# Gaggia Classic - too slow



## night&day (Jun 21, 2011)

I have a gaggia classic, which is a refurbished one that I've had for about 5 years.

It was working perfectly well, until I recently descaled it. I unscrewed the shower head bit, scrubbed the group head (which looked absolutely fine), put it back together, descaled a couple of times using puly cleaner, and then ran a couple of tanks of water through to flush it.

That all seemed to go fine, then it suddenly stopped running the water through as it should. It takes about 18 seconds from the moment I flick the switch to the appearance of the first drop of water. The machine makes that lower-pitched sound that suggests it's constipated, and the coffee takes so long to come through (it happens more or less drip by drip) that it's often cold by the time it's made and it tastes a little burned.

I was under the impression that Gaggias were fairly indestructible, so I'm assuming this is a common problem with a proper remedy. Can anyone help, please?


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## funinacup (Aug 30, 2010)

Does it take a long time for water to appear at the group head when the portafilter is not attached? It sounds a bit like your pump might be on the way out...


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## seeq (Jul 9, 2011)

It could also be the solinoid. Sometimes descaling can dislodge bits of calcium that get stuck in the solinoid. That does mean having to remove most of the internals. It's not a difficult job, but a bit time consuming.


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## MikeHag (Mar 13, 2011)

Yeah, solenoid. Easy fix. Remove, clean, refit. Plenty of posts on here about it.


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## funinacup (Aug 30, 2010)

It might also be the solenoid...


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## gaggiamanualservice.com (Dec 22, 2009)

Hi, sounds very much solenoid related. check my link out

http://coffeeforums.co.uk/showwiki.php?title=How+to+check+if+the+solenoid+is+blocked


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## night&day (Jun 21, 2011)

Thanks! I shall start on that solenoid and report back.


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