Gaggia classic operating temperature?

zagmund

The coffee coming from my classic has been pretty yuck recently and I'm trying to work out what is broken. The coffee going in and the people making the coffee are the same as ever, so there's no variation on that side.

I haven't had a chance to take it apart and clean it out but will do that in the next few days.

In the meantime can anyone say what temperature it should be operating at? If I know that I can check it and see if maybe the problem is insufficiently hot water.

Thanks,

z

Vexorg

Have a read of 3(b) Proofing the machine here.

89c seems to be what you are aiming for.

zagmund

Yeah, I reckon being at 66 degrees probably accounts for the issue.

Next step - how to check/fix boiler?

z

donnacha

I'm guessing you might need a new thermostat for the boiler - though you'll probably need to do a bit more research first.

You'll easily source a replacement on Ebay. Here is a simple enough guide to replacing it:

zagmund

Thanks - will have a bash at the machien over the weekend when I have time. When you think about it, there's really only so many things it could be and the thermostat is most likely. It steams up reasonably well so it's not like the element is kaput.

z

zagmund

I had a go over the weekend. After cleaning several years of gunk out of the machine, putting it back together and flushing it with cleaner a couple of times things tasted a whole lot better. I didn't replace the thermostats. The polystyrene cup test revealed temperatures in the mid 70s so it's not optimal but it still tastes a lot hotter (and nicer) than it did last week.

I got distracted, but will investigate the whole temperature thing in the future. The steamer has no problem steaming, so it's not like the element is totally kaput.

z