laservet wrote:Sorbothane is an excellent product for vibration isolation and vibration dampening.

The stuff looks neat, but for doing only my own system, wish the manufactures would use it.

Does the length of the hose exiting the pump (at least I think it's the exit) seem too long?

See badly drawn red arrow near the bottom of the image.


Thanks,
Mark

I shortened my tubing because (and its tough to remember because it was a year ago) it was either rubbing against the tank support or too close to it. This tubing (M6 x 4 Teflon) has a minimum bend radius of 1 inch. Any tubing that is subject to chafing should be protected - maybe with a short slit length of rubber hose. Edit on 6/24 to correct tubing size - M5 x 3 Teflon.



Mark - one thing I find interesting in your pic is that it appears as though the rubber mounts for the pump are being held down with a rectangular washer whereas mine (December 2006 purchase) are held down with a slightly larger than normal circular washer.

Eli - the shrieking you are experiencing from the OPV is, in fact, experienced by many, including me. Soaking the internals of the OPV in vinegar for an hour or so will remove any scale build up on the valve and reducing the OPV set point by a couple of tenths will help a great deal.

This is a great thread.

Eric, thanks a bunch for the photo. Very nice clean layout of lines. Your layout of the tubing is exactly what I had in mind, pointing the exit toward the boiler and a gentle turn. When you detached the hose, did the entire boiler drain, or did the pump prevent this? Did you have any problems with re-attaching the hose?

I don't know the exact age of my system since I'm now the third owner, but it's about 2.5 years old. I'll see if I can find my offset phillips screw drive to put in smaller washers. This would (in theory) allow the mounts to vibrate more and hopefully lessen the overall noise.

Thanks,
Mark

Did you have any problems with re-attaching the hose?

No, I didn't but you should know that the entire snout of the Ulka pump can rotate so you need not unscrew any fitting from the pump itself. The teflon hose needs to be cut with either a dedicated hose cutter or a sharp razor blade. The tubing must be cut square and should be cut in small increments, i.e. certainly better 1/2" long than 1/2" short.

I only mentioned the washers on the Ulka pump mounts as a FYI, not that I would necessarily recommend swapping out. Just off the top of my head, the rectangular plate might be better although it is a super cheap experiment either way. If you do a lot(?) of tinkering with Anita, these are handy to install also in conjunction with a flat rubber washer from your local hardware store. They take the place of those PITA casing screws. I should also mention that an M5 size is available for other machines, i.e. Vibiemme and perhaps others.



http://www.mcmaster.com/itm/find.ASP?ta ... g=62935K11

erics wrote: Eli - the shreaking you are experiencing from the OPV is, in fact, experienced by many, including me. Soaking the internals of the OPV in vinegar for an hour or so will remove any scale build up on the valve and reducing the OPV set point by a couple of tenths will help a great deal.

Yep this is also a cause of noise in my machine. I might as well check this out next weekend. What does it look like? Any tips on how to remove one?

Mark

The OPV is the large brass body shown in the left in my first pic, directly above the Gicar controller. Adjust the small nut on the bottom such that pump discharge pressure is 9.0 bar when using a blind basket. If you end up turning the small hex a lot, you will need to "untwist" the hose which handles the OPV discharge.

Work on a cold/lukewarm machine and do ALL of this with the machine unplugged except of course when you need to run the pump.

If you still want to take the OPV apart, remove the attached hose and plug the hose end with a golf tee or equivalent. Note the approximate position of the adjusting hex and unscrew it all the way. Be ready to catch a little bit of water. You could also remove the OPV body itself but the top threads are sealed with a "nice" sealant. Resealing can be performed with an appropriate Loctite thread sealant.

Out will come the adjusting hex, OPV spring, and OPV valve. Soak all parts in vinegar for an hour or so. Rinse well, reinstall, and adjust the OPV as per first paragraph.

I'm wondering if my motor mount is faulty - the rubber part does not sit perpendicular to the floor of the machine. It's pushed a little forward, so I wonder if it's slipped off of a bracket or something.

I just happen to be looking at this particular parts diagram for a completely unrelated reason and note with interest the mounting for the little Ulka pump:

http://www.partsguru.com/GaggiaEspresso.html

This is just an FYI that there are multiple methods out there to mount these pumps and that each method has a particular longitudinal stiffness associated with it. For eample, if you venture over to the Fluid-O-Tech website and search out the mounting for their line of vibration pumps, you'll see two methods of mounting. Their rubber mounts are much stiffer than the Ulka but the FOT pump is also a little heavier.

http://www.fluid-o-tech.com/files/Accessories.pdf

While I was replacing my group gauge I adjusted the length of a couple of my tubes. They now basically look like Eric S's picture. Very simple to do, no water runs out of the machine either. The hard teflon tube was contributing to the overall noise, and the machine is now quieter.

Perhaps sometime in the future I'll get to the OPV. I would have to say it's noticably quieter, but I don't have the quietest pump.

Btw: If your gauges are ever out of whack and not reading zero, they are simple to take apart to re-adjust the indicator. I didn't know this which was why I purchased a new one.

Mark

Something else that just caught my eye. There is a posibility of metal on metal vibration from the pump to the metal shelf holding up the water tank in Andreja and in Anita.

http://coffeetime.wikidot.com/noise-red ... ja-premium

I'll have to check this out when I get around to cleaning the OPV.
=-=-
Mark