wherever we had the chance to add reliability and customer satisfaction we took it. one of the questions that arose fairly early on was, ‘i presume you want a sight glass’. our reply was instantaneous; ‘no’. ‘thank-you’
we’ve had enough experience with espresso machines to know that a sight glass is more trouble than its worth. it is fairly easy to put forward a case for its inclusion on the grounds that it gives a pleasing retro look and adds character to the machine. a few years ago that was probably our position on the matter too
no more! in our experience the sight glass is a opportunity for coffee sludge to get lodged in behind the casing in the event that you remove the portafilter whilst it is still under pressure and it is a real pain to completely clean up, even if you completely remove the casing. its ok if you are comfortable with a spanner & a screwdriver, but increasingly the end consumer is not
of equal annoyance is the opportunity they present for any lumps of crud/grit/whatever that might get into the boiler to put themselves on full view, magnified even, in the sight glass. its true that the sight glass can be removed, cleaned, seals replaced, and reassembled. in our experience removal of the sight glass usually results in a broken sight glass, which in turn sparks a need to send spares. additionally it is not uncommon for a sight glass to leak if it is not reassembled correctly
so it was a simple decision to opt for electronic low water sensors over a sight glass
we hope this small decision contributes to the enjoyment of your ownership of Londinium I