# Think i've a pressure problem with my Classic



## brewski (Jan 4, 2015)

Hi, I purchased a classic almost year ago refurbished/serviced (through these very forums!







) but I never had any luck getting anything decent out of it. No matter what i did, my Espresso shots came out in about 7-8 seconds flat. I didn't have a grinder, so I tried grinding it using the in-store grinder at Booths, I tried buying some at Starbucks, having it Espresso ground then rushing home with it to try it, even brought some back from Rome and used it the same day to no avail. I tried hand-grinding using a Skerton, but it was either 8 seconds flat or the machine choked, no in-between. I put it down to either me being useless with it (tried adjust dose, with scales, from 12-18g), tried a bottomless PF (that spurted everywhere) and in the end gave up and the machine has sat little used for nearly all that time.

Queue Christmas, and a friend bought a fancy new machine, thought i'd give it a go again. I googled my problem/searched the forums and i've ordered the bits for a pressure gauge thinking I need to do the OPV mod (it's a 2001 machine with non-pressurized baskets) but last night I was browsing the forum and came across someone describing water being returned to the water tank. I have tested with a blind basket, and no water is ever returned to the tank, the pump just goes quiet (with the blind basket in) and when i switch it off it shoots water out of the steel pipe, but the nipple in the tank - nothing.

Does this sound like a faulty OPV? Any tips on what to do? I'm waiting for my gauge bits to come, and i've also ordered some Puly Baby and Caff to descale and backflush, but i'm not sure how much it'll help.

Thanks,

Paul


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## Norvin (Sep 10, 2014)

Sounds like the OPV is stuck closed so that full pressure is going through the group head.

I would disassemble and give it a good clean/descale.


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## timmyjj21 (May 10, 2015)

Agreed. The OPV sounds stuck. You can access it without removing the entire boiler unit, and often just opening it up and cleaning it does the job. Expect there to be scale deposits binding the internal threads and stopping it from being adjusted easily, so you can add some citric acid powder straight into the opened OPV to help get things loose.


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## brewski (Jan 4, 2015)

Thanks for the advice, i'll give the OPV a de-scale at the weekend and see how it goes! Is this something you've seen before?


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## froggystyle (Oct 30, 2013)

Its something that happens when not looked after, used with hard tap water.

Strip it, clean it and try again, if all ok then use bottled water going forward.


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