L1-P water pressure required.

Simon MacFarlane

Hi Looking to purchace an L1-P and the main concern that I had was if being in a 3rd floor apartment and having to take the water feed from the kitchen tap supply whether I'd have the required water pressure?

I bought a Honeywell PRV with gauge & plumbed the supply in today and and getting at system 'closed' with the pipe plugged 4bar, with the 15mm pipe completely 'open' and running into a bucket I'm getting 0.5bar though this is with no back pressure except the diameter of the pipe and the valve hole in the on/off connection.

Here's where I'm at and if this is ok its onto sorting the machine and inline filtration next



So if you've an L1-P is my line pressure ok?

Many thanks in advance!!!

Simon

Kfir

Your pressure regulator is set to 3 bars? (usually the default setting)
Mine shows about 4 bars when everything is closed, when I pull the lever on the L1-P the pressure drops to ~ 3.3 bars.

If you are getting a strong flow of water and the bucket is being filled relatively quick then it should be OK, 0.5 bars of pressure will give you a weak flow of water.

I guess you'll probably have to wait for the machine to find out, if the pressure is about 3 bars the lever will grab near 90 degrees angle after 5-6 seconds of pre infusion.

Enjoy your new machine, I am sure you are going to love it...

Kfir.

Simon MacFarlane

Many thanks Kfir!

I did also email Reiss & he recommended a static pressure of 3bar which is great as it gives me some margin.

Now to go look at inline filters, leaning towards the Everpure Claris at the moment I think?

Reiss Gunson

Hi Simon

3 or 4 bar will both produce espresso

I suggest you take a look at BWT filters, particularly the magnesium enriching ones that I understand were developed specifically for coffee

If you have very hard water, say over 250mg/L it will become more economic to switch to a PurePro type of RO system and then add a remineralisation filter as Jenner and others have documented here previously

Kind regards

Reiss

Simon MacFarlane

Many thanks Reiss - I do live in a very hard water area, just took a reading of 260!

Will look into the BWT filters now, I wanted to make sure I had sufficient pressure first or everything else is hypothetical!

I have an R120 on order due mid September & would love an L1 to pair with it I think

Reiss Gunson

I doubt you need it pointing out, but you will of course need to adjust the PRV if you add extra elements to the system, like filters

I also strongly recommend the use of a leak detector that automatically shuts off the water supply for any plumbed in machine, regardless of which brand of espresso machine you buy

Simon MacFarlane

Thanks Reiss, yep there is about a 7-10psi pressure loss for the filter which I'll allow for, in an ideal world I'd put the PRV after the filter but the filter has to be placed under the cabinet for space reasons and once a year just drop the plinth to replace, thats the current thinking anyway!

I'm planning to shut off the water to the machine manually with the valve after each use, not ideal but the safest way especially as said I'm on the 3rd floor with two sets of good neighbours below me!

I've positioned the valve so its in a very easy - no hassle - position for this reason

Reiss Gunson

Well if you want to make it more manageable, would a pressure gauge after all the filters be advisable? Otherwise you are going to be guessing

I'd also suggest the isolating valve is placed before any of the many joins of the filter system

Simon MacFarlane

The isolating valve is the first in the system for that very reason! I've tried to minimise the number of joins hence the PRV being 'upside down' as my water feed was from the right & did not want to have to add 8 more joints and all the associated 'messy' piping to turn round!

I'm going to struggle with placing the PRV after the filter within the limits of space and accessibility, as said its not ideal before the filter maybe when I get the filter physically in front of me I'll have a re-think, though with the PRV set to 3.5 - 3.75bar before the filter & I'm sure now will be all good

Gregory Green

The open flow pressure is irrelevant. The only pressures that are an issue is the static pressure and the pressure at the very low flow rates associated with the operation on the L1-P, probably about 1 - 2 liters / minute?

Unknown

I have a pressure gauge/regulator after all the filters and softeners.

For my usage I have found 3 bar to work OK and if I were to grind finer maybe I might increase the that pressure a bit.

Kfir

I had a BWT Bestmax M filter for almost a year with my previous L1 and although it did a fine job reducing scale I didn't like the taste of the water it produced.
The taste was thin with a bit of metallic aftertaste.

Mine was not from the new series that Reiss mentioned...

I currently use the same method for filtering my water as I was using years before with all of my espresso machines: 8 liter dva softener (resin based) + a good filter connected after it to improve taste.

Currently very happy with the Everpure MC2 connected after my softener, the water is sweet and soft and the coffee tastes great.
The dva softener although being a bit bulky does a great job reducing scale even from very hard water (mine is about 180-190).
I only recharge it once every 6-7 months by putting 1 kilo of salt in it and running 30-40 liters of water to clear the salt.

It's very economical and reliable method to reduce scale, never needed to descale any of my espresso machines.

Kfir.

EDIT: one more thing regarding PH, my tap water have PH 7 and after the dva softener amd the Everpure MC2 the PH remains 7.
My friend has Brita purity C and the PH drops from 7 to 5.3-5.4 with bypass set to 20%.
Another thing to consider... good luck.