# Cleaning Gaggia Classic - getting shower holder off



## sn0rkle (Sep 19, 2009)

I have been getting into my coffee over the last year or so, but have only been using a stove top.

I recently decided to take the plung and purchased a second hand Gaggia MDF grinder and Classic machine from fleabay.

They both arrived in a right old state! Grinder was still full of beans and smelt bad









After over coming my fears because as im not very mechanicaly minded I have had the grinder apart all the way to taking the top plate out and cleaned the grinding chamber out, reassembled and calibrated it. And it still worked! *phew*.

I have had the shower head of the Classic off, the inside of which was pretty disgusting, properly clogged up. So i have cleaned this up and spent a good few hours putting descaling stuffs through it and flushing it through.

Now, it appears that their are 4 holes around the outside of this shower holder underneath the shower head for the water to come out.

Unfortunatley the water is only coming out of three of them! I have tried to undo the two bolts in the holder, but i cant get them undone









Any advise on how to get it off would be very welcome.

Also, is there anything else i should be doing to clean my machine or grinder?

Thanks in advance! Matt


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## beandoctor (Jul 27, 2009)

Oh dear, i have a machine in my workshop with exactly the same fault, if it was my own machine i would attempt to drill the bolts out and redo the thread, as the one in my workshop is under an extended warrenty i've ordered up a new bottom half of the boiler et al to go with it, the repair bill by the time vat, courier charges and everything else is added on is over £200, in my opinion not worth it but luckily for them the insurer is paying out.


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## Whrrr (Sep 15, 2009)

I went through the same "restoration" process last night with an ebay machine! The thing that got those two bolts out was a long-handled alan key. Tighten it clockwise ever so slightly and then try untightening it. It did need quite a bit of leverage and I had to make sure the gunk was all cleared out of the alan socket so it didn't round off the corners.


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## sn0rkle (Sep 19, 2009)

Thanks guys, i got a long handled alan key and wedged one end in a big adjustable spanner and gave it some gip.

I finaly managed to get them both open, after a lot of prangs and swearing!

It was pretty mucky inside, and now its all cleared out everything is flowing much better!


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