# Gaggia Coffee - driving me nuts!



## julescoffee (Feb 8, 2009)

Hi Everyone,

I do so hope you can help.

We have a 5 year old Gaggia Coffee, which we paid a lot of money for but have used maybe a dozen times....

It's always dripped at the portafilter since we bought it, but I let the OH convince me this was normal. Anyway, we decided that the machine needed to be used, so we cleaned it out, used Gaggia descaler etc. (Should we have removed the filter plate and cleaned under there too?)

We then set it up for espressos and it now spits very hot coffee absolutely everywhere but into the cups. We've checked the portafilter nozzles, and the rubber crema filter inside and everything looks normal & clean.

I think we need a new portafilter but OH disagrees. This is £400 worth of machine going to waste, and it's enough to try the patience of a saint.

Please, can anyone help?

Thanks

Jules


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## Glenn (Jun 14, 2008)

Hi Jules

Sounds like a £3 group gasket might be the answer.

These harden over time and when a seal is not formed against the top of the portafilter you get little jets of water squirting out everywhere.

I would recommend removing the showerscreen before descaling to let the larger scale particles come through easily.

Where are you based?


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## julescoffee (Feb 8, 2009)

....North Somerset.

I thought about the seal, but the spewing is mainly from the nozzles on the bottom of the portafilter now, although it does still drip from the top.

We aren't coffee experts, but this is spoiling our enjoyment. Could kick myself for not taking the Gaggia back to House of Frase and getting them to sort it when we first bought.

Thanks

Jules


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## LeeWardle (Nov 16, 2008)

Hi Joules,

Hmmmm. A couple of questions.

What kind of coffee do you use in it? Is it a pre-packaged ground coffee? Or do you grind it yourself? the fack that it is "spitting out of the spouts" suggest to me that the coffee is too course. It it is really course then the water will really fly out of the porta filter rather than "pour".

Where in North Somerset are you? If you are ever in North Devon I would be happy to look at the machine for you Free of charge. It sounds like something fairly simple to sort.

Feel free to give me a call and talk it over. I can always drop into you if I'm in the area. I'll only charge you a cuppa!

Kind regards

Lee

Resident engineer!

07917 420873


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## wizzard (Jan 4, 2009)

I thought a flywheel drives your nuts









Sorry just couldn't resist it


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## julescoffee (Feb 8, 2009)

Wizzard....that's far too technical.

We aren't in North Devon often, but we'd take a trip out in the car just to get this dang thing fixed, carbon footprint or no. Alternate, don't hesitate to email me if you're up this way (our house is 5 mins off the M5 WsM junction)

We're using Lavazza Espresso, which is powder-fine, so not sure that's the problem. My theory (although weak) is that loose scale is behind the filter plate, and it needs to come off and be cleaned out. Trying to get my OH to do this though is another matter entirely. I would do it myself but I can't loosen the blinkin' screw!

Actually, I can't see that loose scale would cause such violent spewing, but I have been known to be wrong about mechanical things before.......

I did manage to put the Lavazza to use yesterday. I made some fabulous Espresso & Dark Chocolate sauce for our crepes!

Jules


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## jpmort (Jul 2, 2009)

I just came across your post and wondered if you managed to sort the problem out? One thing that you might think is worth trying is to remove the shower screen and celan what you see. If that has scale in it then you might consider stripping down the boiler if that is within what you are comfortable doing. I say this because I have found that my machine collects scale and other 'stuff' in the boiler and the machine really benefits from a good manual clean out.

However, I would like others views on this type of cleaning, just incase it is not recommended for all machines. I h ave a gaggia espresso.

John


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