Hi all,
The lack of an antivac valve on my "82" Cremina is annoying me. My machine is the older style with the full width crossbar for steam & pressure. So I'm thinking to remove the safety valve (vertical) from the right side of the crossbar (when looking from the front of the machine) and replace it with an antivac valve ( retap as necessary ). On the back of the left side of the crossbar behind the steam tap is a capped 1/4" thread (horizontal ). If I remove the cap,attach an adapter, and then the safety valve my source of annoyance will be gone.

The question.

Is there any reason that the spring operated Safety Valve must be fitted vertically ?

John

safety valves do not have to be attached vertically.

edit - wait; do you want to replace/switch an anti vac valve with a safety valve? whilst a vac valve is not strictly necessary, a safety valve most certainly is. Perhaps I am misunderstanding your Q. I await comment from someone more familar with oly anatomy.

Hi Paul,
Thanks for the quick reply.
No, I'm not replacing. The Cremina has a safety valve which I will move from its current vertical fitting to another horizontal fitting and then fit the antivac valve where the safety valve was. So i'll end up with both valves fitted.

John

jmc wrote:The lack of an antivac valve on my "82" Cremina is annoying me.

If the boiler cap thread of the '82 is the same as the current Cremina (I have no knowledge of that one way or the other), you could get a new cap from Olympia which incorporates a vacuum breaker in the cap.

I'll have to check my parts bin but I think that Olympia has done away with the vac breaker cap for the new model....the cap looks the same but has no vac breaker, but again, I need to check. The 2002 schematic shows the valve but when you order a part from Olympia they send you the current part and if it has no vac breaker there you go.

Your main challenge in this mod will be the fittings since you will likely need an adaptor or a union for the pressure valve to mount on the back of the steam faucet....that cap you mention. The threads are British standard (parallel threads) and that cap behind the steam faucet is responsible for holding the seal tight at the faucet body to the top channel using the o ring between the face plate and the channel, so you won't be able to use npt thread and teflon tape like so many mods done with american parts, so the proper BPP threaded union needs to be found which is not a problem. The union must tighten completely down against the top channel to seal the steam body. That seems to be the basic engineering challenge of such an approach. I think the basic vac breaker valve will fit directly into the female threaded socket above the sight glass on the other side, likely sealed with a simple teflon washer.

The new caps (last few months) do indeed feature a vacuum breaker - a dead simple design that is working very well on mine.

AFAIK the thread for the cap is unchanged, but a quick e-mail to Olympia should sort that out.

If the threads are the same, that would certainly be the safest and easiest solution.

Cheers

Mike

Just in case this helps, here's a pic of the latest design from above:



From left to right on top of Cremina cup warmer: Ancap cup being warmed, new-type vacuum breaker in use, on right previous (but still recent - 2009) vac breaker. In background: very photogenic photographer.

The new-type vacuum breaker in the cap features the usual round weight on a piston held in place with a circlip you can just make out in the photo. It's a miniaturised version of a classic deign and works faultlessly.

In the older type on the right, you had a heavier piston but no weight. This steamed a lot and took its time before before sealing and so was superseded.

Cheers

Mike

All completed. (Easy and Safe) As Doug stated in his post all fittings are 1/4" BSPP. You need.
1/4" Vacuum Breaker #1
1/4" Female/Female union #3 - Basically a short piece of brass with a 1/4" BSPP hole threaded right through.
3 x Copper washers




NOTE : the image was taken AFTER the job was completed.

Part #1 on the image is the Vacuum Breaker
#2 is the Safety Valve
#3 is the Female/Female union

Unscrew the Safety Valve from position #4 and screw the Vacuum Breaker into the same hole ( using one of the copper washers ).
Unscrew the Cap from position #5 and screw on the Female/Female union using a copper washer.
Screw the Safety Valve into the Female/Female union using a copper washer.
Turn the machine on and allow it to come to temperature so you can check for leaks. BE VERY CAREFUL as, to be able to see any leaks, the covers must be off the machine and electricity is deadly.
If there is a small leak just tighten a little more. ( Turn the power off each time you touch the machine with the covers off - I even unplug it)

NOTE : It is important to use copper washers between the fittings as these threads are BSPP ( British Standard Parallel Thread ) and, as Doug says above, they will not seal with teflon tape.

NOTE : This mod is only for the earlier Creminas which have the the full width cross bar

John

It looks just great! I had forgotten that you are in OZ and can just trot down to the store to get the BSPP fittings....here we special order and wait. I can see no flaws in the logic of it...the pressure safety valve is above the electrical switch but that valve drip water there are bigger issues with the machine than just a little water on the switch. Looks like a nice mod.

Nice work. Does the case not fill with steam before the valve closes?

The Elektra has holes in it's dome to let the steam from the vac breaker out when it is heating up.

I suppose the heat inside would dry things out after a while, but frankly I'm not sure that inside the case with contacts etc. is the best place for a vac breaker....