# How to descale a Gaggia Classic



## blueflyingtonight

How exactly do you descale a gaggia classic? I have the packet of gaggia descaler but the instructions are a bit vague. Do you switch on as if making coffee or just pump the descaler through a cold machine? Advice appreciated.

Steve


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## 5M Coffee

For best results use filtered water in your machine and descale at least once per month

Step 1: Fill your water reservoir with 1.5l of water and dissolve approx 30g of Puly Cleaner / Gaggia Descaler or similar product

Step 2: Switch your machine on and run water through the grouphead for approx 15-20 seconds

Step 3: Switch off your machine again (do not allow the boiler to warm up as descaling is best done cold)

Step 4: Wait at least 10 minutes for the descaler to soak throughout the system

Step 5: Switch the machine back on and run the water through the grouphead and steam arm until almost empty

Step 6: Remove the water reservoir and wash and dry. Fill with fresh water

Step 7: Remove shower screen and wash (scale may be caught behind it)

Step 8: Run the water completely through the grouphead and steam arm (whilst cold)

Step 9: Pull a shot and discard it (do not drink)

Your machine is now ready for use again


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## BanishInstant

Thanks for the description.


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## gaggiamanualservice.com

one more thing, you should also remove the shower holding plate and disc before descaling as the outlet can easily become blocked if left in situ. regards Mark


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## MikeHag

Bumping this, just cos I happen to be descaling today.


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## chimpsinties

Haha, you've just reminded me that I should probably do mine too. Nice one!


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## funinacup

did mine t'other night


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## PaulN

I never thought to run it through the steam wand!!!!! or have it cold........ I need to pull my finger out and do mine soon. Tend to do it every few months cause i only use the machine at weekends so not exactly having a hard life.....


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## chimpsinties

Just wanted to say. Yesterday I descaled my Classic. It's the 2nd time I've done it since buying it 2nd hand last July. This means it might be the 2nd time it's ever been done. It's never been used in hard water and I've always put filtered water through it so it wasn't that bad but still...

...Wow What a difference. I also took the shower screen off and gave that a good soak in Puly Caff. It was quite grubby. The machine is now producing absolutely fantastic coffee and it sounds better too. The water is coming out of all 4 holes of the group head perfectly and it just seems to effortless to use. I don't know if something was ever so slightly blocked before but it always sounded a bit strained.

Big improvement. I must remember to do it more regularly


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## cjbailey1

You've reminded me that it must be time to do the Silvia again. Should probably redo the classic as well. I have just stripped and cleaned the grinder, although I could do with taking the back off as it sounds like some has made its way inside the casing.


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## Freeforever

the Gaggia has been done







Though she'll need another one if she sells


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## Milesy

Out of curiousity why are Scots descaling their machines? Do you find limescale even remotely a problem? My kettle for example is 7 years old and the element has absolutely no limescale on it whatsoever so I am unconvinced about any getting into my machine? This is comparable to kettles I have seen down south with crusted elements after little time.


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## Obsy

I'm in the North East and we have 100% soft water. However, the Classic I bought had previously lived in Lancashire and hadn't seen descaler in it's life!


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## contrary

Hi guys, don't you backflush while you are descaling? I am using a blind basket to descale opv and also inside the solenoid.


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## nekromantik

For step 9 do you have to use actual ground coffee to pull a shot and discard?

Sent from my HTC One using Tapatalk 4


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## PaulN

nekromantik said:


> For step 9 do you have to use actual ground coffee to pull a shot and discard?
> 
> Sent from my HTC One using Tapatalk 4


Id say yes or youd be drink hot water...... I dont bother pulling a shot as i only descale after a weekends use but it would make sense if your planning on making coffee stright after.

Paul


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## Boswell

Just done this. Thanks


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## krf1963

Wish I'd read this earlier! Followed this except didn't leave it the 10 minutes! Best do it again methinks. Didn't mention the 10 min wait on the packet but makes sense in hindsight!


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## johnjcamilleri

How frequently one should descale seems to vary widely depending on the type of water one uses. Is there some way to test whether a descaling is necessary?


