Coffee Deluxe

[Prophecy]

I was just given a Gaggia Coffee Deluxe that seems to be in extremely good shape except the group head drips essentially all the time. I read about the "idiot proof" auto fill steam valve but that doesn't seem to be what would cause an issue like this.

I haven't descaled the machine yet, so could it be that? I still need to read up on what the parts are and how this unit works but I saw some posts that look like some kind of spring valve that holds the water back when the pump isn't activated that may be full of scale.

Any ideas before the forum shuts down for good?? And also thanks to everyone for such a great resource and all of your time over the years!

[SusanJoM]

You are spot on:  the group valve that you are referring to is the most likely culprit,   It may well be that there is a bit of scale which is keeping it from closing completely. 

You might want to remove and clean that valve before you do a full descale of the machine, see if that fixes that problem.

Be aware that if the machine hasn't been descaled in a long time, descaling may break chunks of scale off and those chunks might block that valve.  You might need to do it a few times, and/or you might need to open the boiler and do a full manual descale just to get yourself in full control of a clean working machine.

Good luck.