As far as plumb in, I found the reservoir stem fits a 3/8" push connector perfectly. The tube itself is a softer vinyl that is somewhat smaller than 3/8". This is fine for a short term plumb solution until we see what the official kits look like.

I'm just going to keep the water line closed when it isn't in use. I'm also going to open it up and see how the hose is connected internally to ensure it doesn't need clamping or something on the other end.

Yeah this internal connection is just a barb and honestly pretty loose at that. I'd recommend caution to anyone who plumbs with the existing hose, if that slips off overnight you may wake up to a surprise! I've clamped it internally but may still flip the water off when I'm not using it.

Before:


After:

Is that loose connection potentially an issue even when not plumbing?

Probably not, under normal circumstances it's a suction hose.

espressoren wrote: I'm tempted to come up with a little control panel if I can find settings that would be useful to have handy rather than app controlled.

If you could not only observe but change temp and pressure from an external control panel that could be interesting. I don't overly mind the app, but I would probably play with these parameters more if they were more in my face. Not that the quality of the output has suffered (and perhaps that's part of the point...)

espressoren wrote:I'd recommend caution to anyone who plumbs with the existing hose, if that slips off overnight you may wake up to a surprise! I've clamped it internally but may still flip the water off when I'm not using it.

Er, that silicone tubing wasn't designed for pressure.

It's your house, but with the caveat that I'm not a certified plumber, I'm certain it would not pass our town's plumbing code. If it's connect to a Flojet or similar that can be powered off automatically, you mitigate the risk of a leak. As a homeowner who once had a small drip from a bathroom fixture on the second floor do an amazing amount of damage, I'm of the opinion that there's no shortcuts when it comes to plumbing.

La Marzocco hasn't announced an "official" plumb-in kit, but as part of the review, they sent pre-production kits to two of the reviewers (Dave/cannonfodder and me/HB). It uses high pressure lines with stainless steel braiding wraps and fittings to screw directly into the pump; I have no doubt it would pass plumbing code requirements. They also included driptray drain conversion bits (which I believe are also required by the plumbing code for a permanent installation).

Can you post any photos of the pre-production plumbing kits?

They asked us not to go into detail nor post informative pictures of the bespoke kits so as not to drive any (negative) assumptions as to what the production kits will include.

What I can tell you is there is a BSPP fitting that replaces the nipple fitting on the pump. From there, a typical LMLM or GS/3 kit would be pretty much identical.

HB wrote:Er, that silicone tubing wasn't designed for pressure.

Based solely on the attached photos, it looks like the tubing on the outlet of the pump is the same as the tubing on the inlet, albeit with a different fitting at the pump. So I'm guessing that the tubing itself is certainly capable of handling inlet line pressure if it can handle pump outlet pressure.