Fitz454 wrote:My students would love it....... my wife would no longer be able to enjoy her espresso, LOL!

My cat would knock it to the floor and sit on it. Get a cat for your wife.

Your cat should cut the caffeine intake .

BTW, the poster was my wife's idea. I would have preferred spending the money in more espresso toys.

I am merely a visitor allowed to get my caffeine when he's finished.

The espresso boss!
Beautiful! It looks young. No coffee after 9 pm.

Can anyone give me a ballpark of how much all this stuff costs please? I'd really like to not spend a lot of possible but i obviously don't want something that doesn't work well haha. Thank you!

There are four main components. The water reservoir, pump, pressurized tank, pressure regulator. Pumps can be $90-$150 depending on model and brand. Pressurized tanks $40-$100 unless you chose a stainless steel tank which may cost $300+. Pressure regulator, $60-$80 unless you buy a cheap one from Amazon (I tried two and they did not work well). The water reservoir, $25-$60 depending on what you chose. Add $30-$40 for tubing, fittings and miscellaneous. I would say you can have it all for well under $300.
Here is the list of what I used with links to the prices, except for the tubing and fittings: My list
The 1.7 GPM pump used by other does not cost necessarily more.

Check the first post of the thread as well, there is a very useful and detailed description of each of the main components.

How is pressure set at the accumulator tank? I assume it's fixed. If you need to change line pressure after the accumulator, I assume you can only go down in PSI because the pump isn't pushing water anymore?

If you use a demand/delivery pump, it works between two set pressures, typically 40 and 60 psi. It shuts off when the water in the accumulator tank reaches 60 psi, and it turns on when the pressure goes down to 40 psi.
If you want to let the pump work always in automatic, you set the pressure of the tank (when empty) just 2 or 3 psi under 40 bars.
If you want to use it manually like me (I guess it's only me), you set the pressure of the tank (when empty) just above the minimum pressure needed to feed your espresso machine.
By doing it in that way (either case) you maximize the quantity of water that you can receive from the accumulator to feed the espresso machine. The pump will run longer cycles and less frequently.

If you do nothing and leave the pressure of the accumulator tank as set by factory, and run the pump in automatic, it's going to work as well. It is just that the accumulator tank is going to be used less efficiently. The pump would run shorter cycles, and more frequently.

I am trying to determine the ideal PSI to precharge the accumulator tank to and am slightly confused.

If I recall and If I understand correctly.

When using a Pump for example a 1.7 GPM 60 PSI and 2 gallon accumulator.

The pump is what creates the positive downline pressure to the machine. So regardless of what PSI the accumulator is charged to, the machine is getting the PSI range of the pump.

So if a 60 PSI pump has the turn on at 40 PSI and shut off at 60 psi. That means the machine will always have the downline pressure in this range (even if the accumulator is only charged at 20 PSI).

I was discussing with cafeworks, who does a lot of pre-built systems and asked them about:
https://caffewerks.com/collections/wate ... ume-system

they mentioned they recommend and set the precharge of the accumulator tank to 20 PSI.

I have heard others mention a few PSI below the turn on level of the pump as ideal.


I would think the only difference would be, setting the lower PSI level at the accumulator, would store more water in the accumulator tank. So that it would still have some water left in there even when the pump kicks on.