# Confused by leaking steam wand advice



## Steve_S_T (Dec 7, 2012)

Hi all. I have a leaking steam wand, a Silvia wand on a Gaggia Classic which I bought new at the end of November 2012. I'm planning to descale the machine next weekend, the two month anniversary, and have maintained it pretty well I think. Before turning it off in the evening I backflush with water (machine hot) and once a week I do a Puly Caff backflush. On Friday this week I also removed the shower screen etc and soaked them in Puly Caff for 20 minutes (with the portafilter and baskets) but was pleased to see that the grouphead and shower screen were really very clean (I pull, on average, 8 to 10 double shots a day) anyway. So I'm happy that the machine is well maintained and can't understand why this steam wand drip (it always dripped occasionally but it is now permanent) started a few days ago and seems to be gradually worsening. I know that valves and seals have a finite life span but it doesn't seem normal to me for such things to wear out in just 8 weeks.

Having searched this and other forums I know that it's probably a fairly simple problem to sort out, but I'm just a bit confused as to which one of the many solutions applies in this case. To me it feels as though the steam knob isn't quite switching off enough - it drips from the end of the wand when the machine is on, and if it's set to steam it leaks steam. For example I purge the wand before steaming milk but then when I introduce the wand to the milk it actually starts bubbling the milk before I've used the knob to open the steam valve. One post that I read suggested that there was an allen key headed bolt that can slip and prevent the knob from fully shutting off, but I can't now find that post NOR be sure that it applied to the Classic (possibly they were having the problem on a Baby). Thoughts and suggestions on this would be appreciated.

Thanks in advance,

Steve.


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## gaggiamanualservice.com (Dec 22, 2009)

to stop the dripping you will need to replace the steam valve, and i would not recommend back flush on these small machines, a lot of people do it but while at gaggia we were informed it was not a good procedure, only for commercial machines. just descale regular and clean brewhead and you will have no problems

mark


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## Steve_S_T (Dec 7, 2012)

Thanks for the advice Mark, but if you don't mind I have a few follow up questions, based on the assumption that the steam valve should not normally need replacing after just 8 weeks;

Is backflushing likely to have caused the valve to become faulty?

If the fault is not related to backflushing, have I just been unfortunate or is there anything else that can cause this to happen such as leaving the machine on for a few hours during the day?

Is this something that would be included in the warranty if I hadn't changed the wand, or if I put the standard steam wand back on, although I'm probably inclined just to replace the valve myself which will be a quicker solution if not cheaper?

Thanks again,

Steve.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk HD


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## Steve_S_T (Dec 7, 2012)

Mark, I've ordered a new steam valve from your eBay store today but didn't order any "O" rings. Could you let me know whether I need one or more of these and if so I'll order them separately.

Thanks,

Steve.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk HD


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## gaggiamanualservice.com (Dec 22, 2009)

i will include the seal, did not realise is was so new, almost sure that some debris has got into the spindle, this is not servicable. will post the valve tomorrow with the seal

mark


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## Steve_S_T (Dec 7, 2012)

Brilliant, thanks Mark. Sheer bad luck then? Is it worth descaling before fitting the new valve or does that not matter? Sorry to keep following replies with more questions.

Steve.


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## gaggiamanualservice.com (Dec 22, 2009)

cant do any harm, and ask as many questions as you wish, thats why we are here. on the backflushing side, i dont recommend it but it should not affect the valve so long as it was fully closed at the time, however if you dislodged some debris and it stayed in boiler it could get into steam valve once steam activated

mark

mark


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