djmcmath Senior Member Joined: 8 May 2004 Posts: 138 Location: Seattle, WA Expertise: I love coffee
Espresso: Gaggia Espreso Grinder: Solis Maestro Plus
Posted Mon Dec 6, 2004, 3:59pm Subject: Re: Gaggia Espresso and temperature of water?
The Gaggia Espresso comes stock with a deadband control system. Specifically, it has a thermoswitch mounted on the left side of the boiler, about half-way down, that's responsible for turning the heaters on and off at appropriate temps. It's pretty unlikely that the thermoswitch has failed in such a way to produce coffee 20F below normal. More likely, it's just a poorly designed system, and you need to go get a PID and wire it up so you can get properly brewed espresso.
But then, I'm up to a grand total of 2 boilers and 3 PIDs for my Gaggia, so it's safe to ignore me. Either way, I suspect your machine is probably ok, and what you're seeing is just the temp drop because of the inadequacy of the switching mechanism.
The "PID" is a hi-tech controller ucoffeegeeks use to digitally control boiler temp and also drastically reduce heater deadband. Folks buy the hardware and install it themselves...
Posted Tue Dec 7, 2004, 7:13pm Subject: Re: Gaggia Espresso and temperature of water?
I'll skip the PID after seeing that thing! Heck, my wife has enough issues with my Home Theatre addiction and what a "subwoofer" looks like, if I attach a device like that onto my espresso maker in "her" kitchen she might just stab me!
Thanks for the "temperature dilemna" link. Wonder if I have to replace the thermostat as indicated in that link?
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