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## MartinB

Descale your kettle at the same time as your machine and monitor what the boiler would look like by looking at the element of your kettle every now and then (presuming you use the same water in the kettle!)


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## johnjcamilleri

I finally descaled again, as above, after something like a year (I know, I know...).

Question: should I be able to *see* the bits of removed scale in the discarded liquid? It looked pretty clear to me and I definitely could not see any solid bits anywhere. I live in Sweden where the water is especially soft, so it's possible that there simply was not much scale there to begin with.


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## Inspector

most likely there was not much scale built up


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## Giblet46

Hi, I've descaled mine for a second time in a week. It's a 2011 model, used for usual 1_2 shots per day in a very character area ( though I used filtered water) it stopped supplying water from the group head the other day, and having never been descaled before ( well maybe once). It resolved the issue.

However after about a week ( and first use of Cafiza), the same no water from group head appeared. So I did a more thorough descale job and hope to have a longer lasting effect!

Should it start failing again, is my best option a strip down to check the boiler for how much limescale is in there?


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## GCGlasgow

Giblet46 said:


> Hi, I've descaled mine for a second time in a week. It's a 2011 model, used for usual 1_2 shots per day in a very character area ( though I used filtered water) it stopped supplying water from the group head the other day, and having never been descaled before ( well maybe once). It resolved the issue.
> 
> However after about a week ( and first use of Cafiza), the same no water from group head appeared. So I did a more thorough descale job and hope to have a longer lasting effect!
> 
> Should it start failing again, is my best option a strip down to check the boiler for how much limescale is in there?


The OPV valve may be blocked, search on here for how to clean them properly but can take a few times before they are clear.


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## Giblet46

Quick update, but second Descaling seems to have done the trick, cheers!


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## cahal74

My 2016 classic operating instruction manual don't say to run descaler through grouphead just the steam arm. This is surely a typo


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## jimbojohn55

Ive run descaler - tartric and citric acid, through the group and the steam arm on a 2015 classic on a couple of occasions, it worked fine - don't worry about it.


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## cahal74

?


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## ChrisF

My Gaggia Classic has been in hibernation for some months. I've spent the last hour trying to descale it with Puly Caff as per the instructions on the first page. Am using PulyCaff powder in addition for the group head and trying to back flush with this... Trouble is, I think it's all so calced up that nothing is coming through the brew head at all! Do I keep trying over and over again? This is with Puly Caff in the reservoir at the same time.


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## ChrisF

Water will come through the steam wand so pump working fine. If I take the shower head off, does it need too have a new gasket put on at the same time? My apologies if all this has been covered before: I'm new to posting on the forum (having joined back in 2013 but demonstrating how absent I've been from reading the forums and actually making coffee properly! I've been using a Nes*****o machine for convenience and sacrificed taste for far too long!


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## jimbojohn55

hi ChrisF - you need to descale with tartic or citric acid - pulycaf wont remove the lime scale - it just removes coffee oils and gunk.

take the shower screen off and unbolt the dispersion plate - that should give you an idea of how scaled up your classic is, at the same time fit a new grouphead seal , cafelat silicon if you can find one


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## ChrisF

Thanks Jimbojohn. Very interesting about the citric or tartaric acid descale. I will get hold of some tomorrow and try it out. In the meantime, I'm just home from work and thought I'd give the old Gaggia another bash at getting it going again. I've taken the shower head off and then the two screws underneath that but now I can't get the next bit away from the gasket. It's almost like it's attached to the gasket. Is it meant to just come out or should it be twisted? Forced? I don't want to do any damage.


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## jimbojohn55

Its just a snug fit - heres it removed - gently lever with a screwdriver all the way around .


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## ChrisF

You are a star! Managed to get it off and it looked all corroded. Have cleaned it by soaking in Puly Caff powder (not ideal, I know but it's all I've got at the moment) and a bit of a scrub. Put it back together but sadly still only a few sad little drips from the shower head. I'll do some more descaling properly following the instructions at the start of the post (and removing the shower head) and see how I go. The machine hasn't had that much use so I'd be surprised if it's terminal.


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## M4xime

Bumping this up as I'm currently descaling my Gaggia and struggling to get the shower head out, tried pliers, lever with screwdriver, put a bit of WD40 but doesn't seem to want to come out. Any tips welcome!


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## Jumbo Ratty

M4xime said:


> Bumping this up as I'm currently descaling my Gaggia and struggling to get the shower head out, tried pliers, lever with screwdriver, put a bit of WD40 but doesn't seem to want to come out. Any tips welcome!


Use more force


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## El carajillo

Have you removed the seal ? Is it due for replacement ? If it is an old seal dig it out, this will allow more movement to remove the shower head.

If the seal is out, find a screw with the same thread as the screen screw (but longer) then use as a "jack" to remove the shower block.


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## M4xime

Yeah hadn't removed the seal yet but will do now and get replacement. I did exactly this trick which worked brilliantly:

"get hold of a screw/bolt at least 2" long of the same size as the shower screen one and with the screen off and the dispersion plate bolts undone gently screw the longer screw into the shower screen hole and keep going, it will eventually release the plate"

Same thing as what you're saying Carajillo and much easier than using force, thanks! Now to get the seal out and replace all this


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## MrSmartepants

I'm in the process of descaling my Gaggia Classic (some nasty bits coming out!). Originally I was going to simply swap the shower screen, shower block, and gasket I got from IMS but I couldn't get the shower block dislodged (still working on it). I figured descaling would help knock it loose but no joy. I like the idea of the "long-screw" trick and I'll be trying that later if I can't get the block released.


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## ChilledMatt

MrSmartepants said:


> I'm in the process of descaling my Gaggia Classic (some nasty bits coming out!). Originally I was going to simply swap the shower screen, shower block, and gasket I got from IMS but I couldn't get the shower block dislodged (still working on it). I figured descaling would help knock it loose but no joy. I like the idea of the "long-screw" trick and I'll be trying that later if I can't get the block released.


When a Classic is this scaled up it really does need a full strip down descale IMO.

Sent from my SM-A705FN using Tapatalk


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## MrSmartepants

Whoa! Okay, I got it disassembled and I think it is all original from 2006. The shower block has 3/4 water channels blocked and a lot of corrosion. The gasket (I think) is original and was so brittle that it came out in pieces. Here are some of the pictures of what I found and why regular descaling (and deep cleaning) is important.


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## El carajillo

Also using suitable WATER  :good:


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## MrSmartepants

This is why you order replacement bolts before you tear down your machine for cleaning! These boiler bolts took a LOT more force to remove than I was comfortable with, but they did come out eventually.

















Sent from my GM1900 using Tapatalk


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## Blue_Cafe

That machine has had a hard life!

Yuck.


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## MrSmartepants

Blue_Cafe said:


> That machine has had a hard life!
> 
> Yuck.


 Yeah, you could say that. 

I've taken the instructions in the 2nd post and modified them for my own use. This is what I do now, though I'm sure some of it is redundant.

For best results use filtered water in your machine and descale at least once per month (weekly in hard-water areas).

Note: Try to minimize the amount of time that the machine is switched on since the descaler works best when the machine is NOT hot.

