Newbie with questions

[comrade]

Good Afternoon,

Have been doing A-LOT of research recently on my first foray into espresso machines which leads me here. I just seem to keep being drawn to the Vavaldi II.....A few questions:

1. What is the longevity of these machines if properly taken care of? 10-15 yrs plus..........I like great quality
2. I have a reverse osmosis system which I would like to connect to. The system has a compression tank set at 7psi I think. Would that work.

No other questions of the top of my head at the moment. My head is spinning from all the possibilities from all the different machine companies.

Thanks in advance.

Warm Regards

Rob

[peter]

Allow another noob to take a stab... my VII arrived from Chris' the end of May this year, my first and only espresso machine.

There's no reason you can't get your 10-15 years out of one of these, and most likely more. But know that any machine will need repair; mine did already. That's not a reflection on La Spaziale, but really just the nature of the beast. No matter which machine you end up, there are plenty of parts that can and will fail. Just when or how often is what you want to know, and that's the unanswerable question. As long as you can pull great, consistent shots in the course of ownership, this should be the main concern, and of course we all know the VII hits a home run in that arena. If you're at all handy and have some tools and courage, the excellent techs at CC will walk you through anything that might go wrong.

RO water, being void of minerals won't give you the best tasting shots. If you're in an area where the water is too hard, you can add a softening cartridge and filter ahead of the machine, which is what I did (the filters came from EverPure IIRC). I also use RO for cooking/drinking, and some have installed 3-way valves between their RO system and the machine to add in some tap water and achieve good results. I chose not to do that thinking a separate line/filter would be easier to monitor and not produce even more waste water than the RO system already does.

Hope that helps.

[Endo]

The Vivaldi is a very high quality machine. I have not seen anything of higher quality under $3500. The fact that CC offers a 2 year warranty is further proof of that.

I expect my machine to last forever. Sure, I expect to replace a few components along the way, but I've never heard of one "wearing out". Of course the better you treat it, the less part replacement you'll need to do.

Can't help you with the RO system. I have a Mini and used RO water from my water cooler for a while. But I go tired of the taste and went back to the small "in reservoir" water softener. (A cool option for people with hard water that don't feel like doing any plumbing).

[slo]

....The system has a compression tank set at 7psi I think. Would that work.

The Vivaldi plumbed-in would work with only 7psi, in fact it has been demonstrated to work with no pressure at all provided that the pump does not cavitate (air bubble). Its long term use under these conditions have not been demonstrated (that I know of ).

One of the very attractive feature of the Vivaldi is the programmable pre-infusion. I think that 7psi it is way too low to produce any effective pre-infusion. But again that may not be that big of a deal because numerous people seem to think that no pre-infusion is better. I am not one of those.

Feel free to ask any question you like.

[comrade]

Thanks for the response. Can I plumb directly into my the city water coming into my house? I think the city's pressure is 55psi. I suppose you guys from Montreal are watching the game today.....good luck.

Cheers

Rob

[JohnB]

I'd consider the 7psi RO system to be too low for the S1. It might get by but CC usually recommends 25-30psi & I'd consider that a minimum if you want to make use of the P/I system. Hooking up to your 55psi city line would work fine but you would want to add an adjustable pressure regulator in line before the machine. 3 bar is considered an "ideal" pre infusion pressure & would be a good setting for the machines feed. Do you know the hardness levels of your city water?

[slo]

Yes, you can hook it up to the main. Vivaldi can easily take 55 psi at the inlet.

In fact the city line pressure here is around 55 as well and I used my Vivaldi for a while at that pressure.

If the city water in Winnipeg is too hard you may need to install a water filtration and softening system to reduce scaling in the machine. This will presumably reduce the pressure (it did for me). If the city water is not to stable a pressure regulator may be useful to maximise the performances of your espresso machine. I have mine at a 28 PSI regulated dynamic pressure (30 PSI static) because the pressure was varying too much here. Of course these recommendations are equally applicable to any espresso machine not just the Vivaldi.

Unlike John, I prefer to pre-infuse at a lower pressure (30 psi). But this is very personal and is relative to your method and taste preference.

I hope this helps.

Sylvain

[Endo]

Thanks for the response. Can I plumb directly into my the city water coming into my house? I think the city's pressure is 55psi. I suppose you guys from Montreal are watching the game today.....good luck.

Alouettes win!!!! Great game. Felt bad for the Riders though.

[comrade]

Congrats on the win. I have always been a Montreal fan, best city in Canada. Anyway, thanks for the tips on the Vavaldi.