plumbing connectors

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ali thomas

plumbing connectors

Post by ali thomas »

just received in Canada.

The white plastic adapter on the braided plumbing line, what is it? How do I connect to standard copper pipe or 3/8 connectors?

I am shut down before I begin and my plumbing supply store has no answers.

Also, has anyone in Ontario found small softeners for under the sink, the only ones I've found are expensive big machines.

Thanks,

Ali
MDL
Barista
Posts: 329
Joined: Sat Apr 07, 2007 11:29 am
Location: San Diego

Re: plumbing connectors

Post by MDL »

The white plastic connector on my braided hose (Vivalid II bought from Chris's Coffee) is a John Guest fitting to accept 3/8" John Guest plastic tubing.

In terms of water softeners I can't speak to Canada, but I found a local supplier that sells the filter holders, filters and fittings. I would suggest purchasing the components that Chris sells in his water softener system. Just google and I think that you should find a supplier. The one I use here in California is:

http://www.wateranywhere.com/

Good luck,
Mark
MichaelN

Re: plumbing connectors

Post by MichaelN »

ali thomas wrote:just received in Canada.
I just received my S1 last week in Canada and have had a hell of a time trying to find something to connect to the 1/4" BSPP female adapter at the end of the included braided water line. I tried Home Depot, Lowes, Rona, Canadian Tire and Home Hardware all with zero luck. What a total pain in the ass and waste of time.

Surely, if Chris' Coffee has sold 3,000 of these in North America and can influence La Spaziale to make design changes, then why haven't they thought of changing that female adapter at the end of that hose from 1/4" BSPP to 1/4" NPT?

Yes, I was able to eventually find a plastic 1/4" NPT male adapter that would screw in tightly enough to make a good seal. However, this was way too much work for a half-assed solution for what I consider a premium purchase.

Now that the pain is over, I''m looking forward to enjoying my new machine. But come on Chris, that is a very basic and real cheap thing for you to fix that will significantly improve the out-of-the-box experience for your customers. I could have and should have been drinking espresso a week ago with my new machine; and I really did not require an education on North American vs. European pipe threads.

Michael
JohnB

Re: plumbing connectors

Post by JohnB »

Both Home Depot & Lowes sell Watts brand fittings here in the states that would have plugged right in the JG 3/8" fitting. Alternatively any decent plumbing supply store should have had the correct fitting if you chose not to use the JG fitting.
MichaelN

Re: plumbing connectors

Post by MichaelN »

JohnB wrote:Both Home Depot & Lowes sell Watts brand fittings here in the states that would have plugged right in the JG 3/8" fitting. Alternatively any decent plumbing supply store should have had the correct fitting if you chose not to use the JG fitting.
My hose required a 1/4" not 3/8" fitting, perhaps they changed it with the current models. I took that braided hose with me everywhere I went to test it out and asked for sales assistance each time. While all of the home improvement places that I mentioned carry the Watts line of products; none of them had the right size in plastic.

I actually never did find the right fitting at any of those stores. Ironically I happened to accidentally find the perfect little piece in my garage, I had it here all along and didn't know it. It was something that came with a water filtration product that I had purchased earlier; the supplier mentioned that I had better not lose this little piece as they were hard to find. So I bought two extra ones and forgot about them. I think that I had paid $2.00 for them. One end is the male BSPP thread, a perfect match for the stainless steel braided hose that comes with the S1. The other end has one of those quick connects where you just slide a 1/4" line into it and it autmatically makes a perfect seal.

I stand by my original comment; North American plumbing is an Imperial units, NTP-threaded world. That braided hose should either have a female NTP threaded compression nut or at the very least come with some additional little connector to convert it to NTP. If Chris is still looking for ways to improve the product, this should be an easy and cheap thing to do.

Michael
JohnB

Re: plumbing connectors

Post by JohnB »

You stated in your first post that the stainless line came from CC with "a white plastic adaptor" which is a JG fitting quick disconnect fitting. All you needed to do is buy the mating Watts fitting at Lowes along with an adaptor to your water line. Many/most of us bought the flex line kit from CC which comes with the JG fittings so installation was plug & play. This makes it much easier to install a softener & carbon filter cartridge between the water source & the machine as well as a pressure regulator valve.

As far as the 1/4"/3/8" thing I was referring to the input side of the JG fitting. All mine were 3/8". You could have also ordered one of these: http://www.chriscoffee.com/products/hom ... 8maleflare if you had done a little research before hand.
MichaelN

Re: plumbing connectors

Post by MichaelN »

JohnB wrote:You stated in your first post that the stainless line came from CC with "a white plastic adaptor"... You could have also ordered one of these: http://www.chriscoffee.com/products/hom ... 8maleflare if you had done a little research before hand.
That was Ali Thomas that mentioned the white plastic adapter, not I. Unfortunately nothing of the sort came with mine other than that stainless steel braided hose. The research that I did do, including browsing through this forum, didn't lead me to believe that there would be much trouble finding the parts that I needed at any hardware store. When I purchased the unit I did ask my retailer if I needed anything special for the plumbing and mentioned the optional plumbing kit that I had read about on Chris' Coffee website, including the drain kit. They led me to believe that the plumbing was a no-brainer and the kit wasn't required, and they also suggested I wait before attempting the drain kit as there were pros and cons to using it.

Clearly my experience was the exception and not the norm. My box was improperly packed and was missing the white plastic adapter that appears to be difficult to source only in Canada.

Cheers;
Michael
JohnB

Re: plumbing connectors

Post by JohnB »

Michael wrote: That was Ali Thomas that mentioned the white plastic adapter, not I. Unfortunately nothing of the sort came with mine other than that stainless steel braided hose.
Cheers;
Michael
Right you are! My mistake. So no JG fitting & no rubber b/f disk. Might be worth sending an email to CC just to find out if they are the supplier for your dealer & why these parts are not included. The OP is in Canada & he got the JG fitting so I would have thought that you would also.
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