Gaggia Baby - self repair

[planetf1]

Hi,
I have a Gaggia Baby and unfortunately yesterday hardly any water came out of the group head.
Water via the wand was full pressure.


I did it's first clean with proper coffee cleaner/blanking plate (reverse flush), made sure baskets were unblocked, also removed shower head and finally the 1cm thick block behind it attached by allen bolts. All good stuff but there is no flow from behind that - we're talking moderate drips at best rather than a near jet


My suspicion therefore is that the solenoid valve is blocked/misbehaving, or the section below the boiler (whatever it is called - is it the group head?) is blocked


On my previous gaggia I have stripped down the solenoid, split the boiler, reworked with new seal, but before things get messy, any specific recommendations?

 

[shadow745]

If the 3-way is not functioning properly you should be getting that flow somewhere. If it isn't making it to the group then it should be diverted to the drip tray.

Does the pump sound labored when you try to run water through the group?

Have you tried descaling?

 

[planetf1]

Thanks for the reply.

I had thought the filtered water wasn't going to cause much scale, and also worried about any damage from descaling, but I did indeed decide try to go ahead.

Looking at the Gaggia site I saw they use a lactic acid based descaler so I opted to use the same, though I went with "oust" liquid sachets as these were readily available in asda (local supermarket). I used 2 sachets in a full water reservoir following the gaggia instructions (ie passing lots through the wand, standing for 10-15 mins) & this worked amazingly well.

Back up to full power now!

Relief!

 

[shadow745]

A typical water filter removes chlorine, lead, etc... most will do little to soften the water. For that you would need reverse osmosis, distillation or some sort of ion exchange water softening cartridge, etc.

Descaling shouldn't cause any damage, provided you don't over-strengthen the solution or let it soak an incredibly long time. I've used Durgol, sodium bicarbonate, citric acid and even vinegar for descaling and never had any damage done to aluminum, copper or brass. Some descalers can blacken chrome/nickle finishes if in contact too long.

Not familiar with "lactic" acid for descaling, but citric acid is a common ingredient in many brand name descalers. I bought 1 pound of high grade citric acid powder on ebay 4-5 years ago for about $15 (USD). Using 1-2 tsp/quart of water that 1 pound goes a LONG way.