Will the black knob protection disc shown in this video come with the valve? I've seen the note with instructions on 3D printing a new one on your website so I'm not clear whether it's included or not. Thanks!
It's not included with it, as it's not really required - though we publish the STL so that you can have one 3D printed, and soon after the valve release date we'll have ready-made ones available for purchase too.
As Peter mentions, the Classic has used the same valve for 30+ years - so this will be suitable for any aluminium boiler based Classic (including the original Classic, the Classic Pro / Classic 2019, Classic Evo Pro (Classic 2023) and Classic 2024. The same valve is also used in various other Gaggia machines and will therefore also fit these too. We will probably find the same valve within the Classic for many years to come!
Clever design. Well done Adrian. In long run tests with hard water, did you experience scale building up on the valve seat? It would probably be nice to also showcase how to clean that part as a regular maintenance.
Thanks Peter - we've not seen any issues at all with scale during long-term tests. As you'll have seen, the design of the valve tends to help with the 'erosion' of any scale that may start to form on the valve seat - and normal descaling of the machine (using the steam wand to vent the descaler) would probably see any scale being removed too anyway.
