Nuova Simonelli Oscar - Trouble brewing and backflushing
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JSL_04
- Posts: 1
- Joined: 1 year ago
Hello HB,
I'm a new user and an almost new owner of a used Oscar 1.
The previous owner told me there might be a pressure relief problem with the machine, but not knowing much about these machines I was not too sure which relief valve he was refering to.
I started using the machine 6 months ago and could not see anything wrong with it. No apparent sign of pressure relief problem. After a few trial and error I managed to get pretty decent shots anf I love my machine.
Until last week when I tried a new coffee grain with my usual grinder setting, the machine almost blocked and there was only a few drops after 15-20 seconds of brewing. I also noticed that no water was diverted into the drip pan.
I then tried backflushing with the blank filter and still nothing goes to the drip tray other than a small spurt on the right side when releasing the brew button. Nothing comes out from the neplex expansion valve.
I followed the tips and trick #7 from Elektro's : I cleaned the 3 way valve and validated that water comes out of the group. I tried the blank basket again and still no water being backflushed to the drip tray.
Remembering the previous owner said something about a pressure relief being defective, I decided to replace the neplex expansion valve and validate that water goes out from the group when the pump is activated. Everything seems fine, but still no backflushing water to the drip tray after replacing that part.
My next guess was the pump, which I may have overloaded once or twice a few weeks ago with a grind that was a bit too fine and an extraction timr that was longer than it should have been. Something smelled very bad that time, but then I brewed several time after this incident with no sign of pump trouble. So my guess was that I may have damaged the pump in a way that it still works but has trouble reaching full pressure thus not relieving the new expansion valve. So I changed the pump and... still no water is backflushing to the drip tray.
I noticed the spurt on the right of the drip tray from the 3 way valve is stronger since changing the pump, but my new coffee still won't brew.
In order to get a decent shot out of this new coffee grain I could probably re-ajust my grind setting to something coarser, but for my backflushing problems, I do not know where to go next.
Any suggestions?
I'm a new user and an almost new owner of a used Oscar 1.
The previous owner told me there might be a pressure relief problem with the machine, but not knowing much about these machines I was not too sure which relief valve he was refering to.
I started using the machine 6 months ago and could not see anything wrong with it. No apparent sign of pressure relief problem. After a few trial and error I managed to get pretty decent shots anf I love my machine.
Until last week when I tried a new coffee grain with my usual grinder setting, the machine almost blocked and there was only a few drops after 15-20 seconds of brewing. I also noticed that no water was diverted into the drip pan.
I then tried backflushing with the blank filter and still nothing goes to the drip tray other than a small spurt on the right side when releasing the brew button. Nothing comes out from the neplex expansion valve.
I followed the tips and trick #7 from Elektro's : I cleaned the 3 way valve and validated that water comes out of the group. I tried the blank basket again and still no water being backflushed to the drip tray.
Remembering the previous owner said something about a pressure relief being defective, I decided to replace the neplex expansion valve and validate that water goes out from the group when the pump is activated. Everything seems fine, but still no backflushing water to the drip tray after replacing that part.
My next guess was the pump, which I may have overloaded once or twice a few weeks ago with a grind that was a bit too fine and an extraction timr that was longer than it should have been. Something smelled very bad that time, but then I brewed several time after this incident with no sign of pump trouble. So my guess was that I may have damaged the pump in a way that it still works but has trouble reaching full pressure thus not relieving the new expansion valve. So I changed the pump and... still no water is backflushing to the drip tray.
I noticed the spurt on the right of the drip tray from the 3 way valve is stronger since changing the pump, but my new coffee still won't brew.
In order to get a decent shot out of this new coffee grain I could probably re-ajust my grind setting to something coarser, but for my backflushing problems, I do not know where to go next.
Any suggestions?
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vas
- Posts: 70
- Joined: 2 years ago
Neplax valve is set to 15 bar. It's hard to pump that much with a vibe pump, so you'll hardly ever see any water from there. Backflushing should produce some amount of water from 3-way valve exhaust on brew button release, and that's exactly what you see. All in all, I see no problems in your machine's backflushing.
From your description it looks like you just ground your coffee too fine and chocked the machine. Might be the new coffee needs another grinding settings. Try to grind a little coarser.
From your description it looks like you just ground your coffee too fine and chocked the machine. Might be the new coffee needs another grinding settings. Try to grind a little coarser.
