Plumbing in the S1 from Laundry room
Posted: Fri Feb 03, 2006 12:30 pm
I recently purchased the S1 from Chris's Coffee and discussed with Roger my water connection situation - the S1 was going to be in my Butler's Pantry which, while not close to my kitchen water hook-ups so it was impractical to tap on to supply lines there, was adjacent to my laundry room. He recommended using a "tapping valve" (that they sell for about $30.00) that would entail cutting a hole in my drywall and "tapping onto" the copper pipe that supplied cold water to my washing machine. From it I could do all the necessary connections to go to my machine - in my case I had to have a water softening filter (I have very hard water) and another filter for taste - plus because I also have high water pressure (85lbs. psi) I needed to reduce the pressure so I didn't have expansion valve leak issues that has troubled others on this website. So I ordered the tapping valve from Chris's Coffee - however when it arrived and I looked at it I was reluctant to use this for my application - I was concerned if something went wrong I would have major issues since I have limited plumbing expertise. And I had contacted my plumber about doing the work and his estimate was $150 - $200. Instead I went to Lowe's and got a "Y" faucet fixture (so I could now have one outlet for my washer water line/another as my S1 water source) and a "reducer" fitting (brass - which reduced it down to 1/4/ inches) that would work with the rest of the plumbing system that Chris's Coffee sent for the installation. While this sounds a bit complicated I was able to do the entire installation in less than 90 minutes (I also had to drill holes in my cabinets in the Laundry room to run the piping/install the filters/water pressure reducer, etc.) and it works like a charm.