The_Mighty_Bean Senior Member Joined: 24 Feb 2006 Posts: 458 Location: Bowie, MD Expertise: I love coffee
Espresso: "Beauty" (the gentle and... Grinder: Gi-normous Rossi RR45; 100... Vac Pot: I just got lectured about... Drip: French press purist, have a... Roaster: Borrowed HearthWare...
Posted Sun Feb 18, 2007, 8:41pm Subject: WD-40, stuck Gaggias, and bad ideas (HELP, please!).
So I Ebayed myself a Gaggia Espresso for a song. Set it up with much excitement, and turned it on, only to find no water coming out of the grouphead and only a trickle from the wand. I disassembled the grouphead all the way down to the nut holding the spring-ball mechanism,, which was thoroughly stuck. Said nut defeated an assortment of wrenches, pliers, and some $11 universal grabbing device I bought from Home Depot. (There has got to be some sort of joke about a Universal Nut-Grabber, but I don't think it's appropriate for CoffeGeek.)
In my utter frustration, I was dumb enough to try to lubricate it with WD-40. This did not work, and some got into the water delivery pinhole.
One thirty-dollar socket wrench kit later, I was able to defeat the stubborn nut, get into the guts of the thing and remove some calcification from the ball-spring mechanism. Then I thoroughly decalcified the machine with cleancaf, and now I've run about 4 cups of water through the grouphead and had it all come out clean.
As a test, I pulled a sample hot-water shot into a demi.
It tastes and smells of that blasted WD-40!
So now what? I've read that dishsoap will remove wd-40 odor/residue but I'm scared I might damage the pump with the soap bubbles. I've also heard that Windex might remove wd-40 odors, but again, I'm hesitant to run that stuff through my machine.
When you all are done laughing, any advice would be much appreciated.
~tMb
P.S. Here's the major problem- I can't get to the boiler directly. The grouphead is secured in place by a square plastic plate that appears fused to the main plastic body of the machine. I tried going in from above but trying to get at the boiler that way would involve major disassembly of the steam pipe and possibly disconnecting the electrics, and I just am not sure I'm competent to dig that deeply into the machine. So this cleaning probably has to be done by cycling solution through the works.
The_Mighty_Bean Senior Member Joined: 24 Feb 2006 Posts: 458 Location: Bowie, MD Expertise: I love coffee
Espresso: "Beauty" (the gentle and... Grinder: Gi-normous Rossi RR45; 100... Vac Pot: I just got lectured about... Drip: French press purist, have a... Roaster: Borrowed HearthWare...
Posted Sun Feb 18, 2007, 10:06pm Subject: Re: WD-40, stuck Gaggias, and bad ideas (HELP, please!).
Update:
I created a very mild solution of dishsoap and glass cleaner in water, skimmed the bubbles off the top. and ran it through with no ill effect. Then I cycled about half a gallon of water through. Now I still get a very light "funny" taste even when I pull pure bottled water. I'd still appreciate any tips on getting lingering odors out of this machine.
Nonetheless, being the impatient bean that I am, I ground some peak-freshness (4 day-old) Counter Culture Espresso Toscano at about a millimeter away from the finest grind my Capresso Infinity can do. Transferred it to the heated portafilter, applied the Weiss Distrib technique, and tamped with the stupid plastic Gagggia tamper. Disaster! Two clumps of coffee adhered to the tamper as I lifted it. I had a tight-packed portafilter with two gaping holes in the smooth surface.
I didn't care. I wanted a shot, even if it was savagery. I added some of the leftovers from the Capresso basket to fill in the holes. and tamped again, hard. Then, lock, load and pull.
Oh. My. God.
Straight crema out of the spout. It could have won a beauty pageant. It was a double shot and it began to blond a bit early (about 21 seconds). I let it run until about 26.
The taste was balanced, but the body was a little light and not as many flavors shone through as compared to this blend pulled on the Synesso/LaMarz at Murky. Still, for a first try I was blown away. And as for my old machine... Mr. Coffee? Mr. Coffee who??? Oh, and I could no longer taste the WD-40.
On to the steaming. The power of the little wand was startling. It inflated my milk about twice as fast as I'm used to, and so I did not keep the "dance" as balanced as usual. When I did have it in position, I heard a proper ch-ch-ch sound for the first time. At 100 degrees, I plunged the wand in and heated to about 140, but for some reason I did not get a whirlpool effect. Maybe I need a better wand for that?
