Quick Mill Andreja Premium Direct Connect Kit

OK, lots of bad things, but if you're persistent you can make it a lot easier to use your machine. Don't be turned off by the bad things. In the end, you'll enjoy your Andreja much more after you install this.

Bad things:

Instructions are TERRIBLE. Chris' Coffee knows they need to update them, but I'm not convinced they know how to write user's manuals. So you'll need to be a little mechanically inclined to make it work -- and patient with phone calls to Chris' Coffee.

All the fittings are metric. Forget about getting additional parts. I didn't want the long stainless coupling hose, but there is no way to replace it.

HERE'S THE IMPORTANT THING: The direct connect kit has you remove the cold tank and route the back pressure overflow to the drip tray. DON'T INSTALL THE DIRECT CONNECT KIT UNLESS YOU ROUTE THE OVERFLOW TO YOUR SINK DRAIN. The reason is all the time you save by not needing to pour water into the cold water tank would be then used emptying the drip tray. The drip tray fills up as often as the cold water tank empties when you connect the way they say.

First the bottom line:

My Andreja is MUCH more convenient to use with the direct connect kit. Turn it on. Heat it up. Make espresso and steamed milk. No more fussing with things that don't get you to the espresso.

DON'T CONSIDER INSTALLING THIS WITHOUT A DRAIN KIT. Without a drain kit, you've replaced that inconvenience of adding cold water with the
inconvenience of emptying the drip tray. The reason is the Andreja dumps excess water back into the cold water tank. Using just the direct connect kit, it then dumps that excess water into the drip tray. Without a drain kit, your drip tray will fill up just as fast as your cold water tank used to empty.

It does take some mechanical aptitude to install this. If you're not a handy person, consider convincing a handy friend to help (with a cappuccino reward from your newly connected machine).

Now the details:

Go to your local plumbing supply store and buy the following:

- An ice maker water filter. These are good for a year and are easy to connect to the supply line from Quickmill. They are easily replaced. Here's a picture of the one I used: http://www.filtersfast.com/American-Plumber-WIC6a-water-filters.asp

- A cold water supply adapter. Here's a picture of one: http://www.plumbingsupply.com/quick-tee-adapter.html
The adapter sits between the cold water valve and the braided supply line to the sink, with a compression fitting that connects directly to the plastic supply line.

- Teflon tape.

- A drain "gizmo". OK, that's the technical plumbers term. This is an adapter that fits right over the trap drain for draining the water overflow. It looks like the drain kit for the Monza would easily work. That's $37 at SCG. But you can buy the gizmo and a length of drain tube at your local plumbing store for about $10.

- A straight, barbed connector "thingy". That's another one of those technical plumber words. The barbed ends slide inside the tubing inside your machine and inside the new drain line. You can find a picture at: http://www.plumbingsupply.com/barb.html
Just ask your salesperson to give you the size you need for your tubing.

The instructions from Chris' Coffee are very poor. You need to be somewhat mechanically adept to figure out what they are telling you to do, starting with the first step "Remove the outer shell."

Step 1: They say follow their instructions for "Removing Outer Shell" but I couldn't find them. From memory (hope I have it all):

- Remove the drip tray and the top cover.

- Remove the 2 phillips screws on the inside of the side panels where the drip tray sits.

- Remove the 2 phillips screws holding the back cover on. They are located inside the back panel under where the top cover used to be.

- Remove the hex head screws on one side (only) of the cup retaining bar on the top of the machine.

- Remove the 2 phillips screws on the back panel.

- Remove the 2 phillips screws holding the cover over the insides of your machine. This is under the top cover.

- After you get the back panel off, you'll also need to remove the 2 philips screws holding the interior panel. These are accessed from the back.

Step 2: It took me a while to figure out how to get the solenoid valve to mount to the back panel. It should be tight. My machine didn't match the pictures.

Step 3: I had to install the jumpers. I did not remove the old wires, but just tied them up so they don't rattle.

Step 4: This is for a machine that does not have the tube running into the drip tray. Don't do this. Instead, connect the drain line as I describe below.

Step 6: What they want you to do is connect the old discharge tube to the "T" that connects to the drip tray tube. Instead, remove the hose to the drip tray at the "T" barbed thingy and connect it to your new drain line. I cut the tubing at the "T", cut a piece of the long discharge tube and connected that to the "T", then connected a "barbed" connector to the new drain line. I just ran the new drain line through an extra hole in the bottom of the machine. If you're
worried about abrasion (I'm not), you can protect the line where it goes through the hole.

Step 8: There was no spare place to piggyback the ground wire. I had to unplug all the ground wires and re-arrange the to get them all plugged back in.

To install the drain line, you need to drill a hole in the trap pipe of your sink. I drilled mine *on the top* of the drain pipe after
the "J". The hole doesn't need to be any larger than the inside diameter of the hose and should certainly be smaller than the hole in
the gasket that comes with the gizmo. Connect the gizmo and the drain line from your machine.

Follow the remaining instructions as best you can.

Other hints:

Before you connect the output of your filter to the input of your machine, put a pot under the filter and run water through to purge the filter of carbon particles. Otherwise, you'll have to pump a lot of water through your machine to get that all out. It could take a few gallons before the water is clear.

Write the date on the filter with a sharpie. This will help you remember when to replace the filter.

Make sure you gas up before you start the project. It always takes me 5 or 6 trips to the hardware and plumbing store before I get everything I need.

Other stuff:

Backflushing is the same as before. But with a direct connect kit, there's not an easy way to de-scale. It might work to disconnect the
water supply at the output of the filter, then just plunge this into a tank containing water and your de-scaler. But I don't know if the pump is strong enough to draw from the tank if the tank is much lower than the machine.

I wish I could get rid of the braided supply line and pressure gauge. These go between the valve on the back panel and the supply line from the filter, and they clutter up my counter top. They just don't need to be there. Unfortunately, these are all metric threads. You can't get shorter lines or move any of these parts under the sink where they'd be out of the way.

I'm sure I've missed some important things since it's been a few months since I installed the direct connect kit, and a month since installing the drain kit. If you get stuck, feel free to contact me at: d(underscore)j(underscore)wills(at)yahoo(dot)com
(Of course, replace the parenthetical parts with the appropriate characters.)

Good luck!

Dave

(Posted on 12/24/12)