@@radnerak I normally use 600 grit, but anything above 240 would be okay.

@@BREWBETTER Actually modded 3 steam wands already and used 600 grit, worked well. Thanks!

Uhm... I just did this mod on a Gaggia Coffee steam wand and it works great. Why do you say this?

It is for all Classics from 1991 to nowadays (excluding the 2015-2017 EU model with stainless steel boiler)

I have some ideas for years now, but it would be extremely difficult to put something together for a sensible price.

Like making a bigger boiler from another machine fit ?

Hi, That's unfortunate. You can either Google search locally, or drop me an email, I have these on shelf alongside the bulbs, and I'm happy to post worldwide for a small fee.

Good video! I am the same on 2018/19 model. Switched it on and bang it went with a puff of smoke from the power switch. Havent yet opened up to inspect. Would it be easy to see the problem to then order a part?

Well, that's a point of view, however I would love to hear what are you comparing it to - obviously with an identical price tag. To make your contribution more constructive. Personally, I've been able to remove all steamvalves in the past even in a DIY workshop. Hint: If your steamvalve is scale-fused to the boiler, it is probably a good idea to clean the boiler as well. Once these are out of the machine, it is a piece of cake to tap out the steamvalve with a 9mm rod...

I'm not sure on the values as I bought them many years ago, but I've loads of these on shelf and I'm most likely in the same country as you're, so feel free to drop me an email and I can send you some for a small fee.

It is listed on my website as a kit. Most dimmers won't work out of the box. If you don't know how to solve it, I would probably recommend to buy a ready house kit from myself, Shades, or coffee sensors (however I've never seen the third one, but I suppose it's safe to use as it seems like a knock-off of the shades one) to stay safe.

Unfortunately I don't have one. All Auber customers should be provided with a detailed installation guide upon purchase.

Sure, it's BS110 (2.62mm Section 9.2mm Bore)

@@horvathpeti84 thank you.

I noticed that you did not seem too concerned about bits dropping into the boiler when you brushed the top of the boiler after the removal of the steam valve. Is there a chance that the boiler could get blocked?

@@anthonyroma6520 If there is scale deposit on the bore of the steamvalve - which you could potentially push into the boiler - I have bad news, there's already more scale sitting on the bottom of the boiler already. The way the flow is designed in the boiler prevents most of the particles to get out, with other words, you need a lot of scale in the boiler in order to cause any issues. On the other hand if you use an identical brush as seen in the video, it is very unlikely to push anything into the boiler. It is a very good Idea to flush out the steam valve through the wand after the cleaning. I'll have a video very soon how to get rid of the sediments in the boiler without taking it apart.

@@horvathpeti84thanks for advice, very informative. Do you sell parts for the classic?

Hi, Thank you for sharing. Insulating the boiler is not gonna help with heat loss at all, the boiler loses majority of it's heat to the influx of cold water not the air surrounding it and that you can't insulate against, another big part is lost to all the other metal bits it contacts and maybe a very tiny almost unnoticeable part will be radiated int the air, for your brew cycle that's most likely nothing and you surely ain't gonna preserve more heat by insulating it. However insulation provides protection for the PID you installed inside the machine, which isn't recommended as they tend to overheat there if the machine is on for prolonged time. As it's quite far from the boiler and close to the vent holes, you're probably fine though. In terms of how nano heating works it's diff from stm, more static, less reactive, i'd leave the defaults in place if i was you.

I hate to tell you this but you could not be more incorrect the boiler is far more stable in temp as a boiler tech I have a good understanding of thermal dynamics the temperature is far more stable under pulse width I think alot of this has to do with the type of PID and algorithm you set as well as the placement of the thermistor and of course the insulation prevents the casting from loosing a large percentage of its heat to the environment but I do agree the water does the bulk of heat loss in my opinion 60% but without question the coffee and heat stability has been dramatically improved

Hi, Indeed it's a shame they haven't done anything to this poor design in over 30 years. What is even worse, they're not articulating the right way of using the steam valve. It should only be closed gently. I've seen machines older than 10-15 years with perfect steamvalves. Once you get to modify yours, keep a keen eye on the force applied to close the valve.

Hi, This should be available in most air-conditioning suppliers with 6.00 mm or either 6.35mm hole at the end. Both would work fine. Optionally you can get a 1/4 brass cap from a plumbing supplier and drill a 6mm hole to the very centre.

