Aluminium oxidising in coffee maker

Bill Douglas · 07-19-2004, 03:02 PM

Hi Guys, my kid sister has an expresso maker that has developed white oxidising on the inside. It's a bit like the stuff we get on our bumpers. I've tried cleaning it off with things like baking soda and oven cleaner, but nothing seems to budge it. I'm tempted to put some caustic soda (lye) into it and dive for cover, but I'm concerned the remaining traces of it might be a bit toxic?

Any thoughts, or other ideas?

mikester · 07-19-2004, 03:15 PM

Do you like your kid sister?

Bill Douglas · 07-19-2004, 03:27 PM

ROTFLOL

JTO · 07-19-2004, 03:38 PM

Hi Bill,
What you have is aluminum oxide. Caustic won't take care of it, it will just further your problems. An acid when applied will evolve hydrogen gas. I think your best bet is to either do nothing or try to polish it with an abrasive.
Troy

CamB · CamB's Garage

Which city Bill? Welly?

Some water supplies are quite "hard" and can build up calcium deposits.

Wow - I sound really knowledgeable. I have never actually seen calcium deposits. I just read about them in an espresso machine manual. I have no idea how to get rid of them.

djmcmath · 07-19-2004, 03:54 PM

The folks at Whole Latte Love (wholelattelove.com) will ship you a neat-o citrus-based cleaner in any one of a number of varieties designed specifically for removing nasties from aluminum espresso machine boilers. Make sure they know it's aluminum (as many are brass instead) and you'll be hooked up right away. Also might check over at coffeegeek.com to see if anybody can recommend a supplier closer to NZ, as I believe WLL is located here in the States.

FWIW, pumping milk through an espresso machine makes these worse. Orange juice, while citrus, doesn't help either. Vinegar works, but slowly, and it takes forever to flush that flavor through. (sigh) Good luck,

Dan

mikester · 07-19-2004, 04:00 PM

Bill Douglas · 07-19-2004, 05:41 PM

Cam, it's definetly aluminium oxide, other than calcium build up. She hadn't used the thing for a while and some residual water caused the oxidisation. I wouldn't mind the calcium.

Thanks for the advice Troy, so I don't have to risk my life with the caustic reacting with the aluminium

As Mike says, "good bye expresso maker".