# Is this ten year old Gaggia classic worth repairing?



## Dougie (Jan 27, 2012)

Hello all.

I'm having some bother with my Classic. A few days ago I attempted to back flush it with puly cafe but the machine was acting strange, after ten seconds nothing came out the waste pipe. i left the blank in place with the puly cafe cleaning the screen etc and I attempted a few more times to back flush it. nothing happened so i left it for a while. then I heard a whoosh noise with puly cafe everywhere around the coffee machine. i opened the lid and the black hose from the solenoid had popped off squirting puly cafe everywhere inside the machine. At the end of the black hose we have a little clip and it touched the sensor at the top of the boiler assembly. I think this blew the fuse and tripped the RCD? Can't really remember.

I reconnected everything but the machine kept tripping the RCD, I'm thinking there's a dead short somewhere, possibly the sensor that was shorted by the clip?

So I stripped the entire machine, everything, cleaned it all and rebuilt it. It was still tripping the RCD. So I hunted the net and found some discussions on here, one suggesting removing the earth and switching it on to heat up. I done this yesterday and left it on for hours to heat up.

I went back to it today to re-investigate the tripping issue. I found it would put hot water ok but back flushing is a no no. In fact it looks like the solenoid has started to melt indicating a short in it's wiring.

So a new solenoid is £50, a service is £60 and possibly the shorted steam sensor at the top of the boiler unit.

Everything inside looks old and tarnished and I'm pretty sure it won't be improving the taste of the coffee.

Is it worth repairing or should I buy a new coffee machine? I see there is a new Gaggia, although I read it's poor compared to mines. Should I look at alternatives?

Many thanks.


----------



## Dougie (Jan 27, 2012)




----------



## Dougie (Jan 27, 2012)




----------



## Dougie (Jan 27, 2012)




----------



## Dougie (Jan 27, 2012)




----------



## jimbojohn55 (Jan 15, 2016)

I think it should be repaired. solenoid - £10 - £20 SH on ebay - or just buy the coil.

The inside of the classic and the dispersion plate will clean up - even a replacement boiler just £50,

Its still got a life in it yet - but consider flating the boiler base with a sheet of wet and dry on a flat surface to get a good boiler seal ;-)

PS good to see some pictures - now do some as you clean it up and repair it


----------



## Dougie (Jan 27, 2012)

Thanks for the advise, I actually spent a bit of time on it already cleaning it lol.


----------



## timmyjj21 (May 10, 2015)

Definitely give it a clean, renew the boiler face, and a quick brass brush an a Dremel to remove scale inside the boiler. Not a typical failure, but easily fixed. Probably worth putting the top boiler half in an oven set to low temp (60-100) and leave it for a few hours. This will dry out the element insulation which may also be your source of tripping the fuse.


----------



## Dougie (Jan 27, 2012)

Well I bought a new solenoid today, cleaned it and rebuilt it. everything is fine but I do have a slight problem. I stripped to OPV and don't have anyway of testing the pressure. I screwed it right in then turned it anti clockwise 1 full turn. Is there a way of judging it?

Thanks.


----------



## timmyjj21 (May 10, 2015)

From memory there is a method that will get you close. It involves measuring the water flow rate from the head and matching it to the online graph for Ulka pump flow per minute at a give pressure. I can't remember the source, but no double Google will find it for you.


----------



## GCGlasgow (Jul 27, 2014)

Where you based @Dougie


----------



## MartinB (May 8, 2011)

I seem to recall 600ml of water in one minute?


----------



## Dougie (Jan 27, 2012)

I'm in Baillieston.


----------

