Thanks for the replies everyone. I am getting to know the machine a bit better and starting to enjoy the good things and not focus on the flaws as much. Being able to pull shots without a lot of flushing and timing is really nice, as is the awesome steam power for milk drinks. Even though my old machine could steam and pull shots simultaneously, it was a bit of a tricky dance. Now it seems like making cappuccinos is a no brainer and takes only about two minutes per drink.

A friend and I spent all day yesterday plumbing Alex into the main water supply. Normally, this would only take about an hour, since most people with modern homes can simply unscrew an adaptor on their cold water line under the sink and attach the special T adaptor that Chris' Coffee sells, then plug their John Guest line into the adaptor. In my case, the house is about 70 years old and has some weird plumbing. There was no shut off valve or flex line under the sink. Instead, there was a half inch galvanized steel pipe with a big steel union in the middle and a strange box attached. Our best guess was that it was some kind of knock arrester.

Anyway, there was no way to unscrew everything without breaking pipes since it was frozen in place, so we cut about 18 inches of pipe out with a Sawzall (possibly the greatest tool ever invented), then replaced the pipe with a Frankenstein arrangement of pipes, unions, couplers, and three way elbows to allow us to attach the John Guest adaptor to the old pipe. The final result was not pretty, but it does the job. After that, it was fairly simple to run the John Guest tubing to the softener and filter units, and then to the machine. There was only one issue with a leak, which was fixed with messing with the Guest fittings a bit until they held a seal, and then we were in business. Now I'm enjoying being able to pull shots, steam milk, flush the group, etc. without worrying about filling the tank all the time. So nice.

Next, I think I'll try putting the old knob valves back in place, since the joystick valves make the steam wand a bit too long for the height of the drip tray. With any luck, that will resolve one of the minor ergonomic issues I have with the machine.

OK, so I just removed the joystick steam valve and installed the old knob valve in its place. It was a bit tough to get it out of there, since I had to remove three different nuts on the inside of the case, including a brass one that was soft and hard to reach.

Now it's installed and working well, except there's a slight steam leak that I can hear coming from the area where the knob connects to the steam tube from the boiler. At first it was leaking a bit of water right onto a wiring board below it (!), but I put some teflon tape on the threads and now there's no water coming out. There is a slight audible hissing though, so it's still leaking a bit, even when I crank down on the nuts. Any suggestions on how to seal it up?

but I put some teflon tape on the threads

How many wraps? Sounds like you reduced the clearance; a bit more PTFE should close the gap. Any excess will just squeeze out.

I just put a couple of wraps. It's not easy to manuever the tape in there. Maybe I'll put some more on the threads, plus a couple of wraps on the area where the steam tube plugs into the valve. Hopefully that will do it. Thanks.

I'd love a picture of your setup with the joystick knobs. I love the idea but would like to see the final outcome!

Any artisan/machinist have in mind doing a low profile drip tray for the Duetto? This machine needs more clearance between drip tray and group. For those who have the drip tray plumbed, we don't need this huge drip tray at all.

slowrey wrote:I'd love a picture of your setup with the joystick knobs. I love the idea but would like to see the final outcome!

Sean,

I have a PIC in here: Post a pic of your home espresso setup...

And a little more info about the swap here: https://www.coffeegeek.com/forums/espre ... 414#521414

I don't miss the rotary knobs at all!

George