You might get away with it, until you receive the correct size, but I wouldn't risk it on such a cheap part. The nipple of the valve is 10mm in diameter, so while the original o ring has to stretch 0.8mm this one is loose about the same amount. I doubt it would work well in the long run. At least you'll hear the hissing noise if water leaks there straight to the top of the boiler, so it won't hide when fails

Hi, Thank you. When you referring to a bad seal, do you mean, the valve leaks around the spindle?

​@@horvathpeti84 During descaling the machine developed a leak through the steam wand. The knob would move with increased difficulty for some reason. Once I finished descaling and ran water through it, the knob started moving easily and the steam wand leak dropped to almost zero. Then I removed the top lid and noticed a leak by the spindle. Also noticed that the spindle felt quite loose inside the valve body, indicating that the oring (seal) was not sealing properly. I filed off the crimped part, removed the spindle and replaced the oring. I use the same orings to repair Ulka pumps. ;) Once I put everything back in the movement was smooth again. Yay! Now I'm waiting for a replacement boiler because the original once was scaled, pitted and looked like garbage inside. The machine is from 2000 and this is probably the original boiler. Anyway sorry about the long story. I hope it makes sense now.

@@tudor888 Yes, it makes sense now. These viton o rings in the steam valve are prone to fail due to harsh descaling solutions. What did you use? I prefer to replace them to red silicone (70 shore hardness) BS008 UK size, but I believe it is also a standard size in most part of the world. From memory the pump o ring is slightly thicker, but if it works then okay. Do you have supply to replace the smaller spring in the Ulka pump which is likely to break?

@@horvathpeti84 I never replaced a spring, didn't know they tended to break. :( But I'd check ebay first.

Hi, Sorry, I've just picked up this one. Back in that time I used: P5.2, I:69, D:17 However the temperature stability on the video is down to the intrashot temperature surfing allowed by my BoostBox. The latest numbers I keep using with the PID are: P:2.0, I:20, D:5 I normally start at P:2.5 and keep lowering it until I get some but acceptable fluctuation on idle (+/- 0.2-0.3°C even after 10-15 minutes warm-up). This provides with a much more progressive response to cooling when pulling a shot and I'm not too bothered about the +/-0.3°C fluctuation.

I do agree with most of what you said, however if the user is aware of the force they should apply to close the valve from day 1, also maintaining the machine appropriately and can ignore the natural dripping of the wand due to trapped water heating up (lots of ifs😅). Than it could work fine for a while. The real shame is, they haven't changed this design in the last 32 years 😢

That’s somewhat true. I did this procedure years ago and have very soft water. The fix only lasts months, not years. I just keep a cup under the wand to collect water. When it gets very bad I just replace the whole valve. It’s designed to fail

It's in the description of the video.

Hi, Thank you. I've done an insulating for it out of high density closed cell silicone sponge sheet. Mainly because of the noise generated by the vibration, but it didn't make a lot of difference. It sounds much quieter when the Pro OPV is used with the braided silicone hose, instead of the version 1 brass OPV and the teflon tube. Especially if a pump dimmer is used too, it could be surprisingly quiet. In my opinion the heat dissipation of an expansion would be quite significant and it would definitely make it much more expensive, but I haven't tested it. In regards of stress, it is more than sturdy enough for even the double of the stress it gets. The heat insulation would definitely reduce power consumption though. I might try different materials, due to space limitations between the coils and the solenoid.

Hi Damian, I hope you're well. Of course I know. I am Peter Horvath, we used to have quite a few discussions via email about this an other Classic related topics, like the XMT7100 mod which I also reworked in that time. I've also sent an Auber PID to you to reverse engineer the code from it if you could. Btw if you watch the video, you'll find a "Thank you for the photos for Damian" banner when the photos appear in the video, I also linked the relevant page of your blogspot in the description and your KZbin channel as well. I also believe, I asked your permission back in the time, however I can't happen to find the email right now. Obviously I do not make money of these videos, it's more of a courtesy for the community, as your blogpost is. If you would like me to, I can also remove the photos of the video. Kind regards Peter PS: Are you back on the coffee machines again?

@@BREWBETTER Sorry, you're right. You actually asked me before. I'm slowly getting back into the game, but we'll see what comes of it. I have some plans for the blog and a few new ideas, but we'll see what will come out of it. With these Auber PIDs, it's hard to figure them out because the manufacturer has removed the markings of the integrated circuit, but I will keep trying.

huge letters 'Thank You for Damien' right above the picture. smh.

