Breville Oracle Owners Thread BES980XL

[Shades]

Hello! My Oracle tells me it is time to descale. the instructions are generally pretty good, however "descale solution" is required but there is no reference to exactly what that is. i have tablets and wand cleaning powder, but no "descale solution". i don't see that for sale on the revile site either. in the cleaning video that Phil does the descale is only referred to.

does anyone know what the descale solution is? is it a homemade mix or something i need to purchase.

thanks for any help!!!!

[KatBrazier]

Hello! My Oracle tells me it is time to descale. the instructions are generally pretty good, however "descale solution" is required but there is no reference to exactly what that is. i have tablets and wand cleaning powder, but no "descale solution". i don't see that for sale on the revile site either. in the cleaning video that Phil does the descale is only referred to.

does anyone know what the descale solution is? is it a homemade mix or something i need to purchase.

thanks for any help!!!!

Hi Shades,

There is an Espresso Detox pack on the Breville website that contains descale solution or I recommend the liquid organic descaler on the Cafetto website.

[ddhawk]

I got my machine back from repair (mine had pump running in background continuously and pours were inconsistent to the point where sometimes only a drop would come out, same beans, settings etc).
Dunno what they did but there was mention of a firmware upgrade. Anyway, the machine has been working flawlessly since its return and it is also frothing/microfoaming better too.
Hopefully it'll continue this way.
Paul

Paul,
Has your Oracle continued to work well? My machine suffers from the same symptoms you had mentioned. I've had it into an authorized repair shop, but they couldn't duplicate the problems. Wondering what to do next. Thanks for any comments.
Dave

[lombers]

My replacement Oracle has now gone back to Breville. Have a BES870 as a loaner during the wait, I'm already missing the Oracle.

Still not sure if it's another replacement machine or a fix, hopefully the wait isn't as long...

[RVtech]

After approximately 3 weeks our replacement machine has similar auto frothing issues. No froth, just heated milk. The froth was incredible at first and then diminished with each batch until completely gone. I'm now wondering if there is an issue with the water/steam somehow clogging the wand passages internally where we cannot see it. I keep the tip immaculately clean and I'm certain there is definitely not a problem in the tip area. Our water is treated "city" water with an AquaSana filter system in our house. It still contains minerals, but tests very good on hardness. We see light white deposits in the front water fill area when it dries. We keep the water filter cartridge in the machine's tank replaced frequently. This is disappointing. We still love the coffe this machine produces, but perhaps it's less valuable without the auto frothing feature. The slow service from Breville on repairs/replacement tend to make me not want to deal with this again. I'm now confident they don't have a solution.

Possible solution to autofroth: Yesterday I decided to disassemble the frothing wand. I removed the tip, rubber tip cover, "o" rings, teflon gasket and chrome wand. I cleaned everything thoroughly. I had to scrape out crusty milk with fingernail. I cleaned the small tip holes with included Breville tool multiple times. I reassembled using coconut oil as a lube for "o" rings and teflon gasket. I then put a solution of dish soap (Dawn) and water in a measuring cup and ran manual froth for several minutes and then repeated several times. I then experienced good micro foam with auto froth. This is after having absolutely no froth whatsoever for the past 2 weeks. Heated milk is all we've been able to get. It looks like what I thought was a clean frothing assembly was in fact NOT clean. I will continue to test this and reply with updates. Meanwhile.....my apologies to Breville for inaccurate information and bashing. I recommend some sort of extra frothing assembly extreme cleaning to anyone experiencing frothing issues.

[seej]

I have the opportunity to buy a second hand (3 mths old) with a 5yr warranty for a great price, however I have just purchased a BES920 (which I should be able to sell as it is still unopened in the box - only has 18mths warranty left as it was purchased from a non-coffee drinking friend who won it in a raffle) to replace a Rancilio, I already have a good quality grinder. As Oracle users, what would you recommend buying the Oracle or sticking with the 920? Any advice is welcomed as I am struggling to make a decision.....

[RVtech]

No further frothing issues. I've been storing the frothing jug under the wand with a dish soap & water solution in the jug. Obviously, the auto cleaning feature is not enough to keep the wand clean. I randomly run manual frothing with the dish soap solution every day. I can see milk particles at times in the solution. Froth is great. My second machine had incredible froth out of the box, and it's now back to the same. It now appears to be all about keeping the wand and tip clean.

[Barry_Duncan]

I have the opportunity to buy a second hand (3 mths old) with a 5yr warranty for a great price, however I have just purchased a BES920 (which I should be able to sell as it is still unopened in the box - only has 18mths warranty left as it was purchased from a non-coffee drinking friend who won it in a raffle) to replace a Rancilio, I already have a good quality grinder. As Oracle users, what would you recommend buying the Oracle or sticking with the 920? Any advice is welcomed as I am struggling to make a decision.....

seej, welcome to CoffeeSnobs.

I myself would stick with the BES920. The coffee will be just as good but will take a little more effort on your part. If you are experienced with a Rancilio it will be no problem.

Barry

[ratter]

My machine has started making quite loud buzzing noise when the pump is working, appears to be louder at the start of operation, should I be concerned?

