# Gaggia Classic very weak flow - can anybody help?



## apostrophe

Hi

I have a Gaggia Classic purchased new 3 years ago. It gets used most days and gets a weekly clean (backflush with pulycaff) and about every 3 months a de-scale. We are not in a hard water area. The flow started to get really slow a while ago so I gave it a clean/de-scale and it seemed to pick up for a while. The pump was getting very noisy so I got a new one (same as original) and fitted it. There is still virtually no flow at all even with the shower-head plate and the alloy plate above it removed (i.e. a few drops a minute not even a 'stream'). The pump is picking up water, the heater element works and the steam production is fine. I'm really reluctant to pay someone to fix this. Is there anything I can do to investigate further and fix or isolate the problem?

Cheers

Rob


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## seeq

When you run the pump does it struggle? And do you get a lot of water coming out of the return pipe into the tank?


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## apostrophe

Yes, seems to be quite a lot returned to the tank but to be honest I've never looked at the amount of return when it was working well. What controls the flow out of the boiler and into the coffee. Is it just the pump or is there a valve too?

Cheers

Rob


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## jimbow

It is difficult to say for sure but it sounds like the solenoid valve could be blocked. There are a few guides knocking arou nd on diagnosing and replacing.


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## gaggiamanualservice.com

check my thread, could help you

http://coffeeforums.co.uk/showwiki.php?title=How+to+check+if+the+solenoid+is+blocked


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## apostrophe

Thank you seeq, jimbow and gaggiamanualservice. I stripped the machine and cleaned the 3-way valve by soaking overnight in de-scaler. All now reassembled and seems as good as new.

Rob


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## seeq

Good news, nice to hear someone fixing a machine


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## MikeHag

This is such a common problem with the Gaggia Classic, maybe it could be made a sticky in the Gaggia board?


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## Graham

What dose the 3way valve look like?

ive just removed 2bolts that are on the side with a electrical component there is 2 o rings should I be able to blow through both of these. Can I find an exploded diagram of the classic machine?


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