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Gaggia Classic Not Pumping

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  • mulquemi
    replied
    Mark,
    Great to know you have finally got the coffee flowing again,your problem was a very tricky one to diagnose,you have achieved a nice satisfying fix there, in the end,it's a pest you had to replace the whole pump.
    If you have nothing else to do in your idle moments,would it be worth wiring it up (carefully...with the electricity) and see if it pumps from a bucket,might have to prime it though......as if you had a window of time without pressing domestic obligations that is!
    cheers
    Mick.

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  • dmbassett
    replied
    Bread = thread

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  • dmbassett
    replied
    Old pump next to new $29 ulka ex5 pump...
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    Fitted it this morning an hey presto the machine lives another day. Sounds slightly different now I suppose I got used to my old pump dying. It was 10 years old and used hard. I suppose this problem with my machine was hard to diagnose because the machine would work intermittently. After stripping every part of the machine down several times I now suspect that the issue was with the plastic internal parts of the ulka pump. They had worn away. Specifically the little ball thing. It was supposed to be round but had rounded off to an oval and I think this would move around when the pump was running and sometimes form a seal and pump and sometimes not. Hey that's my thinking anyway. Thanks for the tips and advice everyone hopefully this bread will help others when their 10 year old classic starts acting up. Not a bad result for $40 inc shipping fix!
    http://youtu.be/QWQS3AUe2mk

    Mark [emoji1][emoji1][emoji1]

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  • LeroyC
    replied
    Wow, you've really gone as far as you can go. It's very informative that's for sure. Everything I'd read had always said that I the pump works when tested then it's not the pump. But maybe this is one situation where it's no so black and white and it can test ok without working properly the way it's supposed to. I'm really hoping you get a result in the end and I'm looking forward to seeing how it goes.

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  • dmbassett
    replied
    Hey nick not resolved just yet but I suspect the little plastic ball is at fault. It's not round anymore and a lot smaller than it should be so not foaming a seal. But yes very easy to take apart and clean. I'm thinking new pump for about $30

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  • mulquemi
    replied
    dmbassett,
    Wonderful news that things with your machine are resolved now,I did enjoy your posts..so easy to follow with all the images,thank you and I'm sure now lot's of others are more aware of the simplicity of the pump and that "I can do that " attitude.
    Cheers
    Mick

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  • dmbassett
    replied
    Found the ball! It was on my workbench. Seems smaller than it should be though so this could explain the lack of pump?
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    Sitting on top of the piston...
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    Sitting on the spring...
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  • dmbassett
    replied
    http://ulkapumprepair.blogspot.com.a...site-page.html

    Found this site which shows the pump in bits. I think I've found my issue. There is supposed to be a small plastic type ball which sits on top of the piston and mines not there!!!!! After 10 years plus of daily use maybe it wore away! People on the site linked above talk about the ball getting smaller and smaller over time. The ball is made of some thing called Dreamliner?? It's the ball near the number 2 here:-
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  • dmbassett
    replied
    Hey mick took your advice and stripped the pump. Looked clean and free in there. Stretched the top spring and soaked the bits in citric acid. Only question I have is about the top piece that the outlet hose connects to. Does it have a one way valve in there because I tried blowing through it and I could not but sucking hard on the outlet metal bit did release something and I could suck through the piece. Pics below but it's back together now and making noise but no water flow.
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  • mulquemi
    replied
    dmbassett,
    Thanks again for the video,sounds exactly like your pump is working fine and then hesitates during flow (brew),the clean out of opv and solenoid was not wasted time anyway...!
    Your pump sounds as if something's floating around that is causing the variation of flow,its really a simple bit of engineering and well within most peoples ability to disassemble and clear,important thing is to keep track of how it disassembles and reverse that procedure when re assembling.
    Sometimes the tiny stainless springs can fracture and cause similar problems,I find if the spring bits are cleared and then stretch the shorter length spring remaining to give good tension...it works fine.
    See how that goes otherwise another pump is in order.
    Cheers
    Mick

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  • dmbassett
    replied
    Sorry for the delY but I've since taken the classic apart AGAIN and soaked the solenoid valve and the opv in citric acid. I blew air through the holes and ther are NO BLOCKS at all. On putting it back together nothing. No water flow. I decided to take the pump outlet off again as I needed to see if water was actually getting to the OPV and surprise surprise no water came out for about 30 seconds then all of a sudden it started to flow. Back together and water came out of the group and wand. Success! But not so fast. When I turned the pump off and back on the pump went back to a quiet sound and no water then all of a sudden it kicked in and water flowed. This keeps happening so I'm thinking the pump is 99% dead and struggling to pump. I made a video linked below and if you turn the volume up you can here the pump TRY and kick in until it does right at the end. Now if I turn it off it dies again. Video explains better. So CS gurus could the pump be aba out to die? I think we can see there are no blocks anywhere.

    http://youtu.be/QpTYH5DZPGg

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  • mulquemi
    replied
    dmbasset
    Just checking with you for progress with your classic?
    I've some spare parts you could have for the postage cost and replaced parts posted to me if that helps.
    Otherwise I'm always interested in another classic for repair!
    Cheers
    Mick
    QUOTE=dmbassett;542280]Hey Mick

    I don't get the nice click when you turn the brew pump on just the sound of the pump. It used to make that snappy click sound. Definitely thinking solenoid. Not being good with electrics ( more mechanical ) not sure how to test it. ?[/QUOTE]

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  • LeroyC
    replied
    Here's what they look like now. Much better.

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  • LeroyC
    replied
    Here's what my group head and boiler looked like. Yuck.

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  • LeroyC
    replied
    As Mick has pointed out it could be the solenoid coil so if you can check it then it'd be worth doing. But like the pump this part rarely fails. What's more likely is that there is an invisible blockage in the solenoid. If you haven't already seen it have a read of this web page as it's the best instructions I've seen for doing a strip of a Classic - http://protofusion.org/wordpress/201...-and-cleaning/. You'll see that the author gives clear instructions on how to clean the solenoid fully and this could be key. I'd also make sure that you clean all the scale off your group head and from inside the boiler if you haven't done so already. This can only be done by soaking everything in descale solution then applying a lot of elbow grease. Good luck.

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