Gaggia coffee - slow water flow

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Gaggia coffee - slow water flow

Postby caffeine_demon » Wed Oct 10, 2012 11:07 am

Hi guys,

I have just set up my gaggia coffee after moving, and the water flow is extremely slow.

it'S the flow through the brewhead that is running so slowly - the wand's water flow is fine, and it still runs slowly with no portafilter in place, so it isnt the coffee! - It's taking about 2 minutes to pour a shot glass worth. The pump itself sounds very quiet, but as mentioned, the wand is fine.

Any ideas what might be causing this?
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Postby dsc » Wed Oct 10, 2012 12:10 pm

Hi cd,

might be a stuck solenoid, maybe clogged up with some scale? then again if the pumps pushes water through the wand, it would go through the solenoid valve as well, so that's out the window. Have you measured how big the flow is? how much water you get within 10s through the group and through the wand?

I had the same problem with a used gaggia classic, but I stripped it down, so I'm not sure what was causing it.

Regards,
dsc.
"This week I are mostly...trying to build a grinder..."

Mahlkonig Guatemala for FP/drip, Elektra T1 for sale, Gaggia Classic in progress
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Postby ahgee2 » Wed Oct 10, 2012 3:31 pm

I don't think the Gaggia Coffee has a solenoid - just a spring valve in the group - so it should be quite easy to unclog this without going in through the top. You just need to dismantle bits of the group from below. First unscrew the shower screen (philips screw), then remove the dispersion block (two allen bolts) - this will expose the outlet of the spring valve. Use a socket wrench to unscrew this, the valve body will probably stay in the group and you will be left with the bolt, spring and pea in your hands. Anyhow, you now have access to everything you need to clean - the bits you have dismantled and the valve body left in the group head (clean inside the valve body with a cocktail stick!) There will probably be an obvious blockage somewhere, like a large bit of scale, probably in the valve body. If you look at the exploded diagram here

http://www.partsguru.com/GaggiaModelCoffee.html

the bits I am talking about are numbered 49. 53, 67, 56 and 58.

Good luck! Andrew
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Postby caffeine_demon » Wed Oct 10, 2012 8:06 pm

I decided to give it a good clean, so bought some allen keys and screwdrivers (the others are still at mum n dads!)

I get the shower screen off and give that a good clean, and attempt to get the allen screws out..


I'm gonna need a better allen key - the poundland ones are very small so you can't get enough purchase to undo it!

I'll try again at the weekend - in the meantime, the water flow is up from almost non existant to painfully slow!
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Postby caffeine_demon » Sat Oct 13, 2012 10:07 pm

got it all undone and descaled (didn't have any descaler on hand, so I used orange juice!!) and it's all running nicely now!

Now I need to find some good coffee in birmingham.....
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Postby ahgee2 » Sun Oct 14, 2012 9:22 am

Glad to hear it's all working now, I guess orange juice is a perfectly acceptable food-grade descaler, and will only serve to emphasise those subtle hints of sweet citrus in the finest bourbon coffees - until it all gets flushed out.

For good coffee in Birmingham you could try www.sixeightkafe.co.uk as a benchmark: good coffee through a Synesso, baristas who care, can't be bad. I have never been there but I imagine they sell bags of Hasbean coffees for you to play with at home.

Enjoy,

Andrew
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