# Baby Gaggia flow problem



## Jacu (Jan 21, 2011)

I'm repeating this post from the Gaggie sub forum as I wasn't sure where was the best place to post it.

I bought what I considered rather expensive Gaggia system for grinding & making coffee as I thought them to be really well made & would last a very long time!!

I have a Baby Gaggia Black & a Gaggia MDF coffee grinder.

It makes good coffee, I can't argue with that & until recently (for the last 3 years) it's performed well despite the portafilter handle breaking in two because of the cheap nasty thin plastic they use in its construction.

I've kept it clean & descaled from time time to time as directed in the manual although I've never used the Puly Caff Cleaning powder or backflushed as I was totally ignorant of this until a couple of days ago.

Anyway about a month ago I started to get a very slow flow of coffee so I removed the shower plate cleaned it thoroughly (this was the 1st time this had been done) & got a needle & cleaned out all the little holes in the blasted thing.

I then did a descale, cleaned everything that I could & put it back together.

This sorted the problem out for a week or so producing a fine flow once more.

Then all of a sudden nothing, no flow at all, not a drop.

Doing a quick internet search I found the Happy Donkey site & read

"If your not getting any water to your group head then the problem usually relates to the pump.

These pumps are extremely easy to fit, just take the cover off your machine, locate the existing faulty pump and replace it with the new one.

Of course the problem could be due to a pipe blockage caused by scale build up, but if there's nothing coming through at all then you can bet your life this is what you need."

So I parted with my 30 quid or so inc p&p & the part was delivered very swiftly.

Now I must take issue with the phrase "These pumps are extremely easy to fit", I consider myself reasonably handy with a screwdriver, allen key & the like but easy would not be the adjective I would choose for the experience of changing said pump.

"Take the cover off the machine" it sounds like childs play doesn't it? Little did I know that the techniques required were more brute force & ignorance than anything else.

Anyway to cut a long story shorter I managed to get in, remove the old pump from it's housing & change it, despite the new one having a brass shaft on it unlike the white plastic one on the original & not liking the thread on the fitting very much, some more of the brute force got it together & to my slight surprise it the light came on it when I plugged it back in.

But alas the situation is exactly the same ie. no flow at all from the head although a small amount of water & steam appears to be emanating from the cappuccino frother when activated. I suppose I should have guessed it wouldn't be that "easy" especially as the pump didn't appear to making any different noises to when it was producing water to these ears.

So thanks but this donkey is not so happy & 30 poorer.

Before I waste any more of my hard earned in buying more crap from the Felicitous Ass in the vain pursuit of solving what could be "pipe blockage caused by scale build up" maybe some kind soul on here can enlighten me a little?

Is that the sort of problem easy to fix for someone as clearly cack handed as myself?

We have very hard water here in SE London but we have mostly filled the machine with mineral water.

I understand that there aren't many (any) repairers in the London area who would do a repair on a domestic Gaggia that would be worth it.


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## Glenn (Jun 14, 2008)

Replies on this thread

http://coffeeforums.co.uk/showthread.php?3128-Another-Baby-Gaggia-no-flow-problem


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