Hey folks,

My friend tasked me to repair his Gaggia Classic. Plugged it in, warmed it up, turned on the group head switch and voila - water came pouring out of every nook and cranny of the machine. Not a drip from the group head. Descaled it thinking maybe residue was pushing water up through the boiler (building up deliciously dangerous pressure) and causing it to leak elsewhere. Didn't solve the problem, so I opened up the frame, ran hot water and watched it leak from the boiler. Turns out that when I completely removed the boiler and other components, a good 1/5 of the boiler dislocated itself from the rest of the boiler. I'm guessing that calcification had caused unequal pressure to slowly chew at this over time. Anyone else ran into this or a similar problem?

Best,
Aaron

That looks more like freeze damage, but at this point the cause is not important. With aluminum boilers, prevention is the better part of valor (as opposed to the "cure" which is descaling).

Randy G. wrote:That looks more like freeze damage

+1
Someone put it away without emptying the boiler. Maybe shipped it that way during the winter. Or left it it an unheated attic or basement.
Toast !