I would be grateful if someone can help me. I bought a Gaggia (Viva) Espresso machine from a charity shop and it looked in excellent condition as though it was almost new.

The first time I tried it out, the water wouldn't heat up and even after being switched on for about fifteen minutes was just tepid. It worked fine the next day but today (a few weeks later) the same has happened again. The green light for the water temperature won't come on at all. The steam is working great though! It makes the milk really hot and frothy. There doesn't seem to be enough pressure either for the coffee and it comes out all weak. It does have a good crema on the top. I had to put my coffee in the microwave with it's hot steamed milk and half warm coffee.

Notice: I am by far not an expert on espresso machines, so take my comments/advice as loose thoughts...

I would open it up and check connections, might be lose or corroded. My machine randomly started popping the breaker, opened it up and found that a connection had come lose and was shorting to another cable. From there I would start checking voltages and switch functionality with a multimeter.

Goodluck
Matt

Thanks Matt for your reply. I must have a look inside it.