Step 1: Fill your water reservoir with 1.5l of water and dissolve approx 30g of Puly Cleaner / Gaggia Descaler or similar product
Step 2: Remove shower screen and (optionally) shower block and set these aside.
Step 3: Open the steam valve fully and place a large mug, bowl, or other suitable waste container under the steam wand
Step 4: Switch on your machine and pump switches (Left and Right) and run descaler through the steam wand for approx 15-20 seconds
Step 5: Flip all switches off and close the steam wand. Move waste container under the group head.
Step 6: Switch on your machine and pump switches (Left and Right) and run descaler through the group head for approx 10 seconds
Step 7: Flip all switches off
Step 8: Place the shower screen, block, and fasteners into the waste mug/bowl to soak in descaler if needed.
Step 9: (Optional) Latch your portafilter fitted with a blanking basket to the machine, then switch on your machine and pump switches (Left and Right) and run descaler through the Over-Pressure Valve (OPV) for about 10 seconds, then alternate switching the pump (Right switch) off/on/off/on for a few seconds to run descaler through the solenoid valve (waste water should vent into the tray). 
Step 10: Switch off your machine again (do not allow the boiler to warm up as descaling is best done cold)
Step 11: Wait at least 10 minutes (longer if possible) for the descaler to soak throughout the system
Step 12: Remove portafilter (if used), and drain contents into tray. Remove shower screen items from mug/bowl and clean gently under fresh water. 
Step 13: Switch the machine back on and run the remaining descaler through the grouphead and steam arm until almost empty. Then switch the machine off and allow to cool.
Step 14: Remove the water reservoir and wash and dry. Fill water reservoir to the "Max" line with fresh filtered water
Step 15: Install shower screen and shower block (if removed)
Step 16: Switch on your machine and pump switches (Left and Right) and run the fresh water through the grouphead and steam arm (whilst cold) until tank is half empty.
Step 17: Pull a shot and discard it (do not drink)
Step 18: Refill water reservoir to the "Max" line with fresh filtered water

Your machine is now ready for use again


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## Giles1986

Some great advice here thanks!


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## Blue_Cafe

Use only approved/Suitable descaler in the Aluminium Gaggias.

*In clear language, this is Gaggias own.*

I could go on about the whats and the why but it just creates forum frishion. :classic_ninja:


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## Nightrider_1uk

Blue_Cafe said:


> Use only approved/Suitable descaler in the Aluminium Gaggias.
> 
> *In clear language, this is Gaggias own.*
> 
> I could go on about the whats and the why but it just creates forum frishion. :classic_ninja:


 I use Tartaric Acid in mine (I believe thats what Gaggia originally used). It's meant to be better for Aluminium Boilers i'm told. Anybody know why Gaggia switched to using Citric.


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## Stox

The bottle of Gaggia Decalcificante descaler I've just used Lactic acid based.

https://www.descaler.co.uk/gaggia-decalcificante-descaler/ (I didn't buy from this site, but it's a good description)

also

https://www.descaler.co.uk/articles/difference-lactic-citric-acid/


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## Agentb

I think it is a good idea (Step 2) to remove the shower screen and block during a de-scale, especially if you have not done one for a while. Any small flakes of scale which get dislodged will then not be caught behind the shower screen and so get stuck somewhere.

Also with the screen and shower block off it is a good time to give them a good clean, and then i do a back flush around step 15, to check that the 3-way is working and clean. 👍


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## John Albert

Seeing reference here to corroded bolts, the best freeing oil is one you can easily make at home. 50% Acetone and 50% hydraulic oil.


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## The Systemic Kid

@John AlbertWould be helpful if you gave more detail on this - source/ tech references etc so members can be better informed before they try your suggestion to free corroded bolts.


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## phario

Stox said:


> The bottle of Gaggia Decalcificante descaler I've just used Lactic acid based.
> 
> https://www.descaler.co.uk/gaggia-decalcificante-descaler/ (I didn't buy from this site, but it's a good description)
> 
> also
> 
> https://www.descaler.co.uk/articles/difference-lactic-citric-acid/


 Thanks for the interesting read.

I have never, ever see any quantifiable clear explanation of how dangerous it is to use citric acid with the Gaggia aluminium boiler. When the Gaggier Users Group was still in operation, the knowledgeable mods there said that the use of citric acid didn't really matter unless you were leaving the solution in the boiler for extended periods---they were happy to recommend it.

And then of course some people are extremely cagey about the issue and say that it is really dangerous to the aluminium.

I would love to see a clear experiment showing me just how dangerous it is to use citric acid with the aluminium boiler. Does anybody have a boiler they want to soak over several hours/days and take pictures at different time intervals so we can answer this question once and for all?


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## John Albert

Acetone is commonly used to free corroded parts and hydraulic oil on its own is known to creep all over the place combined they produce a very effective freeing agent I will find some evidence but if your wife has a bottle of nail polish remover bag a little bit of that and add an equal amount of hydraulic oil and try it on something you will be pleased. WD40 uses another oil, paraffin is think.


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