Rancilio Silvia Espresso Machine — Autofilling Silvia, part 3

Espresso |  PID'ing Silvia |  part 2 |  Resetting Silvia |  Steam leak
Autofilling Silvia |  part 2 |  part 3 |  part 4

At the other end of the water line would be the Silvia. But, before I could work on that end of the line, I needed to mount the valve in the Silvia.

This took a couple of attempts. I needed to mount the valve on the Silvia's reservoir cover in a way that the Silvia's clear water line and water overflow line (both are part of the Silvia and go into the Silvia's reservoir) would not interfere with the movement of the float valve.

At first, I thought I could mount this from the left side of Silvia, next to where those water lines enter the Silvia. Not quite. I drilled my hole, mounted the valve, and discovered that the "up" position was open, not closed. Oops!

However, when I rotated the float 180° on its pivot point, I now had a valve whose "up" position was "closed." Then, I rotated the Silvia's reservoir cover 180°, so the incoming water and valve are on the right side of the Silvia, as you look at it from the front.

I took a section of 1/4" copper tubing and bent it into a "J" shape to mount it to the valve I would mount to the Silvia. This was an easy "insert and screw tight" connection to the plastic valve fittings. Then, I added a 1/4" brass needle valve to the other end of that copper line.

The final step was to attach the plastic waterline to the needle valve. Now, I had a water cut-off valve right behind Silvia. As a precaution, I can use this when I go out of town. I also have another valve at the manifold to shut off the water to Silvia, while still leaving the water to the icemaker.

What do I think of this modification? I just wish I had done it earlier. It has made life with Silvia a lot more fun. No longer do I run out of water if I forget to refill the reservoir!

Espresso |  PID'ing Silvia |  part 2 |  Resetting Silvia |  Steam leak
Autofilling Silvia |  part 2 |  part 3 |  part 4

Copyright © 2004-2006 Terry A. Stockdale