Pressure reducers

A number of people have expressed interest in the pressure reducer I need to use to reduce the house’s water pressure before it enters the machine.  It is a spec dictated by Elektra on the machine and it is backed up by my own experience without the reducer versus with the reducer.  I found three main types of reducers.  The first was a coupling that fit between connectors for the supply line, and inside the coupling was a large washer that more or less acted like the water conservation devices in a shower.  I was not a huge fan of these because although it might work, you could not change the setting so if it did not get you to the right setting right off the bat it would not work.  You also had no gauge to see if it was working although perhaps you could use the gauge on the espresso machine.  Finally, it needed to be inserted between two female connections, so it would have required one more adapter since all the connections I have on the machine are, of course, male – female.


The second one was a cheap plastic piece that could be inserted and could be adjusted, but again had no gauge, so you would either have to guess or hope the gauge on the machine would suffice.  The bigger issue for me with this one is that it looked cheap and like it might leak.  Sure enough, the only one in stock at the local shop was one that was leaking that they had been using, so it did not strike me as a winner either.


Then the third and final one I found was essentially the Rolls Royce of these guys.  It has a pressure gauge and is set by adjusting a screw with a screw driver (so it is easy to adjust, but unlikely to be tampered with unwittingly).   I think it was about forty dollars.  It works like a charm and is unlikely to break down.  It has John Guest fittings that are easy to install and allows you to just clip the plastic supply line anywhere and insert it where it is convenient.  


If your water comes in at the right pressure it would be great to skip it and save the money, but since I did need one and plumbing scares me so going with something durable that will not cause tons of damage later seems like a wise choice to me.

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