Hi Paul, Thanks for chiming in. On another note, THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU for your kick arse article on installing the old cage and bolt style LM group heads. I was able to get mine done in 30 mins. flat. Without your step by step article I think it would have taken days! YOU'RE THE MAN!

I was about to make a new post about home wannabee espresso plumbers and the risk of water damage, but I see with the search function that the subject has been raised once before (here).

Having recently remodeled my kitchen and now having 2 complete plumbed in espresso setups, my paranoia has gotten the better of me and I decided to invest in some cheap water alarms from Home Depot. My own plumb in jobs were primarily done by a (real) plumber so they are probably more substantial than what most home users have, however the last portions are composed of John Guest tubing and fittings which I put together myself.

Although it might be appealing to try to put together a "fail safe" sort of system that interrupts the flow of water if there is a leak, I think that a much simpler solution exists for about $10 from your local Home Depot or Lowes. The model that these stores sell is called the "Watchdog" water alarm and is basically a transistor radio sized white plastic thing that takes a 9v battery and which will produce a very loud alarm if there is even a very small amount of water pooling up under the sink (or anywhere, for that matter). There are at least several other similar alarms produced by other manufacturers which are sold through other stores and I have no reason to doubt that they work equally well.

For those amateur plumbers among us with plumbed in espresso machines, I think that a very modest expenditure on a water alarm such as this would be money well spent in the unlikely event that something under the sink starts to leak . . . . .

ken