Here is the example I followed for mine: Scace Temperature Reading on Londinium 1-P

I think either of these should work

So I don't think an angled needle valve will work in my situation-because of where the bend is - if I use an angled needle valve it will sit on top of the water level controller and the cover won't fit. Probably better off on using an inline on the vertical run.

Any thoughts or suggestions appreciated. Also not sure I'm comfortable enough cutting this pipe to fit the valve in. It's kinda tight in there with the water tank.

HBfencing wrote:
Also not sure I'm comfortable enough cutting this pipe to fit the valve in. It's kinda tight in there with the water tank.

Not too many other options if you want to fix the problem. You could remove the entire pipe & take it & the valve to a shop that could do the work for you if you aren't comfortable doing the work yourself.

HBfencing wrote:At least a year and a half since I changed them so yeah definitely due. I only pull 3 espressos a day.

Mine is in almost 8 years and perfectly flexible.

Holy cow

I think I might go to a shop nearby - to help me with this - I do have an espresso repair shop that focuses on restaurants but since the pandemic hit he's got a little bit more time than usual.

When I mentioned to him I also wanted to take the inner spring out he told me it would be super expensive - so not sure he's the best source.

I lowered the boiler pressure to 0.9 bar. Will see what the temp strips read at that pressure - still plenty of steam at 0.9.

You're right shouldn't be having to replace seals every 1.5 years on this machine

What is everyone experiencing on average with seals on a spring lever commercial group ? 8 years is a long time

I bought some copper pipe online and replaced the original pipe. No way to mess up that way And can always go back to the original.
I used an angled valve and it fit just fine but without the knob. You can also shorten the vertical section of the pipe if you want more space. And you'll probably need to remove the other pipes on top in order to get more space to work, then put them back.

The Parker valve seems to not have compression fittings so you might have to buy those separately.

pinky-and-me wrote:I bought some copper pipe online and replaced the original pipe. No way to mess up that way And can always go back to the original.
I used an angled valve and it fit just fine but without the knob. You can also shorten the vertical section of the pipe if you want more space. And you'll probably need to remove the other pipes on top in order to get more space to work, then put them back.

Thanks- I was just looking at copper piping on Amazon - inexpensive and also looking at some You Tube videos for compression fittings. I've done plumbing work on my aquarium and installed valves before- all that is pvc of course. Looks fairly straightforward- I can probably make a new piece with new piping and keep the original as backup which is good idea. Thanks for the suggestion.

I'm wondering though since I don't make enough milk based drinks if it's even worth the time to do this as lowering the boiler presssure should lower the group temperature and thus improve the life of the seals. I'm also getting plenty of steam in my test at 0.9 bar. I won't be able to tell the group temp until the the strips come in or I get an IR digital thermometer.

I doubt that .2 bar p'stat change will scrub off 40*-50*F from the group temp but we'll see. That Swagelok valve comes with everything you need.