Hi, I have an older Gaggia Espresso. That is the complete name. I am trying to determine what is wrong and if it might be repairable.

There is plenty of pump power for the steam wand. But when I switch over to the espresso side, the pump gets very quiet and there is no pressure for that side of the machine... the water barely drips through.
I have run cleaning fluid through the machine but it did not help and I took apart the disks to clean them as well.

I am wondering if the unit is fixable and/or worth the price to do so... I got it in 2003 or 2004.

Thank you for your help.

But did you disassemble/clean item 27 in this pdf ? - http://www.partsguru.com/user/ER0003-01.pdf

whatever is accessible from below I took apart. Do I have to remove from above item 25 (boiler assembly) and 28 to get to it?

Jeff

After you pull the showerscreeen (remove the screw, drop the screen) then remove the dispersion disk (remove the two allen socket bolts and drop the dispersion disk) there is a valve in the center that is probably stuck.

Sometimes when you turn the hex head of that valve, it will bring the whole valve out of the group - other times it will take only cap off the valve leaving the body of the valve in the group.

If just the cap comes off, then fish out the spring and the mushroom shaped plug and see if you can pump water through the boiler with that valve out - pumping water may be the way to push the mushroom shaped plug out if it doesn't fall out on its own.

Odds are that either the valve is stuck closed - or plugged up with scale.

i cannot get 24, 27, 28, and 30 separated. I am soaking them overnight in decalcifier. But do you think the valve in part 26 may be part of the problem? I've got the unit apart, but 26 won't separate from 25 either.

BTW, thanks for the help.

All of this work is done from below. If the unit pumps water fine out of the steam wand when in hot water mode and fails to send water out of the boiler in brew mode, then the likely culprit is item 27.

Item 27 is a relief check valve which allows the boiler to build up pressure when in steaming mode by sealing off the escape route through the brew head.

As you said that the water flow through the steam wand was fine, item 26 can be left untouched.

Thank YOU very much. I ended up having to take it apart from the top because the diffusion disk was so sealed in that I could not disassemble it without taking it out, putting it in a vise and tapping it with a hammer and screwdriver. Soaked in CLR overnight and scrubbed down, I reassembled and made my first cappuccino again today. You were absolutely correct, it was the valve that was jammed.

Glad to hear you got it apart. Sorry to hear you used CLR. I used CLR once on my first espresso machine and it took several gallons of water (and several weeks) before I stopped being able to taste and smell it.

Well, because I had it apart and didn't put CLR in the reservoir, I was able to wash it off. However, when I took it apart, I found a lot of mineral buildup in the diffuser.

What are the recommended cleaners or cleaning process? I've used vinegar in the past... And a LONG time ago I think I used something similar to CLR, but it took a full reservoir of water X2 to get it all out...