# Gaggia classic fuse blowing



## peskyfoxs (Oct 16, 2014)

I had a problem where I wasn't getting water, new pump solved that, but I wasn't getting any decent steam volume and the steam was coming on after maybe 20 seconds so something isn't working somewhere.

Now when I plug in the machine its blowing the house trip and the 13a plug fuse without evening turning on the machine ... I did have a bit of steam leakage due to not seating the steam valve correctly so I'm guessing moisture must have got in somewhere?

Any thoughts?

trying to upload pics but doesn't seem to be option to click ok when file is selected


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## peskyfoxs (Oct 16, 2014)




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## El carajillo (Mar 16, 2013)

You either have some moisture/ water bridging an electrical component OR you have an electrical short fault down to earth.Most likely the latter.


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## peskyfoxs (Oct 16, 2014)

Well when I remove the earth from the power at the back it comes on and heats up (obviously being careful not to electrocute myself ) but it's not really reaching steaming temperature, I replaced the thermostat on the top of the boiler, anyone know if this is the one that measure temp for steam ?

im leaving it for a while hoping the heat from the boiler dries out whatever is shorting it


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## MrShades (Jul 29, 2009)

You've got water in the heater elements - probably just the one on the right, near the steam valve - and this water is shorting the (unswitched) neutral to ground.

Having removed the rear earth connector, if you leave the machine on for a while, you should find that it all dries out and will work properly again - with the earth reconnected.

Yes - the stat on the top is the steam stat.


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## peskyfoxs (Oct 16, 2014)

Thanks Mr Shades, I must have bought the wrong stat, have one for steam on route now


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## peskyfoxs (Oct 16, 2014)

.


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## russe11 (May 12, 2012)

Take a look at your earth, live and neutral wire going out the back of the machine... The blue looks like it's the wrong way round with the brown. This is a pic from the internet and It is the same on any pictures I have taken of my own machines.


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## russe11 (May 12, 2012)

Now I'm not an electrician so if you change anything it's your choice I'm just telling you what I see. Here is a clearer pic. Perhaps @MrShades can take a look as he knows a lot more about Gaggia wiring than I do.


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## peskyfoxs (Oct 16, 2014)

I'll have a look in a bit, fairly sure I never touched them when taking it apart but I'll also check the other wires too


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## MrShades (Jul 29, 2009)

Yes, the blue and brown are around the wrong way at the back of the machine - but it's not unusual to find them like this anyway, and it makes zero difference to the functionality.

It simply means that the machine is connected to live permanently, and the neutral is switched on via the front 0/1 switch.

Ideally - and most safely - you want the 0/1 switch to be switching the live feed, so swap them round so that blue is on the top with brown at the bottom.

It'll make no difference to your 'tripping' issue (which you've hopefully resolved after "cooking" the elements for a while?)- but worth sorting out.


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## MartinB (May 8, 2011)

Ah yes, permanent live. I have definitely encountered this before in a Classic :/


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## Liasis (Mar 15, 2018)

Thanks for this thread, helped me figure out why my machine was tripping the mains (water in some connection somewhere!). If I unearthed the machine & set it to 'on' until the fizzing sounds stopped, turned it off, unplugged from the outlet, and then re-earthed, I was good to go. Thank goodness, because I had no idea what to do if that didn't work!


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## AllezAllezAllez (Oct 23, 2018)

Liasis said:


> Thanks for this thread, helped me figure out why my machine was tripping the mains (water in some connection somewhere!). If I unearthed the machine & set it to 'on' until the fizzing sounds stopped, turned it off, unplugged from the outlet, and then re-earthed, I was good to go. Thank goodness, because I had no idea what to do if that didn't work!


Same. This thread saved me from buying a new boiler









All good now.


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## kearneia (Jan 18, 2020)

Thanks everyone. This thread has also saved me. I had stripped down the boiler and cleaned everything. Put it all back together exactly as I found it (pictures and diagrams taken).

There was moisture on the element somewhere so disconnecting neutral and letting it fizz did the trick.


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## THB (Jun 5, 2021)

Thanks for saving my gaggia! After a deep cleaning the fuse blew and I thought the machine was gone...


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## ratty (Sep 22, 2019)

After removing and descaling the boiler I always put the boiler in the oven for an hour on 100°C (Fan) 🤣 before refitting in the machine.


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