Hi

I have read a few posts regarding the water supply for a mobile espresso setup, but I cannot figure out if you only need the external pump or if you require another pump. It is a bit confusing and I know the answer should be simple, but I am getting confused.

So, the setup that I am thinking of is a water supply (e.g. a large bottle of water) connected to the external pump that fills the boiler and sends water through the group heads. (My espresso machine is a La San Marco 85s with an external pump.) Please refer to the diagram.

Normally I will just connect directly from the tap to the pump, but how does this work when I use a reservoir like a large bottle (e.g. 20liter) of water? There will hardly be any pressure coming from the bottle, unless I put it on a stand or something.

Would it suffice if the water supply is higher than the pump and/or espresso machine? OR would I need to supply more pressure to the water coming from the reservoir?

Could someone please show me a diagram of what the setup should look like from between the container and the external pump?



Thanks,

The only item you are missing is what's called a "foot valve" at the end of the hose going into your 20 liter water reservoir - http://store.waterpumpsupply.com/bronfootval.html . This serves to keep the pump's suction line full.

Thanks Eric.

I hope it is okay to add to this thread ...

Where would a water softener go in this? Before or after the external pump (assuming that one is drawing from a reservoir without its own pump/water pressure)?

Assuming you are referencing your Victoria Arduino machine, the water in the reservoir should be "treated" just like any other machine having a reservoir/vibration pump. This would require you to know the qualities of the water in your home and "treat" accordingly.

Some options would include bottled water, the Brita pitcher (or equivalent), or using the water as is. A difficult but very educational read would be Jim Shulman's FAQ on water:

http://web.archive.org/web/200805260723 ... erfaq.html

I was thinking of filling the reservoir with softened water.

I have not idea how it should work, but my guess is that you would need a bit of pressurised water to flow through the water softener?

The external pump with my setup will apply the +-9bar pressure for brewing, so you would need an extra pump I guess - not sure. Can someone confirm?

Something like this maybe?

reservoir ==> pump ==> water softener ==> pump ==> espresso machine
or
pressurised water in reservoir ==> water softener ==> pump ==> espresso machine

Ah... found these on HB

Can a rotary pump suck up from a bucket?
and
Pressurized water for rotary pump; how do I know if my espresso machine requires it?

Thanks for the response, Eric.

Actually, this is not about my Victoria Arduino (which is, internally, a pretty simple single boiler and doesn't need anything fancy for the water-feed). Rather, I'm looking at a used La San Marco 85 S (with the external rotary pump, like the OP, Bob_Coffee, was discussing). I'm trying to do my due-dilligence before I think about bidding on it so that I know what I'm getting myself into (since plumbing this any way other than from a jug of water will not work for me). I'm hoping that I will be able to fill the jug with softened water before it enters the system, but, if that proves difficult or impossible, then I'll need to make sure that there is something in-line. I've looked at lots of the posts (including the "insanely long water post"), though, I don't promise that I have perfect understanding of it.

Still, the main concern that I have is that:

1) IF I cannot get pre-softened water (grocery store water dispensing machines? it would still need to be tested ...) and

2) IF I then need to install an in-line softener

3) THEN I need to figure out if there would be any problems with the water pressure (since the water would need to run through the in-line softener) since it would be drawn/pumped by the external rotary pump that comes with the LSM 85 S (again, since I can't hook this up to an existing water line in my house and I'll need to run this from an external water jug).

According to the various "pressurized water" posts that Bob_Coffee references, it seems like one can use the external pump to draw from a jug of water for this machine. I guess I just don't know if anything would change if it ALSO needed to draw water through a softener (or if that is even possible ... I suspect not). The other option, obviously, would be to get a Flojet system. I'd rather avoid that, though, if possible ...

... anyway, I figure that, unless someone had direct experience with this, I'm guessing that this might fit into the "need to experiment to find out"-category.

Cheers!

That's a well written post you just made.

If you reach the point where you need to install a water treatment system between the OEM pump and the machine, surely that can be done. Be sure to run a few gallons of untreated water (a system flush) through the system before connecting to the machine.

The ideal situation (non-plumbed in) would be to have the pump take suction from a "jug" of quality water. Personally, I would let that quality level be closer to the less-scaling region as compared to the good taste region.