Hi, Thank you. Yes, I have the same ones. Never had a chance to look around for a better one. It isn't looking bad when it's centered properly.

I've faffed around with gaggia's for years and years. The best decision I made by far was just ditching gaggia's all together, biting the bullet and getting a Bezzera BX-10.

The exploded view of older machine depict a steam valve with a nut to make it serviceable, at some point down the line that changed

The diameter of the thread is around 1/2" meanwhile the actual fitting - so as the die - labelled 1/4" 19tpi as per industry standard size compression nuts for 1/4" diameter tubing. The wand attachment nut has the same threading as the tube is 1/4" or 6mm.

@@horvathpeti84 Yeah, whoever came up with compression nut sizing should be shot. I have no idea if US compression nuts are 1/4" 19 TPI though, as I can't find any information on them. Seems like an industry secret?

Hi, Sorry for the delay in responding. I'm doing temperature testing eversince. I wanted to make a video about this in more details anyway, now I'm capturing all the data needed. I equipped a machine with multiple temperature sensors on the coils and also using a puck temperature sensor to see the output temperature. At this point I can say the entire system (group & preheat-coils) has to reach equilibrium before pulling a shot, otherwise the coils sucking so much heat from the system, it would completely ruin the temperature of the shot. This takes a warm-up time of 17 minutes from cold @ 24°C room temperature and interestingly 15 minutes to recover between shots.

Obviously this is only relevant to my exact setup. If you do your own coils, your miles will vary.

@@BREWBETTERInteresting. I thought the whole idea was actually to create a quick recovery time between shots.

@@yasinunlu443 Not at all, the aim was to eliminate the ~4°C droop during a standard shot with a PIDd machine, to maintain a consistent accurate temperature.

Hi, Thank you. It's only noisier while there is no pressure in the system. During a shot it is identical to a stock machine, however every shot starts with a ramp up, until the entire system gets up to pressure. I've done most of the testing on a V1 rather than a Pro or Evo, but just now made a V2 (stainless steel boilered EU model) to V1 conversion with the coils and it's surprisingly quite. I believe it is down to the braided silicone hose between the pump and the group dumping the uneven water flow from the pump, rather than more rigid PTFE hose on V1 machines. The recovery time to pull identical shots mostly dependent on the amount of water used in the first shot and warmup time before the first shot. It could vary between a couple of minutes and 10 minutes.

Hi, The drilling should be done with a 5mm end mill, so the result should be a perfectly square bottomed bore. I normally remove 1-2mm material in order to get rid of the chamfer compressed there by overtightened valve. Resulting in almost zero mating surface, preventing scale build-up, to maintain a perfect seal even when the valve is closed gently. Before I started to refurb the valve seat I managed to get 9 out of 10 back and running with the spindle only refurb in a much better condition than they were before. This really depends on the level of the overtightening occured. However I believe a complete refurb results a longer term solution, especially if the user gives up overtightening.

Hi, Most which I tried from Ali was slightly undersized, so the switch did move up and down it is loose. Drop me an email

Hi Charles, I have some issues with my email, so I've just mailed you from my private email. Please check the spam folder too.

McMaster-Carr will have all of these parts, though their website can be confusing to navigate if you don't know technical terms.

Hi, There is my email address in the description to get in touch. I don't have a webshop yet, but I'm happy to fulfill individual orders.

@@horvathpeti84 I emailed you already, will this work with my Sanremo ZOE compact?

A bit wet but amazing

Hi, Yes I am happy to fulfill individual orders even before the website goes live. Please head to my Facebook page ( facebook.com/BrewBetterOfficial/) or drop me an email (address is in the description) for prices. I do ship worldwide from Hungary.

Hi, I should have highlight it that's a 1/4" BSP thread with the size of 13.16 mm / 0.518" and 19 thread/inch

@@horvathpeti84 the actual die says 1/4 inch on it?

@@jonpos4671 Yes, it does, but as stated it is above 1/2" in diameter. It is a British Standard Parallel thread (BSP).

@@horvathpeti84 the closest one I have is 1/2 NF 20. Think that will work?

@@jonpos4671 it should, as long as you can get a locknut as well with the same internal thread with a 6-7mm hole at the end for the spindle.