# Gaggia Classic - low pressure from group



## vanilla_brys (Jan 5, 2011)

Hello All,

I appear to have broken my Gaggia Classic







.

The pressure flow rate out of the group is very low - far too low to make a nice coffee. I've only had the machine since November, and I've cleaned it well (de-scaled it twice, back flush often etc). I moved it after Christmas, and I've heard that that often dislodges bits of gunk which then cause blockages, but I'm not sure it's had time for anything to accumulate. I live in a hard water area, but I always use filtered water.

I've had the solenoid out, and I've cleaned that - it seemed to be in perfectly good condition. I've also taken the group apart and given that a good clean - again, it wasn't bad. Flow is slow out of both the group and the OPV (I did the OPV tweak within a week of owning the machine).

Are there any other things that would be worth checking? I think the problem could be the pump.

Thanks in advance,

Andy


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## Glenn (Jun 14, 2008)

Welcome Andy

What was the reason for the OPV tweak?

Most home machines don't need to have this altered

Hopefully one of the techies will be along soon to give their assessment.


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## vanilla_brys (Jan 5, 2011)

Hi Glenn,

The OPV tweak was the pressure mod one (http://coffeesnobs.com.au/YaBB.pl?num=1175171794) . I read over the issue then checked the pressure from my machine, and it was higher than recommended. It was quite a simple adjustment, and the machine continued to work well for a another couple of months.

I'm not sure that it was "needed", as I don't know how really great espresso should taste. It certainly improved my shots.


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## vanilla_brys (Jan 5, 2011)

Hi All (Glenn),

I took my machine back to Argos and was given a new one right away. Happy with that service!


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## vanilla_brys (Jan 5, 2011)

I've been trying to work out what I did wrong (if anything) , so that I don't break my new one in the same way. Please could you point out any potential problems with my maintenance routine, as detailed below?

Daily - Make coffee. Wipe shower screen with kitchen roll to take away grounds, run a little water through to rinse. Maybe back-flush (50:50).

Weekly - Back-flush with ~1 tsp puly caff espresso cleaner. Run for 10 seconds - rest for 10, repeat about 5 times. Then rinse with the same routine.

Monthly - De-scale. Use puly caff de-scaler in half a tank. Run about half way through and leave for about 10 mins (with machine turned on), then run the rest of the way through. Rinse by running a full tank through.

I live in a very hard water area, so I think I need to work quite hard to stay on top of scale, but I do seem to do it a little more frequently than most on this forum.

Could the OPV pressure mod have done any damage?

Any comments would be greatly appreciated!


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## gaggiamanualservice.com (Dec 22, 2009)

hi, your maintaintance is spot on and will prolong the machine life for a long time. never try to alter opv valve, it is set from source at 13-15 bar if for any reason the pressure falls this is rarely the problem, 5 years and only ever seen one faulty and that was a scale issue. if pressure falls it will normally be an issue with blocking due to scale or coffee residue.

mark


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