I have a GS3 that's plumbed in. I've dealt with bad water over the years and have the following setup:

20 micron whole house filter -> Whole house softener -> cation softener -> 10 micron filter -> gs3

My latest dealings have pointed me towards rust in the water and possibly changing out the 10 micron for a 5 micron filter. I'm getting tired of dealing with the water and was thinking about switching to a 5 gallon bottled water.

What I would like to do is set the 5 gallon jug up in the next room and run the flexible water pipe through the basement and up into the gs3. I think that if I turn the water jug upside down and put it higher than the pump, it will be enough pressure to deliver a stream to the gs3 pump. So, in other words, the pump won't be sucking it out of the 5 gallon jug... If I would disconnect the pipe from the pump, a flow of water will occur (hypothetical).

I was wondering if this is OK to do or if it will damage the pump over time. I think it will be OK because it can pull the water for the water tray if used. I really don't want to buy a flojet and deal with that, but if I have to, I will.

I'm having a hard time envisioning your setup but it sounds complicated. So the 5 gallon jug will be higher than the pump and there will be a lot of tubing?

The flojet is always preferred in these types of situations (IMO). Whats the issue with dealing with a flojet as it's dead simple.

brianl wrote:I'm having a hard time envisioning your setup but it sounds complicated. So the 5 gallon jug will be higher than the pump and there will be a lot of tubing?

The flojet is always preferred in these types of situations (IMO). Whats the issue with dealing with a flojet as it's dead simple.

Right now, money. I think it's $150 on Chris' Coffee and maybe ~100 bucks on ebay for something that looks like a flojet. Unless....I'm looking at something different.

spressomon wrote:FWIW I have been using a Shurflo 2088-594-154 ($70 @ Amazon) with a 2-gallon accumulator feeding my Londinium L1 via 2) 5-gallon water jugs: Works perfectly. Just pay heed to the max vertical pump-ability of the unit and you'll be golden (assuming your GS3 can be fed with an external pump).

I am in the process of converting to distilled water (same dual 5-gallon array) with addition of Robert Pavlis' recommended potassium bicarbonate add to get the water to where it needs to be simply, affordably and consistently. Several discussions here on the subject and here is one: Distilled water "YES" / Distilled water "NO"

It looks like this option might run about $120, and that's not including the piping and fittings. It looks like the flojet from Chris might be a better option because it includes everything in a nice package, but it's still pricey.

This was my point about the flojet. Why spend $150 on something when it might not be needed.

My setup isn't too complicated. The one part I did leave out is that I outboarded the motor in the gs3 because it was vibrating things too much. Later on in life, LM fixed this, but at the time, outboarding was the best option for me. The motor and pump sit outside of the gs3 and in the next cabinet over. So basically, it's about a 6" rise to the motor/pump from the floor.

I would think that an upside down water bottle wouldn't let water flow smoothly (and possibly even stop at some point) unless there is a method of introducing air back into the bottle to replace the volume of water being removed. Think of the gurgling/burping a water cooler goes through as water is dispensed. Or, are you thinking of setting the bottle into a rig similar to a water cooler? If so, be mindful of water levels so air isn't sucked into the water line.

A water bottle with a flojet pump doesn't have this issue since water is removed from the bottom of the bottle and air can enter around the cap. With the proposed upside down bottle arrangement, you may run into a problem where the water flow stops; or, you may even run the risk of sucking air into the water line and causing the GS3 pump to cavitate.

Of course, I could be completely off base here.

I personally wouldn't be comfortable with the upside down bottle method and would go with a FloJet between those two options but isn't the GS3 capable of running off an internal tank or isn't that possible with your outboarded pump?

If you do decide to go the route of a FloJet (or similar pump), consider adding an accumulator tank, and possibly even a pressure regulator, into the line as well. This will allow the FloJet to run less often and also even out the input pressure to the GS3. I ran my Vivaldi without an accumulator for a while but have been getting better results even with just the small 20oz ShurFlo accumulator. I will likely add a regulator next so I can eliminate the input pressure swings as the accumulator depletes and refills (and stop water dripping into the tray when idle).

There are lots of single group rotary pump espresso machines (GS3) sucking from a reservoir. So I'm not actually sure why people are quick to recommend a flojet.

So from what I understand by sucking from a container you will lose line pressure preinfusion (if your machine has it) and run the risk of introducing air to the system if you let the container run dry. No safety net.

I've read on here that a rotary pump like the ones in our machine can suck up a vertical line up to close to 2m. So if you want to have your container in the basement that is something to consider. How far from the machine?

I've personally run my Appia from a container directly under the machine many times.

Thanks all for the responses. Many good points were made, especially with how air would get into the bottle if I flipped it over. That's something I really didn't take into account.

Unfortunately, it looks like my options are the flojet or some smaller micron filters... I think I might add the filters up to see the price and go from there. I'll probably be back next year pondering flojet again.