# Plumbing in my Rocket Evoluzione R



## Inglorious Alf (Jul 2, 2017)

Hi, thought I'd post a few pictures and a brief description of what I did to get my Rocket plumbed in.

I had already decided on using a BWT kit which I bought from Water Warehouse (by far the cheapest I could find it!) This came with the filter head, size V filter and some hosing. I also bought a tri-way tap as I wanted to use the filter for drinking/kettle water as well. I also bought a plumbing pressure gauge and restrictor (one unit) as I didn't know what the pressure was and thought with the restrictor I could lower it if required.

I hired a plumber to help with this job - I'm moderately practical but wanted a professional to do it!

First thing I did was put some piping in to get the cold water to the other side of the sink where the machine is. This was taken from the cold water pipe, with the pressure regulator installed. The pressure was actually high so I dialled it down to 3 bars.

Then I installed the filter (set to setting 2 based on my water hardness) , fed the regulated cold water into it, and installed a splitter on the other side of the filter. Next the new tap was put in place of the old one, attaching one of the feeds from the filter to the drinking water inlet.

Running some water through, tap was working (after removing a tiny rubber washer with a pin size hole in it for the water - would've needed serious pressure to get through it! - and taping up with PTFE instead) and water was coming through the other hose for the Rocket.

Time to drill a hole in the work surface!

Next, attached the hose to the Rocket, switched the intake switch from reservoir to inlet, and turned it all on. So far so good! Water is flowing nicely from the group, pump pressure is consistent at 9.5 bars. The group lever is stiffer to move, I think this is just due to the water now being pressurised on the lever.

Finally, I routed the waste pipe (flimsy thing, wish it was a proper hose!) through the work surface and around between the sink and the work surface, and into the sink overflow area. This probably makes more sense from the photo. Water actually leaked from the drip tray when I tested it - the flimsy pipe was kinked through hole. After some adjusting, including widening the hole slightly and ensuring the pipe had no upward flow, it was draining nicely.

Job done!

So, the most important bit - what effect has this had on the coffee?! I'll be making some drinks later and will report back.

Thanks to everyone who helped when I had questions, and previous threads on here about plumbing and filters, all of which contributed to a successful job!


----------



## El carajillo (Mar 16, 2013)

I would suggest you fit an extra couple of pipe clips on the top horizontal pipe to support it and remove the kink by the coupler. With the water shock as taps are turned on and off , the pipe can move and the joint come loose / free.

Is the waste pipe the convoluted white plastic showing by the unit edge OR is it the rigid white pipe by the water filter ?

If it is the lower convoluted pipe make sure it is fitted in ABOVE the trap, if it is below you will have foul sewer gas coming up and out under your coffee machine.


----------



## Inglorious Alf (Jul 2, 2017)

Thanks, that's helpful feedback. Yes I'll put some clips in to support it. Not sure which kink you're referring to?

The waste pipe is actually in the last picture - it just runs between the sink and the work surface, then into the sink overflow.


----------



## El carajillo (Mar 16, 2013)

Inglorious Alf said:


> Thanks, that's helpful feedback. Yes I'll put some clips in to support it. Not sure which kink you're referring to?
> 
> In the photo it looks as if the pipe either side of the coupler is out of line / not straight , it may be optical from camera angle, extra clips still required.
> 
> ...


I did not notice the clear plastic pipe between worktop and sink, that is fine.

In one photo there is a "ribbed" plastic pipe just showing, I thought that was the waste you were referring to


----------



## kennyboy993 (Jan 23, 2017)

Any difference in the way you use your HX to make a drink since you plumbed in inglorious?

I'm convinced a couple of factors are different that require a different setting on the machine and another adjustment in workflow - but I don't want to say anything else and see if you experience the same.......


----------



## Inglorious Alf (Jul 2, 2017)

kennyboy993 said:


> Any difference in the way you use your HX to make a drink since you plumbed in inglorious?
> 
> I'm convinced a couple of factors are different that require a different setting on the machine and another adjustment in workflow - but I don't want to say anything else and see if you experience the same.......


Well I've so far only made 4 espressos with it plumbed in, and the taste in the cup is certainly different - at first I thought it was sightly thinner, but having had a couple more it's actually more clarity in the flavour, and I was mistaking this for a thinness of mouth feel. It's like each bit of the espresso flavour is more defined. Still got a great fullness of mouth feel too - really enjoying it so far!

You've got me thinking about other machine adjustments though - I've kept boiler pressure at 1.1 bar (122°C on the PID) and the pump pressure has remained consistent at 9.5 bars. My process hasn't changed yet - anything specifically I should be looking our for?!

I still haven't quite got my cooling flushes and recovery times nailed down (very little steam or hissing even after it's been on for a couple of hours, at 1.1 bars). Not even sure it's entirely possible without a group thermometer? Still making tasty coffee though


----------



## kennyboy993 (Jan 23, 2017)

Well - I've never used my machine with reservoir so can't prove it but....

I'm 95% certain plumbed in hx's need to run a little hotter as the water is always cold entering the heat exchanger - judging by the temp of my empty plastic reservoir in the machine I can imagine there could be a large difference in water temp between plumbed and tanked - especially in winter.

