This thread may be useful to others looking into a plumb-in setup and may answer few questions I still have myself.

I recently moved from a PIDed Silvia to a La Spaziale Vivaldi II. After having it pull water from a big water pitcher for 1-2 weeks, I finally received my plumbing order and installed everything during the week-end. I had to make a few changes to what I expected to have as a final state, even if I planned for everything.

How I did it

To summarize:
1. Angle stop adapter, 3/8"-3/8" compression to 3/8" John Guest, between the mains and the kitchen faucet
2. LeakController
3. Activated carbon filter
4. T to filtered water faucet
5. Valve to isolate coffee machine
6. Pressure regulator (for line pre-infusion)
7. T to valve to an open ended tube, to pull descaling solution when needed
8. Coffee machine, 3/8" John Guest to NPT (should have been BSPT but teflon tape did the job)



John Guest in 3/8". Working with John Guest / Speedfit connectors is a charm. I used a razor blade to cut everything. Figuring how to fit everything and installing it inside the cabinet was the hardest part. Everything is in 3/8" ID, as I wanted to avoid water cavitation issues some reported when using ¼" ID. I used the original John Guest brand (bought from a specialized plumbing store on the web), with a higher pressure rating, rather than the Watts brand available locally.

Filtering. Water quality tends to drop during the summer: turbidity and a slight taste of "mud/earth" (not sure about the correct wording in English). This is why I use a carbon filter, and I also took the opportunity to add a filtered water faucet to the setup, through a small hole drilled in a corner of the kitchen sink. The faucet also allows me to purge water through a new filter easily.

Water softening. I thought about installing a water softener filter but scaling is not an issue anywhere in the house (I never had to descale my kettle, for example) , with a total water hardness of 7 grains (125 mg/L CaCO3), alkalinity at 84 mg/L.

Scaling. After spending time reading (and re-reading) Jim's Insanely Long Water FAQ (http://www.big-rick.com/coffee/waterfaq.html) and considering my coffee habits, I calculated that I should expect a 0,75g deposit / month in the brew boiler and 0,75g deposit / month in the steam boiler. This should mean that a 2-3 time / year descaling (removing 2.5-5.0g each time) would be enough to prevent scaling from reaching a point where issues will appear. I therefore intend to descale each season (every three months) and have a look each year inside the boilers to ensure my calculations where right.

I kept an open ended tube (normally closed by a valve) for pulling descaling solution from a container, to make descaling easier, even if I would still need to first drain the steam boiler (the Vivaldi has a drain plug for it) and siphon water with a straw out of the brew boiler (through the cold water inlet on the boiler). All I need to do is close the valve from the water filter and open the valve to the solution, then turn the machine back on to have it fill itself with the solution.

Leak detector. I chose to install the leak detector for an added safety. One sensor sits at the bottom of the sink cabinet, while the other one sits under the coffee machine. The only thing it doesn't protect me against is from a leakage between the angle stop adapter and itself, and from a leak at the junction between the coffee machine braided hose and the 3/8 John Guest tubing, as this connection sits in an adjacent cabinet.

Line pressure adjustment. I adjusted the static pressure on the regulator to 30 psi (2 bar). I thought I would need to re-adjust the pump bypass valve but was surprised to see that with or without line pressure, the machine gauge reports the exact same pressure while pulling a shot. The balanced bypass valve seems to do a very good job.

Polypropylene fittings. I chose to use only polypropylene (PP) fittings as this is a safe plastic. To my knowledge, no scientific research as shown any health issue with PP, which is not the case with other plastics: bisphenol-A, phtalates, PVC, etc. Telling me none of these plastic additives are used in a particular plastic product doesn't convince me to use it: replacing an additive with known health concerns with another one less studied doesn't seem to me like a brilliant idea. Note that I am not saying that other material choices would be bad, but simply that PP seems like a good choice as of today. As for linear low-density polyethylene (LLDPE) tubing, the perusing I've made with Google Scholar didn't reveal any concerns and PE is usually a good choice. I am in no way paranoiac but I believe in the precautionary principle when a safe alternative is available, especially as I have a young children at home (for example, bisphenol-A and phtalates are endocrine disruptors: I prefer to keep my boy a boy as far as I can...).

On the other hand, I still need to do some research to see if we should or not regularly drink water that sits in the steam boiler (for tea, for example) (boiler is made of copper, no longer nickel plated for the newest Vivaldi).