Still, I poured, and tasted, and despite my sloppiness it was the softest, silkiest foam I have ever made, and, it was shockingly close to the professional-level liquid silk that I'm used to getting from Murky and Jay's. I mean like so close I could hardly tell. And I only paid 43 bucks for this thing! (Okay plus $23 ship).
So.
I'm in love with Gaggia. And Ebay.
But I'd still love any sugggestions on getting the last bits of WD-40 residue outta my machine. Even if I can't taste it in the shot, it can't be healthy.
Posted Mon Feb 19, 2007, 7:51am Subject: Re: WD-40, stuck Gaggias, and bad ideas (HELP, please!).
You may be screwed as far as the lingering taste but you could try purchasing a new valve assembly with the spring-ball mechanism. I don't think they're too expensive. Check www.partsguru.com
You could also disassemble that little piece down (the two halves unscrew from each other and you can take out the ball and spring and everything) and try cleaning each little part separately.
Are you steaming with the bare metal wand? If not then you should be. You will get the best results that way IMO but you need a small, 12oz pitcher so that the wand can reach down into it. Also, this will help you create the whirlpool.
I've completely disassembled a Gaggia Espresso and taken out the boiler. No part of it was "fused" to the plastic. I suspect you're just missing the screwed in assembly points.
CaffeineHat Senior Member Joined: 2 May 2006 Posts: 87 Location: Houston Expertise: I live coffee
Espresso: Gaggia Baby Grinder: Gaggia MDF Drip: French press, actually. Roaster: Home
Posted Mon Feb 19, 2007, 9:04am Subject: Re: WD-40, stuck Gaggias, and bad ideas (HELP, please!).
This sounds like something I'd do, and then just as I'd spray the WD-40 I'd realize what a bad idea it is...just a little too late. Have you tried a mild lemon juice solution? Lemon juice isn't nearly as pungent as vinegar but is strong enough to break down and possibly eliminate the flavor of lubricant. I would guess that time and heat will eventually volitalize the hydrocarbons in WD-40 and get rid of the flavor, but a mild acid will help that along. You might also try running a commercial grade descaler through and then flushing the unit with loads of water.
guillermino Senior Member Joined: 10 Nov 2005 Posts: 435 Location: San Antonio, Texas Expertise: I love coffee
Espresso: BAZZERA BZ-02-SDE Grinder: ASTORIA Super Automatic Vac Pot: Bodum french press Drip: melita cone Roaster: none
Posted Tue Feb 20, 2007, 5:46am Subject: Re: WD-40, stuck Gaggias, and bad ideas (HELP, please!).
Liquid freon will do a job on the WD-40, almost instantly. (if you have access to R-22),
The easiest to use degreaser is probably alcohol, the alcohol for use with SHELLAC has a additive to keep the drunks from drinking it, but the additive is there to make them sick, not kill them. Water & alcohol mix very easily so cleaning any residue from the parts is not difficult.
You can probably get PURE alcohol in small aerosol cans designed for cleaning. check the electronic shops, you might fing freon in a small spray can.
If you have any MOON SHINE / WHITE LIGHTENING around the house, use that.
The_Mighty_Bean Senior Member Joined: 24 Feb 2006 Posts: 458 Location: Bowie, MD Expertise: I love coffee
Espresso: "Beauty" (the gentle and... Grinder: Gi-normous Rossi RR45; 100... Vac Pot: I just got lectured about... Drip: French press purist, have a... Roaster: Borrowed HearthWare...
Posted Tue Feb 20, 2007, 6:39am Subject: Re: WD-40, stuck Gaggias, and bad ideas (HELP, please!).
Thanks, everyone. I'm going to try a lemon juice solution. The odor is very faint at this point. I think my early trials with the machine have flushed it nearly clean. Of course, I was drinking the results, so my children will probably be born with a caffeine habit and an eye in the center of their foreheads. :)
CaffeineHat Senior Member Joined: 2 May 2006 Posts: 87 Location: Houston Expertise: I live coffee
Espresso: Gaggia Baby Grinder: Gaggia MDF Drip: French press, actually. Roaster: Home
Posted Thu Feb 22, 2007, 7:56am Subject: Re: WD-40, stuck Gaggias, and bad ideas (HELP, please!).
Moonshine, tastes great; less filling. My concerns with using denatured alcohol solvent are that it has an extremely low flash point, and that it's ethanol with methyl alcohol added. Methanol can blind and or kill you. I wouldn't play around with it around food prep items. I'd stick with lemon juice. If yer gonna use alcohol, use the kind you would actually drink (vodka, everclear, etc.)
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