And the other thing, related really, is flush amount. Due to the first point, I'm convinced plumbed in flushes should be shorter too - partly due to cooler water rushing through as above though also because flow rate with mains pressure behind it.

I've been experimenting with pstat and flush routines for nearly a year now, I have e61 group head thermo fitted. And now I'm happy at topping out at 1.45 on the pstat and flushing quite short.

It gives good temp control, good steaming and good recovery for further shots which I do quite often.


----------



## Inglorious Alf (Jul 2, 2017)

Thanks Kenny, that's very helpful.

I'm struggling to get consistent shots at the moment; the first one yields 36g espresso from 18g of beans in 30 seconds. All good. The second one then runs way too fast, giving me nearer 50g of espresso in 30 seconds.

I thought this was either one of two things, 1) my cooling flush was too short, so the water for first espresso was too hot, but combined with too coarse of a grind ends up with the correct yield and time, or 2) everything was fine for the first espresso, but my recovery time was too short so the water was too cold for the second, leading to a faster shot.

I actually experimented tonight by waiting 5 mins after the second shot and running anothet shot with just a screen flush (2 seconds), and the result was the same as the second shot, fast and gushing. This leads me to think my recovery time was fine, but my initial cooling flush was insufficient? I ran around 200ml for the flush.

What do you think? I know a group thermometer could probably answer all these questions...


----------



## kennyboy993 (Jan 23, 2017)

I think it's unlikely brew temp will impact shot time Alf - though others could comment on that hopefully.

Obvious question is were you getting '2nd shot' problems when you were tanked? Naturally one would suspect prep though I don't want to over simplify it.

One thing I would say though is that if you're workflow is the same for second shot as it was when tanked I'm pretty certain it will be cooler brew temp - especially if you're topping out at 1.1bar

Subsequent shots are the Achilles heal for home HX machines I think - I agree that really a group head thermo is the only way to go to really learn your machine's particular characteristics.

My second shot process is:

Don't clean shower screen with quick flush after end of first shot.

Do my prep

Wait until group head thermo recovers to about 92 degrees (about 2 mins at my pstat).

Super quick flush (flash boil) and pull straight after that - then it's a nice 94 degrees


----------



## Inglorious Alf (Jul 2, 2017)

After some more experimentation I've decided it's my Baratza Vario which is causing my flow rate problems. Today I ground 54g of beans all at once, then stirred it up and weighed 18g into the basket, and repeated; shot time was consistent between the two. I do have the issue with the macro scale slider moving slightly while grinding, and weighing in and out has shown it probably has slightly more retention than I previously thought. Will refine my prep, whilst wondering if a grinder upgrade is required or necessary, or if I even need a reason...


----------



## Hasi (Dec 27, 2017)

Hi folks,

I'm trying to make my first post somewhat reasonable, so jumping right in:



kennyboy993 said:


> judging by the temp of my empty plastic reservoir in the machine


The tank does get warm, so will any water stored in there. But it surely takes quite a while to do so. I've heard many recommend to always pour freshly filtered water instead of letting it sit there for days because of plastic odours that might build up inside the container. But maybe that's for the nitpickers









One bothersome thing that I did come across when I finally plumbed in my Cellini was that leaving the empty tank in the machine caused cups placed over the lid to stay cooler than before. After removing the container, it got much better.

As for the temp impact, I see a theoretical correlation: temp increase = pressure increase = shorter extraction. However, a rotary pump should always stick to its preset pressure value, if I'm not mistaken...?

Just food for thought...

edit: Looked up the exact location of the pressure gauge take-off here - it should correctly reflect any changes due to temp variation.


----------



## kennyboy993 (Jan 23, 2017)

My plastic reservoir is pretty darn hot after the usual 45-60 morning warm up time.

I'm not sure what people do though surely they won't be filling reservoir just before pulling a shot? They'll only refill it when it runs out which could easily cross over to the next day?


----------



## Inglorious Alf (Jul 2, 2017)

I've taken my reservoir out since plumbing the machine in, figured there's no point heating it up! When I was using it, I'd refill it just when it was empty, but this was nearly daily anyway. I am happier not having my water sitting around in plastic though...


----------



## Hasi (Dec 27, 2017)

kennyboy993 said:


> My plastic reservoir is pretty darn hot after the usual 45-60 morning warm up time.


I meant the water in it, it might take a while











kennyboy993 said:


> I'm not sure what people do though surely they won't be filling reservoir just before pulling a shot? They'll only refill it when it runs out which could easily cross over to the next day?


Yep, that's what's happening - I still don't understand why the whole thing needs to be plastic. As for the couple in the bottom, well yes maybe if need be. But the rest? Does using the reservoir mean you're not as serious about taste? Anyways...


----------



## Hasi (Dec 27, 2017)

...by the way, I happen to live close to the main BWT plant.

We're running one of their household filters in the basement of our new house (AQA Smart A). It is set to 4°dH (German Hardness, do you use that scale in the UK?!) and a manual bypass valve blends drinking and coffee brewing water to 7°dH.

Even though the BWT guy who put the unit on stream was not overly happy with my bypass idea, it works perfectly for all appliances connected to the supply, respectively and depending on specific needs. Luckily, we've been in the position to arrange for the needed piping upfront







retro-fitting that setup would be very complex...


----------