Issues with this setup

I found the water flow through the filtered water faucet to be much too strong (3 L/min approximately), splashing water everywhere. After I tried putting the faucet downstream of the pressure regulator (instead of having only the coffee machine downstream to it), I saw the water flow cut in half. I hence resorted to installing it this way. The water flow is still strong, at around 1,5-2,0 L/min approximately (with a new filter), something useful to quickly fill a water pitcher, for example.

The only issue I have now is that pulling water from the faucet creates a pressure drop at the coffee machine (coffee machine gauge showing 1 bar instead of 2). I therefore need to avoid using the faucet while pulling a shot (not so big of an issue as the coffee machine and faucet are close together, making it less likely for two different people to pull coffee and pull water from the faucet at the same time).

Final thoughts

After all was done, I asked myself if I should rather have installed some kind of gicleur for the filtered water faucet to reduce the water flow, instead of using the pressure regulator to do so... hence avoiding the risk of pulling a sink shot if the faucet is used during coffee making. I don't know if such a part can be added just before the faucet. A stop/ball valve semi-closed could do the job? This also would mean moving again the pressure regulator to its original planned position and moving most of the other parts, probably needing additional tubing as well, as what I have left would not be enough to extend some connections by a few inches.

The faucet I chose from the web has a nice finish and its base seems sturdy but it still feels cheap (the rotating faucet is removable by hand, simply sitting freely with three rubber gasket in the faucet base). I may look into replacing it with something sturdier, but I will need to look for a local specialized plumbing store as the usual hardware stores (Rona, HomeDepot, CanadianTire, etc.) only keep complete water softening kits.

Voilà!

I will now enjoy the pleasure of never filling a tank, neither cleaning one.

Addendum: Parts list

• John Guest Angle Stop Adapter Valve, 3/8", 3/8", 3/8" (ASVPP2)
• 6x John Guest Equal Elbow 3/8"(PP0312W)
• WaterControl LeakController, with a second sensor
• 2x Straight Adaptor - NPTF Thread 3/8", 3/8" (PP011223W)
• Pentek Slimline 10" Filter housing, 3/8" connections, blue (polypropylene), with mounting bracket, stainless steel screws and spare O-ring
• A few OmniPure Carbon Block Cartridge Replacements
• 2x John Guest Equal Tee 3/8", 3/8" (PP0212W)
• John Guest Shut Off Valve, 3/8", 3/8" (PPSV041212W)
• Chris' Coffee Brass Pressure Regulator Valve with Gauge (new product, replaced the old plastic regulator)
• John Guest UNS Tap Adaptor, 3/8", UNS
• Non Air Gap Water Faucet
• 10' of 3/8" LLDPE Tubing, rated for 230psi @ 70° F, NSF Standard 58 Certified
• Some tubing clamps for 3/8" tubing

I would move the pressure regulator to the other side of the drain valve so that a full-flow could be achieved when changing cartridges and not flowing the solution of loose particles through the regulator.

Pretty similar to what I did but I included another Tee and used the treated water to supply the ice maker in the fridge.

I also put a valve at each supply line (one behind the fridge, one behind the espresso machine, and one at the faucet in addition to the two, one at each end of the filter system, so that any single component can be isolated from the system allowing the others to operate.

As soon as my machine arrives I can plumb it in.. But I ran the line all the way up to the espresso cart and put a valve at the end of the line and am using that like a garden hose to fill the reservoir in the interim.

Nice setup. Does anyone know of a leak alarm like that one that has wireless sensors?

Randy G. wrote:I would move the pressure regulator to the other side of the drain valve so that a full-flow could be achieved when changing cartridges and not flowing the solution of loose particles through the regulator.

This is actually how it is currently set up, after I moved the regulator before the filter so it would affect both the espresso machine and the water faucet:
1. Angle stop adapter
2. LeakController
3. Pressure regulator
4. Filter
5. T to filtered water faucet
6. Valve to isolate coffee machine
7. T to valve to an open ended tube, to pull descaling solution when needed
8. Coffee machine

sweaner wrote:Nice setup. Does anyone know of a leak alarm like that one that has wireless sensors?

Try a search for "FloodStop"
Here are the valves, including wireless:
http://www.diycontrols.com/c-262-floods ... alves.aspx

Thanks Randy. That looks like just the ticket!

Randy G. wrote:I would move the pressure regulator to the other side of the drain valve so that a full-flow could be achieved when changing cartridges and not flowing the solution of loose particles through the regulator.

As an afterthought... having the pressure regulator upstream of the filter may not be a good idea, as the filter may cause a pressure drop. The pressure to the espresso machine is then lower than what the regulator is set to. When I tested this yesterday, it seems like the impact is minimal.