Nuova Simonelli Oscar with brew pressure problems

#1: Post by **ricky analog** » May 22nd, 2015, 2:18 am

was wondering if anyone else that owns an Oscar can share footage of water pulling from the group head without a portafilter on it? I would like to visually compare how much pressure seems to be the norm. I don't have any tools to measure my pressure. My pressure used to be fine. About a month ago I did a descale and everything was still working great. Then one morning I had a few odd things happen. The first was when I went to do my first heat flush of the morning, I realized I had little to no pressure. I took the showerhead off and pulled water just through the group. Not sure what was going on.

Then I did a backflush twice and when I finally had pressure again, I noticed that water kept dripping/running out of the grouphead long after I stopped the water. I wasn't able to capture this on video. However, what I have been left with is pressure much higher than where it was before when the machine was operating perfectly fine. I used to get perfectly saturated pucks after pulling shots. Now I'm left with standing water on top of the grinds when the shot is done. This is all super frustrating. Any advice/suggestions/opinions would be much appreciated.

#2: Post by **LukeFlynn** » May 22nd, 2015, 2:24 am

Sounds to me like you might have some sort of blockage. However, I had to replace my oscar's pump.. Sometimes back flushing would kick it back into gear (no detergent). If you are getting substantially soggy pucks it's likely a faulty/clogged solenoid. When I first got my used Oscar I had to soak the solenoid in citric acid then Cafiza due to insubstantial pressure release. (It's a 2008 machine that probably never got back flushed)

#3: Post by **TheJavaCup77** » May 22nd, 2015, 2:31 am

As a former owner.... i would agree with LukeFlynn...

His explaination is solid.. mine had soupy pucks mainly because my solenoid was actually clogged (Previous owner didnt backflush!!??) ... i bought a solenoid made by Parker.. (i believe Parker builds the solenoids that are found in the Silvias and Gaggias too but please correct me)

And yes i also placed a anti vacuum valve (it's on a timer cause i was lazy)

It's now sold to another man (hopefully being cared for properly)

May 23rd, 2015, 6:46 pm

Forgive me if this sounds extremely newbie, but are we talking about the 2-way solenoid or the 3-way solenoid? I would venture to guess it's the 3-way since that part is right by the group head? Also, for some reason I get the feeling that your problems were solved by replacing the solenoid because you had unsubstantial pressure? My problem seems to be that I have too much pressure. At least it seems that way because it is much more than the pressure used to be. Before this pressure increase, I pulled beautiful shots and never had soggy pucks.

#5: Post by **drgary** » May 23rd, 2015, 7:16 pm

And you're worried about soupy pucks because?

Soupy puck syndrome

How does your espresso taste?

#6: Post by **LukeFlynn** » May 23rd, 2015, 9:38 pm

The Oscar isn't one of those machine you are going to get a super dry puck with.. the solenoid isn't all that powerful. I don't get a dry puck.. but it releases enough pressure to be able to pull the PF right after extraction. The point is not to get a dry puck, but to prevent getting sneezed on by coffee grounds.

May 24th, 2015, 3:35 am

I guess there really isn't a problem with having soupy pucks. I was only mentioning it thinking it might be a symptom that would point to a problem. But the reality is that I WAS getting dry pucks. Is it possible I HAD a clogged solenoid that maybe finally came unclogged or something? How is it that the pressure "seems" so high to me now, especially compared to how it was when I was pulling shots that were better?

Another thing I feel is a symptom of something else is that now after I hit the button to stop the shot from pulling any further, I get spro still dripping out for a good 5-10 seconds after the machine has stopped. That is another thing that changed once I noticed this pressure change.

I appreciate all the input guys.

#8: Post by **drgary** » May 24th, 2015, 10:51 am

Ricky,

As I already asked above, how does your espresso taste?

Here's an explanation of wet pucks by Matt Perger. It may help you better understand whether you have an issue with your solenoid.

http://baristahustle.com/for-a-good-puck/

May 24th, 2015, 8:11 pm

they taste like crap. they are pulling about 25-30g in 20 seconds with 20g of coffee in the portafilter. I can no longer get nice "thick" shots. The crema is not like it used to be either. I'm using beans from Honeyco which is an upstart that has one of the Verve Coffee Roasters pioneers manning the wheel. So I know my beans are good. In fact, before this pressure issue, I used the same bean and got amazing results.

#10: Post by **drgary** » May 24th, 2015, 11:19 pm

ricky analog wrote:was wondering if anyone else that owns an Oscar can share footage of water pulling from the group head without a portafilter on it? I would like to visually compare how much pressure seems to be the norm. I don't have any tools to measure my pressure. My pressure used to be fine. About a month ago I did a descale and everything was still working great. Then one morning I had a few odd things happen. The first was when I went to do my first heat flush of the morning, I realized I had little to no pressure. I took the showerhead off and pulled water just through the group. Not sure what was going on.

Then I did a backflush twice and when I finally had pressure again, I noticed that water kept dripping/running out of the grouphead long after I stopped the water. I wasn't able to capture this on video. However, what I have been left with is pressure much higher than where it was before when the machine was operating perfectly fine. I used to get perfectly saturated pucks after pulling shots. Now I'm left with standing water on top of the grinds when the shot is done. This is all super frustrating. Any advice/suggestions/opinions would be much appreciated.

Ricky's request for video footage hasn't been answered yet. Maybe someone can post that.

Ricky, I assume you've tried grinding finer for a slower flow rate? When you clean a machine it may perform differently for a number of reasons.