# Gaggia Classic suddenly stopped steaming



## akpope (Aug 16, 2016)

Hi,

The steamer has worked fine for many years. Yesterday, it suddenly stopped dead.

I have back flushed using puly caff (or whatever) and also run same through from the reservoir.

When I first tried turning on the steam wand with the pump running, a trickle of water came out, which suddenly turned to a small jet (blockage cleared ??). Unfortunately, when I put the temp up to steam and turned on the steam valve, nothing came out at all.

Any suggestions ?

If it is a new symptom of the solenoid then I am quite expert at using my small bike ratchet spanner to remove and clean it (without taking out all sorts of other bits for access as others seem to do), but would rather hit the right target than scattergun trying what I have done before for other problems

Cheers

A


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## El carajillo (Mar 16, 2013)

Do you live in a hard water area? Do you descale the machine regularly ? Can you draw hot water through the steam wand?

Without dismantling the solenoid valve you are not realy cleaning it out.


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## akpope (Aug 16, 2016)

Do you live in a hard water area? not especially, but I use filtered water anyway to remove annoying flavours and that should remove the hardness.

Do you descale the machine regularly ? Yes, by back flushing once a month but also by running a commercial descaler through everything about two months ago.

Can you draw hot water through the steam wand? Yes

Without dismantling the solenoid valve you are not realy cleaning it out. Fair enough, although the descaler going through everything should have passed descaler through everything (except steam but I did run water through the wand).

So should I get my teeny tiny ratchet spanner out and go for it ?

Cheers

A


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## timmyjj21 (May 10, 2015)

The steam wand should not be affected by the solenoid.

With steam button on, does it heat up to steam pressure? ie does the light go off and on as expected? This will help check if it is a broken steam thermostat.

With steam button and Brew button on and steam knob open you should get high pressure hot water out the wand only and none out the group head. This checks if the steam valve and wand is blocked.

If you get both of these tests working, then it's likely to still be a partial blockage of the steam valve or the steam wand hole.


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## akpope (Aug 16, 2016)

timmyjj21 said:


> The steam wand should not be affected by the solenoid.
> 
> With steam button on, does it heat up to steam pressure? ie does the light go off and on as expected? This will help check if it is a broken steam thermostat.
> 
> ...


OK, now I am getting confused. As a design engineer, I expect things to work consistently and get confused when they do not follow what appears to be logic.

I have just turned on the machine, with the steam button pressed, to take the machine up to 130 degrees.

With the light on (i.e. up to temperature) pressing the brew button has no effect (exactly as wanted above) except for angry pressure valve noises as normal.

BUT with the steam button on and the brew button on, I no longer get water out of the wand when I open the steam knob, although I did earlier this morning when cleaning. I am confused by the inconsistancy in the behaviour.

Presuming that I have a blockage in the steam valve /wand, is there a recommended procedure for taking this apart that you can point me to ?

Cheers

A


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## timmyjj21 (May 10, 2015)

Yep, it sounds like a steam blockage.

The solenoid alters the group head water flow, while the steam pathway is direct from pump to OPV to boiler and out the steam valve.

If the Brew switch by itself is working as normal, then the solenoid is fine.

So start simple: remove the steam tip if using a rancilio wand, otherwise remove black plastic panorello attachment. Check if the wand is now working. If not... open the top of the machine. The steam valve is right on the top of the boiler, but is usually difficult to remove due to scale buildup around the seal. You usually need to remove the whole boiler to get access for leverage and wiggling of the valve. A forum search or google search for classic refurbs will give you the steps.

Steam valves can be opened and refurbished if you are keen and have the tools, again there should be advice on the forum and Google.


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## akpope (Aug 16, 2016)

thank you for that. The coffee is brewing fine, so I will progressively take apart the wand, looking for hints about the steam valve

cheers

A


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## akpope (Aug 16, 2016)

Thanks Guys.

I ended up just taking off the wand and using a small piece of toothbrush bristle to dislodge the blockage. After clearing, the water came out as a 2-3mm jet, rather than as a needle thin jet of water after I "Cleared" it before so I am confident that I managed to blow it out through the wide end.

I also now know a lot more about how the machine is plumbed for future works

Thanks again

A


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## timmyjj21 (May 10, 2015)

Nice.

Classics are notoriously easy to fix with just a few simple tools!


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## akpope (Aug 16, 2016)

If you want simple tools, then I can thoroughly recommend a topeak ratchet rocket lite reversible ratchet spanner. It has standard screwdriver bits, including allen heads, and makes removing the solenoid significantly easier. Costs around 25 quid and every bloke who has seen mine has gone to buy a must have toy.

Cheers

A


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