📹 Gaggia Magenta: Maintenance and Alerts

Learn about drip tray, dreg drawer (used coffee) and brew unit maintenance for the Gaggia Magenta Plus and Magenta Prestige, as well as service alerts in your machine's display.

 

How to: Maintenance & Alerts on the Gaggia Magenta Espresso Machines

On-Screen Alerts Overview

After making your drinks and frothing your milk, it's time to go over some of the alerts that you might be receiving on your machine.

One of the great things about having a display is that if your machine needs your attention for really any reason, there's usually an alert that will display to let you know "Hey, I need something from you!"

Emptying Drip Tray & Dreg Drawer

Let's take a look at how to address some of the things that show up on the screen.

If you ever need to remove the drip tray assembly, the first thing that you'll want to do is position the wand off to the left so that you can slide the assembly out. Next, put both of your hands on the edges with your index fingers touching the circular little tabs. On the Magenta Plus these tabs are part of the design, but on the Magenta Prestige they are buttons that you must push in. So, when removing the assembly on the Magenta Prestige, simply push those buttons in and you should be able to pull the drip tray assembly out. 

Regardless of which Magenta machine you own, to remove the drip tray assembly you must first get your fingers in position. Once your fingers are in position, simply pull forward and that will the entire assembly

When the drip tray assembly is removed, there are a few things to be aware of.

First is the entirety of the drip tray itself, which goes pretty far back into the machine.

Second is the dreg drawer, which is where spent coffee pucks go after they're done being brewed. It's important to take the dreg drawer out and knock the spent pucks into the garbage. If, after doing this, you notice there is still ground coffee in the base, this is because it takes a little bit of time for the grind cycle on brand new machines to start producing cohesive pucks. If this is the case for you, you may want to just rinse the drawer out.

If you ever want to give the dreg drawer a deep clean, you can rinse it out, then leave it to air dry overnight before putting it back in the machine.

Another thing to mention about the drip tray is that there is not an automatic alert programmed into your machine if the drip tray is full. Instead, there is a red float that shows you how much water has accumulated in the tray. As the water level in the tray rises, you will start to see the float rise and bob. This should be your cue to take out the drip tray and empty it. We recommend that whenever you refill the water reservoir and/or empty the dreg drawer, you should get in the habit of emptying the drip tray as well.

Brew Group Removal & Maintenance

Next, let's take a look at the other mechanisms inside the Gaggia Magenta series of machines.

First is the brew group, which is the mechanism that brews coffee. If you observe the whole brew group assembly, you'll see that your machine's grinder (for whole bean) or bypass doser (for ground coffee) feeds coffee directly into it.

There is also a little tray underneath the brew group. To remove this tray, simply push on the tab and it will slide out. Roughly every week or so you should remove this tray from the machine and rinse areas like the intake, the shower screen, and the puck ejection ramp. Coffee grounds can build up in these areas, so rinsing them on a weekly basis is a good routine to develop. After rinsing, let the entire assembly air dry before reinserting it.

As for the mechanisms inside the group which slide, you should apply the included lubricant to them to keep everything operating properly. Lubricant should be applied every 1 to 4 months, depending on the number of drinks your make.

Re-inserting the Brew Group

Once you've followed the instructions listed above, you can reassemble your machine. To reinsert the brew group assembly, you want to line up the tracks and the bottom corners and push the assembly back into your machine. If everything has been properly lined up, the assembly should just slide right in. If you have not securely reinserted the group, you machine will prompt you with a message letting you know. If this message appears, so you may need to open your machine back up and make sure everything is properly lined up and secured.

Please also bear in mind that other alerts may appear from time to time for things like the carafe on the Magenta Prestige. For alerts like that, along with any others not covered in this article, follow the prompts that appear on-screen to resolve any issues you may be having.

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