Gaggia Baby Class - faulty ?

[JonnyRocket]

I just bought a Gaggia Baby. I set it up and primed the pump as described in the manual - and pumped about a pint of clean water through it. All the time the pump was making an awfully loud noise.

I went on to make an espresso and again the pump was making a hell of a din.

I''m sure this can''t be normal. I''ve had machines before which were quiet and all you hear was the slush slush of the coffee coming out.

I checked the manual and it says it could be 1. the pump not primed or 2. no water in tank or 3. coffee ground too coarsely. Well I primed the pump as they described in the manual and it certainly isn''t any of the other 2 suggestions.

Anyone got any ideas... any other Baby owners had similar problem ?

 

[shadow745]

Is the machine used or new?

A pint sounds like alot, but there could still be some air trapped in the pump, lines, etc.

Another thing to consider would be to open the steam valve and activate the pump and make sure all air is purged from that end of the boiler as well. When I first used my machine it was loud for a bit, but smoothed out once all the air was eliminated.

Another thing I do is purge the system as soon as I turn the machine on in the morning, which ensures all air is out of the boiler(s) from the previous use. This is especially true if you steamed with the machine before turning it off. Later!

 

[shadow745]

Oh yeah... a few more thoughts.

Make sure the water inlet pipe in the water tank is submerged near the bottom, but make sure it isn't flattened out on the bottom of the tank. This can reduce the flow and make some noise. Your machine should have two pipes in the tank. One is to feed the pump (inlet) and the other is an overflow coming from the OPV (outlet).

If the coffee is too coarse there might be a little more noise, but it shouldn't be that noticeable. Signs of too coarse will be water rushing through leaving a very thin/watery shot with little taste. Finer might quiten things a bit, but shouldn't make that much difference. Later!

 

[shadow745]

Last thing I just thought about after looking at my machine.... It could be the water tank vibrating while the pump is activated. I own a KitchenAid Pro Line machine that is made by Gaggia for KA. It's basically a Gaggia Classic in KA packaging with twice the components (dual boiler machine). The housing is all die-cast aluminum and the water tank is some sort of very hard plastic. When I first bought it I noticed there was alot of noise when I'd use the machine. I traced it down to the water tank vibrating around against the housing. I removed the tank and isolated the points in which the tank made contact with the housing. I then bought some of those little felt pads for items placed on furniture with the adhesive backing and placed them on all the areas of the housing where the tank meets the metal. Now the tank slides back/forth for refilling and there is no rubbing whatsoever. The felt pads do a great job in eliminating all noise, are very cheap and are available in different thicknesses and colors. Later!