I have a 2003 Expobar Office Lever that needs a new gauge. The existing one leaks. I'm having one heck of a time finding one. The issue seems to be the capillary tube fittings. I have not found a gauge that will mate with the existing capillary tube and make a seal. Threads are fine but the seat on the gauge along with the fitting on the tube don't like each other. I've talked to the local repair place but they are unable to help and sent me to Chris Coffee who also couldn't help. I'm hoping to hear something from Espresso Parts but it's been a bit since I emailed them so I'm not hopeful. I tried contacting Crem International but no reply there either. Anyone have any suggestions? I'm kind of getting ready to try something drastic like sweating a chunk of plumbing sized tubing onto the metric tubing so I can use NPT fittings and a cheap pressure gauge. Anybody have to deal with this before? I have some pics showing either end of the capillary tube exploded and assembled for reference if that will help

Give us a call and ask for tech support and they will be able to help. We have them in stock

Thanks so much for your help. Here are some pics for reference/comparison.

Assuming your gage is "stuck" at ~ 2.6 bar, you (as you said) definitely need a new gage and you need to also solve the problem that caused the pressure to rise to this level if you have not already done so.

Most (?) espresso machine gage lines are 2 mm OD and have mushroom fittings (like the one nearest your boiler) silver soldered on both ends. On some machines the 2 mm line is soldered directly into the gage port. You have a ferrule swaged onto the line at the gage. So, in addition to a new gage, you MAY need to cut that gage line and swage on a new ferrule (could be hellacious to source that alone) or source a new complete line from WLL in addition to the gage. That would be your best bet as the ferrule surfaces themselves MAY be the source of the leak.

BTW, the threads on the gage are 1/8"-28 BSPP.

Thanks for the info. I did hear from WLL and they have the replacement gauge. Waiting to hear back from them if they think the fittings will still work.

Thanks for the details on the fittings etc. I've been trying to find fittings most everywhere and haven't had any luck. I do know the source of the leaky gauge so that's not a problem at this point. (it isn't stuck at 2.6 bar, that's just where it ended up after prying the melted plastic cover off to get a good pic of the gauge face but you make a good point if that was the case) We'll see if there are other issues after I get things put back together and get the system up to pressure.

If the gauge WLL has won't work I'm headed down the road of custom patching in some standard tubing so I can convert to a NPT gauge. Kind of a hack but I may not have a choice. Basically what my idea entails is getting a section of NPT compatible tubing, enlarging the inside diameter to slide over the 2mm tubing I have and then sweating it together. From there it's just a compression fitting to connect a $12 Omega gauge. Should work.....hopefully.

I was intending on just buying a new capillary tube but no one I have talked to yet has had one that has fittings that will mate with the existing T. I don't really want to replace the T because then I have the boiler connection to deal with which I'm sure isn't much different than the T.

Ideas, Opinions?

. . . and they have the replacement gauge.

But do they have the capilliary tube replacement? - its "odd" only because of the 1/4" BSPP nut at the boiler end. Shipping costs can eat up the gamble on buying both at the same time.

Good point Eric about the capillary tube. I've been thinking about this after re-reading your earlier post about how some machines just have the gauge soldered in. I think that's where I'm headed with this. I have two gauges to choose from and one is an inexpensive Omega that I'm hoping I can find some kind of fitting for the back of or some combination of tubing that will allow me to solder/sweat the capillary tube on. Thanks for your help and suggestions. Here's hoping that by the weekend the house will have espresso flowing!

Wanted to follow up on this. I ended up altering the fitting on the capillary tube and soldering in an Orman gauge. Worked great and everything seals up now (looks nice too). I'll need to descale the whole system as it isn't getting up to temp all the way (0.5 bar tank pressure and about 160 or 180 for water temp out the hot water tube....I didn't take the time to measure that accurately) and I seem to have a block in the HX somewhere (OPV kicks in and nothing coming out the group head) but everything seems to be in working order and just in need of maint. Haven't messed with the pstat as of yet. Figure I better descale and start with a clean system. When I pulled the group head apart there was a decent amount of free floating sediment but when I pour water through the group head from the top it comes out the shower screen so the block is somewhere between the OPV and the group head......

For the record, WLL did in the end have the correct gauge as does Espresso Parts Source in CA. WLL does not have the capillary tube. I didn't ask Espresso Parts Source if they did.

Anyway, thanks for all the help.

OK, last update on this. Everything is working great now (aside from the tank pressure). The gicleur was clogged. Figured that out after I took the group head apart, flushed it, cleaned it and reassembled it. Then I was looking at a diagram of the e61 and realized that I never checked the gicleur. 2 minutes with a wrench and a twist tie minus the covering and everything started working properly. I'm only getting a half a bar tank pressure still even after descaling last night but it holds the pressure pretty steadily so I'll try adjusting the pressure stat before replacing it. Pulled a few shots just to see and despite the brew temp being low it all worked as it should....well, excepting the taste of the espresso. Nice to know what a low temp shot tastes like though.