[lombers]

Possible solution to autofroth: Yesterday I decided to disassemble the frothing wand. I removed the tip, rubber tip cover, "o" rings, teflon gasket and chrome wand. I cleaned everything thoroughly. I had to scrape out crusty milk with fingernail. I cleaned the small tip holes with included Breville tool multiple times. I reassembled using coconut oil as a lube for "o" rings and teflon gasket. I then put a solution of dish soap (Dawn) and water in a measuring cup and ran manual froth for several minutes and then repeated several times. I then experienced good micro foam with auto froth. This is after having absolutely no froth whatsoever for the past 2 weeks. Heated milk is all we've been able to get. It looks like what I thought was a clean frothing assembly was in fact NOT clean. I will continue to test this and reply with updates. Meanwhile.....my apologies to Breville for inaccurate information and bashing. I recommend some sort of extra frothing assembly extreme cleaning to anyone experiencing frothing issues.

That's good news, but it still makes me wonder...

I've done the steaming wand disassembly, used the supplied Breville steam wand cleaning solution and it didn't fix it. Hence why my 2nd machine has gone back.

Granted you've found a fix for your machine but if this is in fact the way it needs to be maintained then Breville need to be including this in their manual. Onn the phone calls to Breville Oracle support they have only ever asked me to use the steam wand cleaning solution which I've done multiple times but it still hasn't improved the situation.

Still disappointed to be honest, the product needs to be better designed or there needs to be more instruction on what to do in this scenario. Still waiting on an update on the 2nd machine which is at Breville, hopefully the news is positive...

[chedog]

That's good news, but it still makes me wonder...

I've done the steaming wand disassembly, used the supplied Breville steam wand cleaning solution and it didn't fix it. Hence why my 2nd machine has gone back.

Granted you've found a fix for your machine but if this is in fact the way it needs to be maintained then Breville need to be including this in their manual. Onn the phone calls to Breville Oracle support they have only ever asked me to use the steam wand cleaning solution which I've done multiple times but it still hasn't improved the situation.

Still disappointed to be honest, the product needs to be better designed or there needs to be more instruction on what to do in this scenario. Still waiting on an update on the 2nd machine which is at Breville, hopefully the news is positive...

I've followed with anguish those of you suffering from the frother messes you've reported and I empathize. I did want to report, however, that my Oracle after more than a year of use hasn't had any frother problems. And -- this is my point -- I've never treated it with the respect (rarely cleaning it) it seems to demand if the design is flawed.

So it may be possible that some of us are unlucky and others of us are not ... yet. BTW, there is a factor that does affect the foam dramatically: the kind and brand of milk. I don't do animal dairy, so I've experimented with different soy/almond/coconut/hemp varieties. Almond is best and one brand of almond is by far better than others.I do appreciate that the Breville foams non-dairy milks as well as it does as that's not the case with many frothers I've used.

[lombers]

I've followed with anguish those of you suffering from the frother messes you've reported and I empathize. I did want to report, however, that my Oracle after more than a year of use hasn't had any frother problems. And -- this is my point -- I've never treated it with the respect (rarely cleaning it) it seems to demand if the design is flawed.

So it may be possible that some of us are unlucky and others of us are not ... yet. BTW, there is a factor that does affect the foam dramatically: the kind and brand of milk. I don't do animal dairy, so I've experimented with different soy/almond/coconut/hemp varieties. Almond is best and one brand of almond is by far better than others.I do appreciate that the Breville foams non-dairy milks as well as it does as that's not the case with many frothers I've used.

Yeah it's been annoying to say the least. Two repairs for my first machine, and then the brand new replacement machine has the same fault 3 weeks in.

I can appreciate that different milk can have different results, but I've only ever used full cream milk which is actually what Breville recommends. I'm hoping whatever comes back this time around doesn't suffer the same fate...

[RVtech]

This may be part of the problem. We use grass fed dairy only which includes whole milk, 1/2 & 1/2, and cream. All are high fat dairy products. There is certainly more cleaning needed with the products we use than Breville recommends. Since this is causing machines to be returned, and/or repaired, I feel it is in their best interest to alter the recommended cleaning procedures and warnings about potential frothing issues. Perhaps their testing did not indicate this. As with any product, the end users will find any and all problems eventually. The steam wand cleaning product supplied certainly did not work for me. A Dish washing liquid/water solution running on auto froth to 150º F through several cycles after each frothing event works. I leave the solution in the steam pitcher, under the wand when it's not in use. This seems to keep the deposits soft enough to be removed with several auto froth cycles. I see milk solids come out of the tip after 2 or 3 cycles of this cleaning. These deposits come from inside the wand where they cannot be seen.

[freeferty]

Breville Oracle Owners Thread BES980XL

Hi all. At my folks place and their Oracle seems to have an internal leak. Steam coming out the rear vent with hissing and gurgling sounds. No luck on the oracle hotline and still waiting on the general customer support number. Does anyone have an email contact for the oracle team?

[freeferty]

Got through eventually. Off to espresso fix tomorrow.