# Cured My Slow Flow



## EN4CER (Jan 22, 2012)

I have a Gaggia Classic, under a year old. Never descaled or backflushed. Yesterday, my flow rate was obserdley slow, so I ordered some citric acid, with a view to descaling next weekend.

The water started flowing so slowly,, that the machine was unusable and I thought i would even be able to get any solution through to descale. I got a guide off here, opened and dismantled my machine. Noticed and cleaned some mushy scale blocking on of the holes of my solenoid. Feel really pround now, and means I can continue to drink my daily coffee

Is it still worth descaling?


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## TomMc (Mar 12, 2012)

In a word, yes.

There are few parts that you can't dismantle on a gaggia, and yet sods law dictates this is where a flake or two of scale will settle, presenting a nice amount of surface area for its calcium chums.

Keep it a nice short descale to protect the aluminium, but do it regularly. Every 1-2 months on my calendar I have an entry to break out the Puly Baby.

Takes 30 minutes in total, but done regularly and i've been told that you could still be using your classic in 10 years time.


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## EN4CER (Jan 22, 2012)

TomMc said:


> In a word, yes.
> 
> There are few parts that you can't dismantle on a gaggia, and yet sods law dictates this is where a flake or two of scale will settle, presenting a nice amount of surface area for its calcium chums.
> 
> ...


What method do you employer sir?


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## Glenn (Jun 14, 2008)

The machine on my bench at present is 10 years old and still going strong. It's worth descaling using the liquid descaler







for the first time then using the powder for regular maintenance.


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## EN4CER (Jan 22, 2012)

Glenn said:


> The machine on my bench at present is 10 years old and still going strong. It's worth descaling using the liquid descaler
> 
> 
> 
> ...


I,ve ordered some food grade citric acid, will that be alright?


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## jimbow (Oct 13, 2011)

I would look for something designed for espresso machine boilers ideally containing some sort of aluminium specific corrosion inhibitor.

Sent from my HTC One X using Tapatalk 2


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## seeq (Jul 9, 2011)

My classic is 10 years old this year and still going strong. In that time it has only had the seals replaced every couple of years, a thermostat replaced and could do with a new steam valve. But that's it. I descale once a month, back flush with puly once a week and back flush just once with water at the end of every day it's used.


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