O-rings/vacuum breaker

[Ben McCafferty]

Hello all, long time! Hope all are well; I still lurk this group even though my Brewtus 2 is long retired. Some may recall that I now use an ECM Synkronika, also an E61 machine.

A (long) while back, we had a discussion about vacuum breaker repair. This is for the one on the steam boiler. When it fails, many just buy the whole part, but all that is usually needed is a cleaning and a new o-ring on the small piston that rises when the boiler comes to pressure. In the old thread I had ordered three sizes of o-ring in FDA silicone; the correct size is 007.

Over the ensuing years, I have discovered that the FDA silicone fails very quickly—I probably change this o-ring about every 3 months. Not a huge deal, just an annoyance. 

Since I’m now down to 1 remaining o-ring, I called theoringstore.com and discussed this with them. The o-ring fails as it gets smaller in size—apparently the silicone is not good for abrasion and also not great for steam. So, the dude on the phone helped me with a new selection to try, which is used for drive belts (high abrasion) and is also food grade and can handle steam/high temp. The one I ordered specifically is also NSF rated, i.e. ok for water systems.

The catch is, I had to order 100 of them. So, if anyone would like to send me a self-addressed, stamped envelope, I’d be happy to send you a few. Also, here is the part number for what I ordered, in case you want to order your own or maybe find them elsewhere in smaller quantities. In previous experience, I believe the o-ring should last a year or more, but it’s been a minute so not sure.

Ping me privately at bmacpiper at me dot com and I’ll send you my address.

Best to all, and talk soon!

b