# Gaggia Classic - coffee 'flow' never starts...



## winst0n (Apr 9, 2013)

Hey guys,

I've had a look around for the same problem, can find similar but not exactly the same I don' think, so -

My Gaggia is only a few months old, it was working fine until this morning, when the coffee just never started to flow out of the portafiller. I did my usual, put it on and the pump comes on with it's usual noise, then at the point when the coffee starts to extract, nothing. So I tried again, easing up on my tamping pressure, still nothing. Tried again with a coarser grind and less pressure still, nothing. A lot of water flows down the small silver pipe when I switch the pump off again, and sometimes there's a pool of water sat on top of the coffee inside the basket. Water flows out if I turn the pump on with no portafiller attached, and with the portafiller attached but with no coffee in the basket.

My suspicions after reading this forum are that one of small bits inside is blocked (I think I'm in a pretty hard water area, too.) Should I pursue de-scaling (things I'm just leaning about today, so bear with me) first, or is this unlikely to help? Really don't want to have to take the thing to bits - I'm not sure of a warranty, I got it in January so I'm hoping it's still covered.

Apologies if I'm posting asking for help with things I an find on here, there's a lot of posts so I'm still looking, just wanted to throw something up in case anyone had any ideas.


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## The Systemic Kid (Nov 23, 2012)

Don't apologise - this is the right place to ask questions and seek answers. Sounds as if you've got a blockage somewhere. It would be a good idea to first do a de-scale and backflush. For the former you need something like Puly Descaler. Avoid general descalers - they can be harsh on your Classic's aluminium boiler. As for backflushing, you will need something like Puly Caff. For backflushing, you put a teaspoon of Puly Caff in blank basket. If you haven't got one, you can improvise by cutting something rubbery to fit in the bottom of your portafilter basket - must be a snug fit. Take off the shower screen from under the brewhead - think it's a Philips screw. Attach the portafilter to the brewhead with the Puly Caff in it and flick on the brew switch for about five secs. As the pump labours, flick off the brew switch and you should hear a discharge down the chrome pipe. Repeat several times. Flush the system thoroughly with fresh water. Reassemble the shower screen - don't over-tighten it. Good trick is to tighten it right up and then back off have a turn so next time it will come off easily. If this doesn't sort your problem - come back to the forum. If you are in a hard water area use filtered water, e.g. Brita or Volvic bottled.


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## Big Tony (Dec 18, 2012)

First question from me is 'what grinder are you using?'

Second 'was it working prior to this?' If so, detail you coffee dose, brand and extraction time.


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