gaggia boiler and bar question

[nlp]

Hello,
I've been looking at the Gaggia "Evolution" 16100 or 16109. I believe that when I first started looking at them they were spec'd with a 17.5 bar pressure rating. Was that a hallucination?

Also, the Gaggia "Espresso" 102534 Color is spec'd with a stainless steel boiler- is or was the boiler in the "Evolution" brass or another metal & does it matter? Looking for longevity and performance- are the "Espresso" and the "Evolution" good selections in that 250$US price range?

Thanks!
Nick

 

[CCafe]

Hello,
I've been looking at the Gaggia "Evolution" 16100 or 16109. I believe that when I first started looking at them they were spec'd with a 17.5 bar pressure rating. Was that a hallucination?

Also, the Gaggia "Espresso" 102534 Color is spec'd with a stainless steel boiler- is or was the boiler in the "Evolution" brass or another metal & does it matter? Looking for longevity and performance- are the "Espresso" and the "Evolution" good selections in that 250$US price range?

Thanks!
Nick

That 17 bar is most likely referencing pump pressure. As to the boiler on small machines like this it doesn't really make that big of a difference. A copper boiler will handle chemicals better when it comes to cleaning up scale but other then that there won't be any difference you can see.

 

[nlp]

Thanks CCafe,
I'll check through the forum for cleaning tips.
Wonder how many people use water filters to reduce the amount of calcium build up and if they have if they found that it helped? I went with the Gaggia Espresso Pure.

Best,
Nick

 

[CCafe]

Well a lot of people use soft water or have a home unit that produces RO water. Most home reverse osmosis water systems don't take the water all the way down to 0 ppm. Its somewhere around 30 to 50 ppm which is well in the range of soften water. This is a good thing as pure water 0 ppm will have an acidic like property and will pit copper over time. Also water under 25 ppm is no longer considered conductive. So any machine that has a level probe will fail to work properly.

In your case I would use one or the other and this will extend the life of your Gaggia considerably.

 

[shadow745]

Yeah you don't want the purest water as it will be flat and have no taste and you will see a difference. Get some pool test strips and test your water to determine hardness, chlorine, PH, etc. before making any changes to it. We have well water with iron issues and invested about $8,000 in our system and that includes a softener (even though our water is relatively soft at 3 grains) and once the water comes into the house I think the softness is around 100-150 ppm on the test strips, which is perfect for most applications. PH is another issue as if it's too low (under 6.5 or so) it will cause the water to taste acidic and is harmful to metal plumbing fittings, fixtures, etc.

The Gaggia line is a great choice because they have alot of great features and performance for the $$$. Their tried-and-true boiler design has been the aluminum/brass hybrid with external heating elements. Alot of people dog the aluminum part of it (corrosion if horrible water is ran through them) and the size (3.5 oz. or so) but those things heat up amazingly fast and allow great temperature stability when pulling shots. I don't know much about the new stainless boilers, but I know some Gaggia fans don't care for them because it's a new concept. I've seen pics of the new boilers and it looks to me like the ones used in the standard Saeco machines, which work fine I guess.

Descaling is something that should be done every 3 months or so regardless, more often if the water is harder (over 5 grains).

Tell you what, visit this site and you'll get all the info you need on Gaggias. http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Gaggia/

Later!