Help plumbing in Izzo Alex II

#1: Post by **kboom1** » December 31st, 2011, 3:49 pm

Just bought the new AlexII by Izzo and looking into plumbing it in from a 5gal water bottle and using a 5 gal bucket for the drain. My espresso station has a rack for coffee syrups in the middle of it and slides out without having to unscrew anything they will both fit right under my machine no prob.Not sure if this is recommended or not but did see some peeps doing this with other rotary pump machines. unsure about the feed line whether I need a external pump like flojet and a check valve or the pump will draw water without any ill effects with no line pressure only 1 1/2 to 2 ft under my machine the bottle and drain bucket will be.

#2: Post by HB » December 31st, 2011, 4:57 pm

Rotary pumps can draw water from below the counter (e.g., Procon rotary pump specifications say it can handle a six foot vertical lift). You'll need a check valve (also referred to as a foot valve) to prevent air being reintroduced into the line when the pump stops.

December 31st, 2011, 6:35 pm

Thanks for the help.Heres a pic of my espresso station the split top also slides open and has a nice waterproof work area. also not sure if I will have to drill a hole thru the bottom for water line or come from the back. my machine comes wednesday so I'm not sure. I know I'll have to for the drain so I dont have exposed ugly lines. I'm also going to take out the drawer and custom make a front door for it to hide water and drain bottle/bucket.

If I dont need the pump that would be great. Will this put extra wear on my rotary pump and shorten its lifespan?

December 31st, 2011, 6:44 pm

If it wont hurt or restrict the flow to come from the back instead of straight down for the water line, I might try to mod the drawer and make a drain bucket out of it.(plastic or stainless and bolt the door back on maybe).

#5: Post by HB » December 31st, 2011, 8:30 pm

kboom1 wrote:If I dont need the pump that would be great. Will this put extra wear on my rotary pump and shorten its lifespan?

Assuming you use a check valve, no. As I noted earlier, rotary pumps don't require positive pressure. But don't take my word for it, refer to Procon's specifications which say "Self priming (water) with 6 ft. maximum lift" and confirmation from the technician at Fluid-o-Tech:

phreich wrote:Can your rotary vane pumps draw from a non pressurized source (like a jug of water, or a 5 gallon pail)?

His answer was, surprisingly, yes. Eric at Procon also said the same thing -- no problem drawing from a non-pressurized source. I mentioned that this seems to be counter to what many have said in the forums and he said that this is an area of common confusion because people don't realize that the same pumps (in my case their "PO" line of rotary vane pumps) are used for many applications besides espresso machines, and they are capable of lifting water about 3 feet (or 1 meter) up from a non-pressurized water source. He cautioned that the supply for non pressurized water sources should be no less than 3/8" so as to not restrict the flow, and to minimize the number of fittings used for the same reason. He said that using a pump in this way would not reduce its life appreciably. He did caution to make sure to listen to the pump, and if you hear a "buzzing" sound coming from it (caused by cavitation due to flow restriction) that you should figure out why your flow is restricted and correct the cause -- cavitation WILL cause shortened pump life.