Possible to mod a manual fill valve into commercial boiler?

A haven dedicated to manual espresso machine aficionados.
User avatar
CoffeeBeetle
Posts: 330
Joined: 8 years ago

#1: Post by CoffeeBeetle »

Hey guys

Some time ago i saw a picture of the Olympia Club boiler and it made me think. Since a rather big machine like the Club can operate with a regular manual fill valve(or is that the name for when a boiler is filled when the pump is manually activated, as opposed to a censor knowing when the boiler is running low?) why not make similar valves in older commercial machines?
I know a lot of people plump the machines and are very happy with this, and even those who can't plump their machines could use a Flojet and a big bottle, but if you channel your inner inventor and ask "could I?" instead of "why should i?", isn't this possible with somewhat simpel tools? Granted, i haven't worked with machines nearly as long as most of you guys, so me saying "how hard could it be?" might be a bit optimistic, but hear me out and tell me if this is completely crazy:

Drill a hole into the top of the boiler wherever there is room.

Insert a threaded metal tube that fits rather snugly into the hole. This tube has two small "ears" on the part of the tube that is outside the boiler.

On both sides of the tube now positioned in the boiler, a piece of metal or plastic is placed, which have a hole where the tube fits through. These

pieces follows the curve of the boiler and the piece on the outside has two small slots cut into it, where the ears on the tube fits into.

Nuts are placed on both sides of the tube and tightened onto the curvepieces. Because the two pieces follows the boiler curve they can't turn or twist when the nuts are tightened and because the tube ears fit into the slots on the upper curvepiece, the tube can't twist in any way either. The tube is now completely fixed and water can be filled through this tube.

Some kind of cap is made that will fix onto the tube. If the outside of the tube is already threaded then something like the 1st gen Pavoni cap with female threads.

Before any of this is done it is decided where gaskets are needed and what kind is needed. If the mod is a succes then there wouldn't be a need to change the gaskets anytime soon, so perhaps some kind of thread sealant would be a good idea.

It's a bit late here and i might be rambling, and some sketches would have made things a lot easier, but i hope that you can follow my thinking with this explanation. So do you think that it would be possible?

pinky-and-me
Posts: 65
Joined: 10 years ago

#2: Post by pinky-and-me »

I don't think you need to drill a hole in the boiler.
Just put a split in the pipe that currently feeds the boiler and add a manual valve hooked to the water mains if it's a plumbed in machine. Or add an extra switch that can open the valve on demand.
If it's a pump machine, you just need an extra switch that would allow you to activate the pump on demand.

I guess, if you don't need a backup against a faulty valve, the simple solution would be and extra switch.