Breville Oracle Owners Thread BES980XL

[KatBrazier]

My steam wand is pristine. Theres no residue or hardened milk. After waiting 4 weeks as Breville told me, I called back. they now tell me a new unit won't be available at least until May. From reading other posts with the same issue, it seems there may be a problem with the auto frothing long term. My pump growls loudly and the pressure from the steam wand is not what it once was. I tried everything Breville suggested as well as switching out the tip with the included new parts. I can steam manually and it works well. Auto froth simply heats the milk and that's all. I don't mind waiting for a new one if they do in fact have a solution and/or there is no problem with the machine I get going forward. Otherwise, we're very happy with the machine, coffee, and ease of use.

Hi RVtech,

What is the latest update on your situation?

Thanks,
Kat

[KatBrazier]

I don't mean the larger white ring at the top of the pic, but the smaller (duller white) shoulder (for want of a better word) plastic screw in part that holds the temperature sensor needle in the centre. It looks like it ought to be screwed in a bit more.

What about side to side play of the end of the steam arm anyone?

Hi wfdTamar,

There will be a little play side to side due to tolerance so that’s normal but any looser & I would suggest it needs tightening back up. Same with the white gasket – It is correctly positioned & should not be removed.

[RVtech]

Breville told me I could send the machine back now for repair or wait until they contact me with an available new machine, Since everything except auto frothing works on our current machine, I opted to wait until they have a new machine. I prefer the least amount of time without a machine. Obviously, having our machine repaired would take longer then simply shipping a new one. Breville told me they would ship a new machine when available once they receive tracking information that our original machine has been dropped off at a Fed Ex facility. Now we just have to hope they will find a new machine for us......it's been 6 weeks so far.

[ratter]

I'm far from expert on my machine but have been trying to get some consistency from mine.
I have tried several readily available beans and settled on a brand my wife and I enjoy and always warm the basket.
I found that the grind was inconsistent at times and some times would appear to have too much and the tamper blades would leave their impression in the grind. I read to wet the basket which does seem to help with that issue.
I had the grind set so flow starts around the 9 second mark and the timer set to 30 seconds. The volume varies quite a lot, with out measuring it, possibly 15-50 ml, from the same small bag of beans.
I decided to change to volume flow rather than timed flow.
Still the same grind and temp settings, but now takes 51-54 seconds to get the required volume compared to the average flow when the timer was set to 30 seconds, almost like it has lower pressure.

Does this sound like normal operation?

[ratter]

well, just made a coffee, same settings, beans from the same sealed packet, same everything, flow started at 10 seconds and required volume delivered and stopped at 38 seconds

[jaybee25]

well, just made a coffee, same settings, beans from the same sealed packet, same everything, flow started at 10 seconds and required volume delivered and stopped at 38 seconds

It seems to me that you could have your grind setting too fine try going a bit more coarse and see how you go.

[ratter]

thanks for taking the time to try to help, the grind setting is set on 26 and pretty much stays on that setting with this brand of beans and almost always starts flow around 9 seconds, have experimented with 24-27 second grinds, have had top go down to 16 with other brands of beans

[ratter]

just tried again, same settings. bag of beans etc, flow started at 9 seconds and total volume delivered and stopped at 31 seconds

[theslave]

Hi all... new oracle owner from Toronto... have had the machine for two weeks... already two issues: the portafilter is very difficult to put on (the machine turns, need to brace it with the other hand)... also the auto frothing is working well in producing microfoam but no thickness as to foam, very thin layer. i have tried cold pitcher straight from fridge... cleaned the wand, it can never manually purge either...

any suggestions?

thanks again

[KatBrazier]

just tried again, same settings. bag of beans etc, flow started at 9 seconds and total volume delivered and stopped at 31 seconds

Hi Ratter,

A few different things going on here:

1. I agree with the previous poster – Adjust your grind a little coarser. The optimal time and volume is 60ml in 30 seconds. Because you are now using your flow meter (flo setting), the machine is measuring your shot by volume so in this case the water is taking longer to pass through the coffee to give you the desired volume, showing that the grind is too fine (hence the longer time).
2. What is the roasted on date on your coffee? (not a use by or best before). As beans age, the extraction will pour a little faster – You may have to change your grind size by 1 or 2 adjustments finer to accommodate for this.

