# grinds in the steam wand?



## GrahamS (Aug 27, 2015)

when i preheat the cup with water from the boiler, I have what appears to be a few grains of coffee in the bottom - has anyone else seen this? the solenoid works, so I can't understand how it gets back there, but can't think what else it could be. any ideas?


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## h1udd (Sep 1, 2015)

Mould or corrosion ?

time to stick a brush up the wand ?? ... I don't see how anything other than steam can get in the wand, do corrosion or lack of cleaning had to be a possibility

think I would also descale and flush a few tanks of water through her as well ... Making sure you run the steam a lot


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## shaunclarke (Nov 30, 2011)

I tend to warm my cups up through the group and I often get a few grains of coffee in the cup despite my meticulous cleaning efforts after every use.


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## GrahamS (Aug 27, 2015)

It certainly looks like coffee, not mould or corrosion, i'll run a load of water through - and give it another descale and cafpuf


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## jeebsy (May 5, 2013)

It happens.


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## h1udd (Sep 1, 2015)

how ? .... I have had coffee machines for years SB, HX, Lever ... I have never managed to get grinds out of the steam wand.

how does anything get back into the boiler ... I dont get it


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## jeebsy (May 5, 2013)

What the op says in the thread isn't really reflective of the title


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## GrahamS (Aug 27, 2015)

jeebsy said:


> What the op says in the thread isn't really reflective of the title


it's pretty close, the steam wand is dispensing hot water, so it's probably a hot water wand, but you know what i mean


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## jeebsy (May 5, 2013)

Preheat the cup with water from the steam wand?


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## GrahamS (Aug 27, 2015)

yes, doesn't everyone?


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## jeebsy (May 5, 2013)

Don't think so. The group would be the more obvious place.


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## Rob1 (Apr 9, 2015)

I preheat my cups with the cup warmer tray like a lunatic.


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## Missy (Mar 9, 2016)

I use the steam wand. If I use the group I get bits of coffee in my coffee...


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## jeebsy (May 5, 2013)

The world's gone mad


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## Mrboots2u (May 10, 2013)

I don't heat the cup at all- lunacy


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## Daren (Jan 16, 2012)

My coffee heats my cup


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## GrahamS (Aug 27, 2015)

Missy said:


> I use the steam wand. If I use the group I get bits of coffee in my coffee...


yep, exactly - and the cup warmer on the top is ok if the machine has been on for hours and the cups been on it for hours, but if it hasn't it's pretty useless


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## risky (May 11, 2015)

I also don't pre heat cups. If they get a bit warm from being on top of the machine then so be it, but I wouldn't purposefully heat one. Especially relevant on the classic where pulling any hot water through the machine before pulling a shot is going to make it very temperature unstable.


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## GrahamS (Aug 27, 2015)

ok, so lets forget the cup warming - I get a small amount of coffee grinds coming out of the hot water wand, if I am making an Americano


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## Missy (Mar 9, 2016)

GrahamS said:


> ok, so lets forget the cup warming - I get a small amount of coffee grinds coming out of the hot water wand, if I am making an Americano


But HOW can we forget the cup warming now?!? You've opened up a rabbit hole of horror!


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## jeebsy (May 5, 2013)

GrahamS said:


> ok, so lets forget the cup warming - I get a small amount of coffee grinds coming out of the hot water wand, if I am making an Americano


You don't use the steam wand for water for americanos, do you?


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## GrahamS (Aug 27, 2015)

jeebsy said:


> You don't use the steam wand for water for americanos, do you?


well i did think of making several espressos, and running them through filter paper to remove all traces of coffee, so I ended up with hot water, but that seemed silly.

Maybe the hot water dispenser is just for making instant coffee - saves having a kettle I guess.....


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## jeebsy (May 5, 2013)

It's a steam wand


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## jlarkin (Apr 26, 2015)

Which machine is it?


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## GrahamS (Aug 27, 2015)

jeebsy said:


> It's a steam wand


 and hot water dispenser


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## GCGlasgow (Jul 27, 2014)

I'm confused...a classic doesn't have a hot water dispenser.


