Gaggia Classic questions

[getting_roasted]

1) I've seen some 'blanking baskets' available for 'purging' the heads - what function does this fulfill, and how important is it?

2) I live in a area of extremely hard water - should I filter water before putting it through the machine?

3) Worth it?

Cheers all

[lsjms]

1) Vital, if you have a 3 way solenoid. It lets you clean the group parts dirtied by the pressure release at the end of the shot

2) For sure.

3)Dunno, what's there at the moment? Plastic thing?

[getting_roasted]

Thanks for the reply - so:

1) How does it work. I just put the blanking thing in, and turn it on? :-S That causes a whole lot of pressure build up, presumably, and it's this that cleans stuff? Where does the pressure release? Doesn't it need some 'stuff' to help it clean?

2) Cool. On it like the proverbial engine covering...

3) Yeah - a big 'idiot-proof' plastic tip turbo thing. Works quite well for cappucinos. Am nowhere near real latte-art microfoam, but am not ruling out pilot error either...

[lsjms]

Yeah you need some stuff to do things. Cafiza Seems to be some debate with your particular machine.
http://www.toomuchcoffee.com/index.php? ... pic&t=1009

Perhaps you can pull off the outer sleeve off that steam wand
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ipQRepfzxfo

[gabriel]

1) Backflushing is straightforward but does need to be done with care to avoid putting the pump under too much stress. Also make sure you cover the drip tray to avoid being splattered when you turn off the pump. Suggest you search here (and Google) for backflushing a Classic to find correct instructions.

3) Definitely worth it in my view. A bit of a faff to change it over but not overly complicated - depending on the specific Classic you have, you may need to cut the old wand to reuse the retaining nut. Results are generally better but I had to work on my technique for a while.