Recently, my Oscar has had a slight steam leak. It was not happening consistently, and I did not have time to address it, and it really was slight, so I ignored it. Then, I went to turn the Oscar on in the morning a couple of days after the leak started, and this is what happened:

I pressed the power button.
The power light came on, and the pump began to run.
The pump sounded different than normal, somewhat "bogged down."
After a couple of seconds, the power light turned off, the pump stopped, and I noticed a bit of a burnt smell.

Now when I try to press the power button, nothing happens, no lights, no noise, nothing. Anyone have any idea of what the problem might be? Did I burn out my pump and this is shorting the circuit?

From the top
The on/off switch not getting power [brown wires] = no light

From the bottom
incoming power, brain box

So if all wires top and bottom look good,
it's the on/off switch or the brain box

Gluck
pete

do you have a multimeter

I had previously taken a look under the cover, but I had yet to look underneath the Oscar. I opened that up today and found that one of the connectors from the power cable had blown. I replaced that and checked the other two wires for continuity. The machine turns on again, and is functioning normally. Though it still has a steam leak that I have yet to find.

wskmaverick wrote: I opened that up today and found that one of the connectors from the power cable had blown..

Step one is to not use the machine before discovering the cause of that and eliminating it. A steam leak inside of an espresso machine can get very expensive in a hurry... NOT TO MENTION DANGEROUS.

The leak is coming from the relief valve in-line with the pressurestat. Am I correct in assuming I should first try a descale, then if that does not correct it a pressurestat calibration? The pressurestat was replaced 6 months ago, and the heater will turn on and off multiple times before things get hot enough to cause the valve to release.

relief valve = boiler safety valve set to blow off at 1.8 bar

reset pstat

if your pstat will fit in a double basket, small adjustments, 1/8 - 1/4 of a revolution
if you pstat is larger than the brain box, large adjustments 1 - 5 full revolutions

heater will cycle about every 2 min
open and close steam valve to decrease cycle time

I have a Campini P-stat: http://www.campinicorel.it/cmsCampini/P ... en-27.html

Which of the screws should I be turning? The one in the middle? I really don't want to mess with the dead-band.

middle

Well, I tried to adjust the P-stat to no avail. Then I removed the P-stat to check for possible scale build-up. There was no scale. Next I hooked the pressurestat up to a bike pump and a multimeter so I could accurately load it with pressure while adjusting set screw and watching for continuity. I could not get the circuit to break, so I am assuming the pressurestat is shot. I will be ordering a sarai this time around, hopefully it will last longer.