I'm in the middle of rebuilding a 2 group Gaggia GX Lever I bought off of craigslist (I'll post pictures when it's finished). I have everything put back together and tried to fire the machine up for a test run but I had to bypass the Gicar to fill the boiler and when it was full, it just kept heating until steam started spraying out of the emergency release valve. I switched the original 220V Italian power chord for a 220V domestic one and I think that I might have messed up the circuit. I know that the Gicar was working before I started taking things apart so I don't think either it or the p-stat are faulty.

Here's how it's currently set up:


Anyone know what I've done wrong?

Hi Roman....worry on the slow reply to your emails but have you heard the "no water no coffee" slogan? Our well pump died 6 days ago and we have some dire days here.....we have a lot of snow and our well is about 1/4 mile downhill from our house and the well guys came up with the following plan.....remove all the snow, get a bulldozer to aid in the giant pump pulling truck to get to the well, they pull the well out (320 feet below the surface), install a new pump and all the pipes, and have the bulldozer standing by to pull them out of the jobsite.......oh yes, and one more thing, the ground has to be frozen! We have had a warm spell here and we have forecast sub freezing temps for Friday so only 5 more days with no water but melted snow, which by the way makes CRAPPY coffee.
Bet enough of our travails.....I think what you can do is bypass the gicar for now and work out the pstat circuit, or even check to see if the pstat is working. Since it is 220, wire from the switch directly to the pstat then to the heating element and back to the switch with the gicar taken out of the circuit for now. This will solve the more pressing issue, the pressure control system. Since the gicar unhooked should not change the pstat and heating element function you can figure that out later but manual fill is not all bad, although runaway heating is not all that good.
Like I said before, draw the wiring diagram and look for some phantom circuit. Look forward to the full photo show.

well, better late than never.

Nothing wrong with european power cords. Probably that's where the error was made.

If you can find a schematic that shows numbered terminals for each device, that's easy.

More likely you're going to need to pull the switch and wires (CAREFULLY noting where each wire is connected. This wire goes to #14 etc.) Get your continuity checker out and figure out how the switch works.
Is it a one position switch or two?

Both hot leads from the cord need to go through the switch. On a single position switch, everything is powered when turned on. On a two position switch, only the LLC (gicar) is activated in position one, both the heater and LLC are activated in position two.

This guidance is GENERALLY true, however your machine may be slightly different.
Hope this helps.