# Gaggia Classic cleaning



## xiuxiuejar (Jan 24, 2012)

Sitting here at work contemplating one of my weekend posts about the fact that I've never cleaned my Classic in ten years of happy service. It's been playing in my mind so much that I couldn't sleep last night, so I ordered some descaler and backflush powder from e-bay (thank God for e-bay, it's my connection to civilization!). But then I got to thinking, WTF do I do with my new wares? How do I use them.

Now, I am going to admit that I am embarrassed at my innocence on the subject, after all I *sort of *work in the field. However, I like admiring shiny pieces of metal and am not technically minded and 'els tecnics' (the engineers) here have no idea either. The only thing one of them told me is that as the Gaggia had an aluminium boiler, I had to be careful with which products I use.

So, I ordered Puly Caff and Puly Baby. My first question would be, are these the right products? And then, how do I use them?

Thanks!!!


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## pendragoncs (Feb 14, 2011)

Never used puly baby. But have been using Puly Caff since u got the machine.

I tend to back flush using the instructions in the bottle and the for a major clean I have the following thread open....

http://coffeeforums.co.uk/showthread.php?t=1672

Hope that helps

Jason


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## RoloD (Oct 13, 2010)

Puly Baby is basically citric acid. You can buy citric acid very cheaply through eBay and it does the job just as well (a teaspoon of citric acid to a litre of water). As you say, the Classic has an aluminium boiler, so you don't want to leave the descaler sitting in there for too long (twenty minutes max seems to be the usual advice).


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## fatboyslim (Sep 29, 2011)

mmmm I just descaled and a seriously large amount of glup came out.

Glad that isn't going in my espressos.

That post pednragoncs refers to is genius.

I let half the descaler pump through (after leaving it for 10 minutes) then removed shower screen and group holding plate and let the other half drain out.

Then soaked group holding plate in descaler.

Probably going to have to majorly adjust grind tomorrow...*sighs*


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## jimbow (Oct 13, 2011)

Some people have had bad experiences after using citric acid based descalers in the Gaggia aluminium boiler. I think a lot of people remember the health scares with cooking acidic fruit e.g. lemons, rhubarb, etc. in untreated aluminium saucepans back in the 70's and 80's.

Personally, I used Gaggia's own descaling fluid, which was primarily lactic acid based if memory serves correctly. This was designed specifically to work with the aluminium boiler. Each bottle is enough for a single treatment and includes full instructions. You end up running most of the solution through the steam wand and then a little through the group head.


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## RoloD (Oct 13, 2010)

jimbow said:


> Some people have had bad experiences after using citric acid based descalers in the Gaggia aluminium boiler. I think a lot of people remember the health scares with cooking acidic fruit e.g. lemons, rhubarb, etc. in untreated aluminium saucepans back in the 70's and 80's.
> 
> Personally, I used Gaggia's own descaling fluid, which was primarily lactic acid based if memory serves correctly. This was designed specifically to work with the aluminium boiler. Each bottle is enough for a single treatment and includes full instructions. You end up running most of the solution through the steam wand and then a little through the group head.


 I read on another site Gaggia's fluid is tartaric acid, but I haven't been able to check this.

And I remember the health scares too but -

i) in our case, we are not drinking the acid (hopefully) that has been cooking in the aluminium - we've done a few fresh water flushes before we brew coffee again

ii) I am not a chemist, but if acid has a reaction with aluminium, I don't think it would be limited to citric acid. Tartaric would, I believe, have a similar effect.

So I will carry on using citric acid to descale my Gaggia until I have found a good reason not to. All branded descalers are basically a very expensive way of buying basic chemicals. The most exotic descaler I've heard of is Durgol Swiss Espresso which is basically amidosulfonic acid marked up by a factor of 10.

But, as always, I am ready to be refutated by anyone with the knowledge.


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## jimbow (Oct 13, 2011)

I am no chemist, and I look forward to being corrected by people who know more about these matters than me









I think the concern over citric acid is that it reacts with aluminium to form aluminium citrate which is more readily absorbed into the human body. If it is completely flushed out then this should not pose any risk as RoloD pointed out.

I believe the other thing that should happen during the descaling process is that the inner surface of the aluminium boiler is passivated so that it will not react with the hot water/steam subsequently heated within the boiler. I believe the presence of some sort of oxide within the descaling solution should do this but unfortunately this is way beyond my school-boy chemistry


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## xiuxiuejar (Jan 24, 2012)

I think you're all trying to scare me before I begin (ha ha!) I will use the Puly Baby and then run 2-3 tanks of water through - that should be enough to clean / dilute any acids! My fear is that I've never done this and my scale will be beyond repair! I use bottled water only which I suppose will help but the bottled water has minerals so there should be some limescale. I don't want to see that grey water come out as it will put me off drinking my espressos!


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## rodabod (Dec 4, 2011)

I usually take the shower screen and group head element out first, and soak them in a bowl of descaler. Meanwhile, I flush as described elsewhere, leaving the descaler in for say, 10-20mins, except I usually recycle the descaler back into the reservoir for the first few flushes as the descaler usually still has life in it. I avoid pouring any sediment back into the reservoir.

Letting the machine warm up (say for 20s or so) can help the reaction. Avoid letting it boil though.

For the backflush, I make up a strong dose in the blind basket and similarly leave it for a while after performing the first backflush, before backflushing with fresh water a few times.


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## xiuxiuejar (Jan 24, 2012)

Thanks to everyone for the tips. Finally descaled today after 10 years. Despite using only bottled water, descaling liquid came out nice and cloudy. The water still wasn't 100% clean after 20 minutes soaking but I suppose it will be a gradual process for me. Next month I'll do it again. One unexpected result, I expected the water to come out quicker, but I had to tamp a little less and grind coarser afterthe clean. Suppose it has to do with incleased flow rates and less pressure. Who knows? Not me!!!


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## rodabod (Dec 4, 2011)

Did you remember to pop the shower plate and grouphead element out? They usually get bunged up and will catch any chalk that gets freed-up.


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## xiuxiuejar (Jan 24, 2012)

If your talking about the screw and the screen, yes. I took it out just in case the powder hadn't fully disolved and to clean behind it. What's the element?


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## jimbow (Oct 13, 2011)

It is sometimes called the dispersion block or shower screen holding plate. It is the cast aluminium block under the shower screen. You can remove this - it might require some gentle persuasion







- and then clean the block itself, underneath it and the mouth of the pipe beyond it.


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## xiuxiuejar (Jan 24, 2012)

Oh well, next time then! It took me 10 years to descale, one step at a time!


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## rodabod (Dec 4, 2011)

It's just fitted with two allen bolts. It'll take you 2 mins to pop out. I bet it's full of coffee grounds and crap


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## xiuxiuejar (Jan 24, 2012)

OK OK you've convinced me! When I get home tonight!


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