3. The first shot of the day is often called a seasoning shot – It will always run differently and yield a different volume. Extraction volume should be measured from the second shot including the crema. A page or so back, I have suggested a set of steps for warming the machine and portafilter up. Let me know if you can’t find it.

[KatBrazier]

Hi all... new oracle owner from Toronto... have had the machine for two weeks... already two issues: the portafilter is very difficult to put on (the machine turns, need to brace it with the other hand)... also the auto frothing is working well in producing microfoam but no thickness as to foam, very thin layer. i have tried cold pitcher straight from fridge... cleaned the wand, it can never manually purge either...

any suggestions?

thanks again

Hi theslave,

The portafilter is a little tight at first but with time will get easier to turn. This is to stop it from spinning out of the group head under pressure. In the meantime, you can try wetting the rim of the basket with a little water (with your finger).

As for your milk, do you have your foam set to the highest level, ‘capp’ and when you pour the milk into the jug is that milk level above the white silicon ring on the steam tip?

As for purging, when your milk has finished texturing and you remove your jug from under the steam wand – Do you place the wand into the downward ‘home’ position? This is when it should automatically purge – And you’re saying it doesn’t - Is that right?

[theslave]

The portafilter is a little tight at first but with time will get easier to turn. This is to stop it from spinning out of the group head under pressure. In the meantime, you can try wetting the rim of the basket with a little water (with your finger).

--> it is real tight, my son cant move it, the machine would turn on a 45 degree if i did not brace it with my other hand. im sorry i dont understand the "stop spinning under group head pressure"... does this mean that once it gets loose then i will have a problem later on???

As for your milk, do you have your foam set to the highest level, ‘capp’ and when you pour the milk into the jug is that milk level above the white silicon ring on the steam tip?

yes it is above the minimum level, i dont notice any diffference between latte and capp settings. The foam is about the same thickness...



As for purging, when your milk has finished texturing and you remove your jug from under the steam wand – Do you place the wand into the downward ‘home’ position? This is when it should automatically purge – And you’re saying it doesn’t - Is that right?

yes i wipe it with a damp cloth after steaming, it DOES purge when i put it back to normal position. However, i read somewhere that you should purge before steaming... How? that it doesnt work if i just lift it and return to normal postion.

thanks for your help.

[Sogg]

I think the issue of inconsistant shot volume/flow rate has something to do with the pump....
My grind is set to 22 and is gets a perfect 60ml in 30secs when i measure with measured shot glasses. It will be fine and then every now and then Nothing will pour, or the coffee will start to drop at the 25sec mark... Exact same beans, exact same batch, exact same grind. So i empty the portafilter re grind and then it will be fine.. at first i thought maybe it was the grind/tamp that was stuffing up. But now im starting to think its the pump and pressure. I notice the pump makes different noises when a shot is being pulled, sometimes a low pitch "grumble" other times there is a high pitched whine.
Ive also noticed that when running a shot with a empty portafilter i can see the water coming out at different rates... Which eliminated grind/tamp issues....

[nixter]

Hi jaybee25

We are currently investigating this with our NPD team. For now your machine does not need to be descaled again. Will post here with our findings.

Also very interested in this. My machine keeps asking me to descale even though I live in Vancouver Canada. Our water is so soft that it didn't even register on the test strip provided. Techs have told me that machines can go 10 years without needing a descale here.

[jaybee25]

Also very interested in this. My machine keeps asking me to descale even though I live in Vancouver Canada. Our water is so soft that it didn't even register on the test strip provided. Techs have told me that machines can go 10 years without needing a descale here.

Hey nixter since that post the descale message has dissapered i think if you power cylce the machine a few times the message goes away. But i could be wrong.