Hello everyone! I've just received an ancient model of the La Pavoni Professional (looks like full-brass exterior, with lots of greenish and/or white corrosion) which is in terrible condition. I've looked for videos of de-scaling old, unused machines, but none of them even closely resemble what I see in my La Pavoni.
If anyone knows, can you tell me if the La Pavoni's boiler was always made from nickel-plated brass, and is it safe to use citric acid on all models?
The residue in the boiler is a pile of light brown, 2mm thick material, that looks a lot like calcium deposits, just.. brown.
Now, I know that the boiler supposedly is nickel-plated brass, but neither nickel nor brass corrode light-brown, and calcium, to my knowledge, is white.
I emptied the whole boiler into a big bowl, and the bowl was almost filled to the top with brown stuff. The brown stuff does dissolve in citric acid, I guess that's the good news.
I got it for ~100 pounds from ebay, and nothing seems to be corroded to the extent of it being broken.
I've bought insanely cheap la Pavonis from ebay before, and restored them without a lot of trouble, but this thing looks like it's from another world.
Before I start restoring it, please, give me all your input and experiences with old machines. I do not want to destroy the poor thing.
If anyone knows, can you tell me if the La Pavoni's boiler was always made from nickel-plated brass, and is it safe to use citric acid on all models?
The residue in the boiler is a pile of light brown, 2mm thick material, that looks a lot like calcium deposits, just.. brown.
Now, I know that the boiler supposedly is nickel-plated brass, but neither nickel nor brass corrode light-brown, and calcium, to my knowledge, is white.
I emptied the whole boiler into a big bowl, and the bowl was almost filled to the top with brown stuff. The brown stuff does dissolve in citric acid, I guess that's the good news.
I got it for ~100 pounds from ebay, and nothing seems to be corroded to the extent of it being broken.
I've bought insanely cheap la Pavonis from ebay before, and restored them without a lot of trouble, but this thing looks like it's from another world.
Before I start restoring it, please, give me all your input and experiences with old machines. I do not want to destroy the poor thing.
