the faucet base. I can't wait to pull a shot this weekend. After an hour in the machine boiler, it was still hissing, so I left it in overnight. I used only one of the two 4oz bottles and it ran through like a charm with no aftertaste in the coffee the next morning. The boiler was clean.
Very hard to find, but Amazon had two types listed and I couldn't tell the difference, so I tried the Swiss Espresso. It immediately went to work with all the boiling/hissing sounds and sludge rose to the top of the Saeco's boiler. I wiped it up a few minutes later and the hard water deposits were gone. 14 years of caked on buildup was gone. My new Jura-Capresso Coffee TEAM's "decalcify." warning displayed and the manual said to use 6oz of Durgol Descaler.
I used what drained out, since it was clean and poured it into my cheap, little, never descaled, old 1995 Saeco steam "espresso." machine and my 1 year old electric water kettle. The following morning I drained and ran it a couple of times with fresh water.
It's nice that it's two bottles in the box so that there's more than one treatment. But really it still makes coffee just like it did before. This is one of those products that is pretty hard to review. It seems like it did a little good for my espresso maker and I ended up with a bowl full of water and "stuff". I assume it helped but if you use this and say it made a huge difference then you should probably be using it more often.
We have stuck with the brand for a few years now, and won't change it for anything. Among the many products available, Durgol has never failed us and our DeLonghi capp machine. Will definitely buy again.and again.
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