# Old gaggia d90 external pump always on, should it be? Help.



## Finbar (Feb 2, 2015)

Hi everyone,

I'm starting a coffee shop in derry. I bought an old Gaggia d90 before Christmas. It was in a hundred pieces when I got it , put it together, painted it up, looks great. works fine. However the external motor that I bought is always engaged. The pressure is in the green at 7 or 8 bar always. Is this normal for the pump always to be on or should it only engage when pressing button for pulling a shot. Your help would be greatly appreciated on this. Thanks


----------



## Glenn (Jun 14, 2008)

Don't forget to get the machine's boiler checked out and safety certified too


----------



## El carajillo (Mar 16, 2013)

Not familiar with that machine but I would have thought the pump should only run when brewing, then at 9 bar when ramped up.

Important thing as Glenn said,have boiler professionally checked and certificated.


----------



## coffeechap (Apr 5, 2012)

The pump will only come on when brewing coffee and when backfilling the boiler or on initial boiler fill set up. Get it checked and pressure tested


----------



## funinacup (Aug 30, 2010)

Finbar said:


> Is this normal for the pump always to be on


No. Have it checked. It may be overfilling or be a dodgy connection / electrical issue.


----------



## espressotechno (Apr 11, 2011)

Is the boiler overfilling when the pump is running ?

Try disconnecting the water level probe wire & earthing it against the boiler casing. If the pump stops, fit a new probe (The old one is contaminated).

If the pump keeps running, there is probably a fault on the control PCB.


----------



## Finbar (Feb 2, 2015)

Thanks everyone for your advice, yes I would have thought pressure should sit at mains 3 or 4 bar then up to 9 for the shot. I was worried damaged could be done either to the pump and motor or the machine or both. I will ask service guy when he comes to certify machine. I just wanted to try and solve all the problems myself before getting him out. Thanks again.


----------



## espressotechno (Apr 11, 2011)

Pump motors have an overheat cutout, which resets after about 20-30mins when the motor has cooled down.

As long as there's water in the pumphead, it will be OK to run on.


----------

