ham wrote:I have a Reneka Techno, plumbed in. The house does have a pressure regulator on it but I don't know the actual output pressure, although for some reason I think it's about 80 lbs. I assume the advice for decreasing the inlet pressure applies to most machines such as the Reneka too?

It's as much about stabilising the pressure as reducing it.

The Techno does not have a balanced bypass pump, so variations in input pressure will affect the pressure produced by the pump.

Reneka specify a minimum of 2 bar and a maximum of 6 bar, so anywhere in the range 30 to 88 psi should be fine. If you have the later version of the Techno, you can see the static input pressure on the pressure gauge inside the RH cover of the machine when the pump is not running.

Ideally the Techno should have a pressure regulator of its own in the pipework to the machine, with no other draw-offs between it and the machine.

Mine is plumbed in with a good quality brass Watts regulator, which also has a port for a pressure gauge built in which makes it very easy to set and to check. The exact model won't be available in N.America as it is designed for European pipe sizes and fittings, but there will certainly be similar suitable ones in your market.

Appreciate the info. I will look into the regulator and gauge. Where have you set your pressure? I noted that my naked portafilter will spray sometimes; do you think this can be related to inlet pressure, or is a gicleur the proper solution for that?

keepitsimple wrote:It's as much about stabilising the pressure as reducing it.

Mine is plumbed in with a good quality brass Watts regulator, which also has a port for a pressure gauge built in which makes it very easy to set and to check. The exact model won't be available in N.America as it is designed for European pipe sizes and fittings, but there will certainly be similar suitable ones in your market.

After reading this thread and other information, I decided to add a pressure regulator as well. I found a great deal on ebay for a brass unit with a gauge, made by Norgren. It had an extra port, which now has a ball valve. The valve lets you draw water off, reducing the pressure, so that it can be adjusted upwards to the desired amount of pressure. Plus, it'll make it easy to check the water's hardness from time to time, and let me know when to change the softener cartridge.

ham wrote:Appreciate the info. I will look into the regulator and gauge. Where have you set your pressure? I noted that my naked portafilter will spray sometimes; do you think this can be related to inlet pressure, or is a gicleur the proper solution for that?

Hi again

I set the input pressure to 4 bar - middle of the range specified by Reneka. After setting that, you do have to re-set the pump pressure, of course. For the early model Technos, you needed a portafilter pressure gauge to do that as there was no gauge built in. In the later models, the internal gauge indicates the pump pressure when pulling a shot.

I don't have a naked portafilter, but having read many other threads about that sort of issue, it seems from those that grind quality and/or distribution may be a more likely cause.

A gicleur may deliver a slower pressure ramp-up, but, whether that would resolve the problem I don't know

People better qualified to answer you will jump in I'm sure.