The blichmann is a luxury, but like most of there stuff well thought out and saves time and effort by delivering a proven solution.
> it includes the silicone hose and has a ball or float to keep the hose from sinking
> the level/cistern valve is easy to adjust to the water inlet level you want, set it and forget it, the value is that saves you having to set/adjust the inlet flow, letting you concentrate on getting the more important sparge outlet flow right
> what is there to clean ? nought !
its just water you are running through a valve ?
> complicated not, its simple and I am sure if you had to go and source individually the bits the postage would soon overtake the cost of the blichmann (It is just a valve with a ball float for setting the level)
> block? again never had something block passing water throught it
the float arm is easily screwed on/off so it doesn't get it the way when doughing in or emptying the mash tun
the level adjust can be reversed to get finer settings on the level, not much to it
it's a luxury in life, but then again so is 'soap' !
Save yourself some money. Just loosely coil a silicon hose on top of the grain bed from the sparge inlet. Try to adjust the sparge in and out flow so that there is 1 to 2 inches of water above the grain bed. The hose will either float or just sink below the surface. The auto sparge just adds another level of complication and can be difficult to clean and is liable to blockages.