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## GrahamS (Aug 27, 2015)

either my signature is correct, and I know less than I did, or I've stumbled upon a secret function!


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## GrahamS (Aug 27, 2015)

jlarkin said:


> Which machine is it?


2005 Classic


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## MrShades (Jul 29, 2009)

Steam switch on, steam valve open - and importantly - pump on also, and you get hot water from the steam wand, yes.


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## GCGlasgow (Jul 27, 2014)

Well it does have a hot water dispenser...if I sell mine i'm adding a tenner on now with this new feature


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## jeebsy (May 5, 2013)

You hit the steam switch, and open the steam valve, and the liquid comes out the steam arm....does the use of the word steam not give a clue as to its intended purpose? Why not just use the group if you want hot water?


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## GrahamS (Aug 27, 2015)

jeebsy said:


> You hit the steam switch, and open the steam valve, and the liquid comes out the steam arm....does the use of the word steam not give a clue as to its intended purpose? Why not just use the group if you want hot water?


no, you open the valve, hit the steam switch *and the pump switch*, and it dispenses hot water from the steam/hot water wand - as described in the Gaggia manual.


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## jeebsy (May 5, 2013)

Weirdos.


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## GCGlasgow (Jul 27, 2014)

Maybe I could suggest a kettle?


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## GrahamS (Aug 27, 2015)

I know, reading the manual, where will it end


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## Missy (Mar 9, 2016)

Kettles are for tea... It's the boily boily bubbles that are the clue.


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## GrahamS (Aug 27, 2015)

GCGlasgow said:


> Maybe I could suggest a kettle?


 and a heaped spoonfull of Nescafe. No point getting the gaggia all hot and wet, is there?


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## GCGlasgow (Jul 27, 2014)

Wish I never started reading this thread....


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## risky (May 11, 2015)

Visualising so many people hitting their head against things just now.


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## Missy (Mar 9, 2016)

GCGlasgow said:


> Wish I never started reading this thread....


Awwww... But it's all mysterious like. Let's get back to basics and think no more on the dodgy stuff folk do with their kit when they think nobody is watching.

What are those black bits in his wand?!

Have you tasted them? Squished them between your teeth? Looked at them with a magnifying glass?

(We had an infestation of things that looked like coffee grounds on the bathroom sink. On closer inspection they wriggled!)

If they do turn out to be grounds... How are they getting up there? Some kind of negative pressure? The coffee equivalent of a toddler stuffing things in the DVD player? Poltergeists?

In all seriousness it's obviously a serious question now we've established the black bits are emerging when the pump is running water through the wand.


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## GrahamS (Aug 27, 2015)

It's Schrodingers coffee machine - it can and can't dispense hot water from the steam wand, unless you observe it dispensing water, in which case it can.









However, getting back to the original question, coffee grounds in the steam wand.....


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## MrShades (Jul 29, 2009)

Are you 100% certain that they are coffee grounds?

Do you use a Brita filter or similar to prepare your water?


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## Yes Row (Jan 23, 2013)

The water is all coming from the same place so they will be in the group too?


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## GrahamS (Aug 27, 2015)

MrShades said:


> Are you 100% certain that they are coffee grounds?
> 
> Do you use a Brita filter or similar to prepare your water?


not 100% no, but it certainly looks like coffee, and it isn't magnetic. don't use brita, we don't have hard water.


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## GrahamS (Aug 27, 2015)

Yes Row said:


> The water is all coming from the same place so they will be in the group too?


I expect so, but the only water I inspect from the group has come through a coffee puck, so I expect to see some grinds in the bottom of the cup - and even with a mug under a filterless group, I wouldn't be suprised if some coffee was flushed out - the suprise is that it appears to be sucked back into the boiler.


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## risky (May 11, 2015)

Possible the rubber o seal in the steam arm or one between the arm and the boiler has degraded and is starting to break up and enter the steam arm?


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