Plumbing machines is sort of a pet subject of mine.

You will find many threads with pictures on this site. I learned how to plumb in and out here.

For your specific question on going through the backstop, this post and the next few after may be useful:

Post a pic of your home espresso setup...

You could do something similar for the water line. I went through the granite countertop (with wife approval). Try this argument: "I'll run the electric cords through there as well to plugs under the counter, no more ugly cords from the machine and the grinder running along the countertop!"

As others have pointed out, if you drain (and I highly recommend it), you have to do it before a p-trap to avoid bad smell. You also have to make sure there are no upward loops in your drain line.

About once per week I soak my portafilters in Cafiza after a chemical backflush. I then empty the solution in the drip tray of the machine to help prevent any clogs. Works like a charm!

Pompei.


Made hole in counter for waterline.



Never bothered to pull driptray line through hole.
After 8 years still draining in the sink.

Thank you, this is all interesting and something for me to think about. I was not planning on plumbing the drain in at all, just the supply and have not thought about a potential leak. My goal is to replace the Silvia with something like a Bianca and then plumb it in to "shrink" the footprint down to a more reasonable size for my counter. Here is a picture of where I was thinking of placing it.

I'm a big fan of plumbing in both the water line and the drain line. I did the water line first, and lived with frequent emptying of the drain box for many months. Eventually I plumped in the drain and was delighted with the convenience and improvement of the work flow. I'd never go back.

Our countertops are made of Corian, which is not as expensive as granite, but the hole required to plumb the water line, drain line, power cords for the machine and grinder, and some low voltage lines for the automation mods I've done is larger than the hole pictured above (and through the history of various configurations I've tried has been barely big enough.)



I also drilled a smaller hole in the appliance barn next to the machine where the some of the connections are made to the machine and the drain pipe in the cabinet below.



(The drain pipe from the machine is no longer just stuffed into the house drain pipe -- there's a proper hose-to-PVC connector in place now, as well as a high-quality Swagelok pressure regulator with gauges for input and output pressure.)

My wife never complained, but she hasn't actually seen the holes because one covered by the machine and the other is in the rear corner of the appliance barn where it's not easily visible (and also hidden by the door.)

My theory is that if and when we move or I get rid of the machine (which will be when hell freezes over ), the holes can be plugged with a commonly available low-profile snap-in metal insert or a thin metal plate glued over the hole. I doubt most people would even notice. Or, it may be possible to fashion a Corian plug (the stuff gets glued together and sanded so that seams disappear -- there are expert techs who do that.) Or, a small sink could be installed where the machine was, utilizing the hole. Or, a water faucet could be installed above the range, which is a foot or so away, and connected through the hole. That's a popular device in modern kitchens.

Dealing with that hole will be the least of our (or our successors') worries. Removing the 110' radio tower with six giant antennas and rotators, plus a 1200-lb crankup tower and antenna, will present a much bigger challenge. Long ago my wife accepted that my hobbies are somewhat invasive.

Finally, I strongly recommend installing a trap under the drain line. It not only isolates smells from the waste line, it isolates sounds from any equipment that shares the path to the waste line. I found that out when I connected the drain line to the drain line for our washing machine, which had its own trap. When the washing machine ran the sounds of it draining were blasted into the kitchen through the espresso machine drain, which acted like a megaphone. Traps do require proper venting to meet code, but you may not need to add one because the volume from the espresso machine is quite low.

chrisrose98 wrote:Thank you, this is all interesting and something for me to think about... Here is a picture of where I was thinking of placing it.

I'd stay out of the wall with all that electrical right there.

It's always difficult to make the trade-off between utility and aesthetics. My machine (La Spaziale Dream) is plumbed for water but not drain. Like many others I installed the supply line through the counter top under the machine (my counter tops are not granite). My 2-cartridge filtration system with shutoff valves is in the lower back of the cabinet under the machine. It's a pain when i have to change filters because it means removing items from the cabinet.

Since there typically are electrical outlets nearby, I would recommend using a licensed plumber for a wall installation. That way you end with something that meets codes and you don't have to worry about safety.

Some ideas that come to mind:

Install an "Icemaker Outlet Box" in the wall behind the machine and then finish it off with a nice removable cover plate as someone has mentioned. That way you get a valve right there and there's not a lot of fiddling with how to fasten it in the wall etc;

Another idea is to find someone who does commercial work and have them fabricate a stainless steel or anodized aluminum plate with a valve (or just a compression fitting with the valve elsewhere);

Install a tiny sink (cup sink?) along with a drinking water tap adjacent to the machine and have the supply connection to the espresso machine installed on the rim of that sink.

Personally I would prefer to keep water lines out of exterior walls, but walls are the most standard way to plumb sinks. Why plumbers don't install lines through the floor of a cabinet instead of the back of the cabinet is a mystery to me. But that's another thread for another forum.....

JM

Mine: