# Gaggia Classic leaking thru shower screen



## AttilaTheHun (May 26, 2020)

Hey guys and gals,

So I'm a newbie here and not even quite a newbie coffee enthusiast as I bought a Gaggia Classic (2015/22 made in Romania) from ebay recently but it doesn't seem to behave. Soon after turning it on water starts coming out of the shower screen and it doesn't stop, not even after pulling a shot, coffee/water keeps on dripping thru with the loaded portafilter in. Apologies if it's a simple question, if anyone could help me with why it's happening I'd be very grateful.

Thanks!

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View attachment VID_20200526_170630.mp4


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## Agentb (Feb 11, 2017)

AttilaTheHun said:


> I bought a Gaggia Classic (2015/22 made in Romania) from ebay recently


OK assuming normal things first - you don't know what condition it is internally(?)

I'm guessing it has a scaled up boiler, and some scale has broken free during transit and blocked the solenoid valve from closing properly - or some such. Sometimes after descaling you get stuff being dislodged.

You might be lucky with more descaling... but i'd suggest you get a service kit and clean the boiler and the solenoid valve - then don't use tap water unless you know it to be very good.👍

edit : other bad things also involve pulling it apart to find out...


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## Deegee (Apr 5, 2020)

There's no relief pipe or fitting that I can see, so I'm guessing this is a proper 2015-18 model, that means there's no solenoid valve, I suspect the one way relief valve is stuck open above the dispersion plate and allowing water past as per the vid clip.


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## Agentb (Feb 11, 2017)

Good spot



Deegee said:


> There's no relief pipe


 i just assumed the pipe was removed for the video but sure enough it's the Classic2. 👍


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## Deegee (Apr 5, 2020)

Good vid here from Raj at Gaggia removing the valve in question, I'd be surprised if it's as easy as he shows, but the basics are there, I'd guess the rubber valve head is either damaged or there's a piece of scale stuck between it and it's seat allowing water through. HTH.


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## AttilaTheHun (May 26, 2020)

Thanks everyone, I'll have a look and report back!


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## AttilaTheHun (May 26, 2020)

I cleaned that rubber valve as it was shown on the video, there was quite a fair bit of coffee in there. Now the leaking reduced to about 1 drop every 2-3 seconds which is amazing. Although it indicates that maybe it wasn't really looked after and might need a bit of TLC. Next step I think I'll take it apart and have a look and see how scaled up the boiler and other bits are and then probably run a descaler thru it (if it's really bad, I might consider taking the boiler out and apart and manually descaling it, although I'm worried I might screw it up). Would that be the sensible thing to do? Thanks for the help again, like I said, total newb here...


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## Deegee (Apr 5, 2020)

I'd run a descale first, have a look at what comes out closely, if you've got a lot of pieces of limescale or more coffee grinds I'd be stripping and cleaning it throughout. It definitely sounds as if it's not been kept properly clean. There's probably a risk you get the same issue happening again if there are lumps of limescale present when you descale it.
However be aware that if you get the tops of the boiler heating elements wet you'll have to dry them off or you'll be tripping the RCD on your house electrics as the insulators are porous and absorb water, that results in the Earth fault that pings the RCD.


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## Valve (10 mo ago)

Deegee said:


> Good vid here from Raj at Gaggia removing the valve in question, I'd be surprised if it's as easy as he shows, but the basics are there, I'd guess the rubber valve head is either damaged or there's a piece of scale stuck between it and it's seat allowing water through. HTH.


What is the tool to unscrew the boiler valve and where can I find it?


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