I was so happy to get that original sealant out. My original elements took minutes to come free using blasts from a giant air-wrench at a local service station, and then I took a good long time to gently pry that sealant out of the threads with a pick. Nasty stuff. Permanent. It made element removal into a pretty major endeavor since it needed so much convincing to come free.
When I replaced my elements I used a few wraps of yellow plumbing tape. Its been years and years and no issue. I happily took the elements out to do a descale, no stress. On Tuesday, December 1, 2020 at 3:54:46 PM UTC-8 bmacpiper wrote: > Jim, regardless of your problem or solution, I loved reading your post! > Part of me hopes you fail to fix it, so I can look forward to more comedy! > > I’ve used both white and yellow teflon tape and never had a leak with > either. As you said, clean joint, follow mfr recommendations on number of > wraps, and forget about it. The p-tex is fine too but unnecessarily > complex. The Expobar stuff works great, but you have about 1.69 nanoseconds > to get the part turned to the right orientation before it sets up. 0.69 > nanoseconds if the machine/part is warm/hot when you’re doing it. > > Best of luck, and wishing you continued donkey-blinding espresso in the > near future. > > b > > On Dec 1, 2020, at 15:40, Joseph Helminiak <[email protected]> wrote: > > I replaced mine and just used white teflon tape. > > Joseph (Joe) Helminiak > (314) 556-4488 > > > On Mon, Nov 30, 2020 at 8:01 PM James Mitchell <[email protected]> wrote: > >> Things aren't going so well with our Brewtus II - Katherine was making >> our morning shots, and as she turned towards the sink with its drip tray: >> "There was this 'Swizz. Pop., BANG!' and all the kitchen lights went out." >> >> No, it wasn't our neighbors playing with an RPG - it was the blessed brew >> boiler heating element going South and taking out a GFCI socket in a fairly >> spectacular fashion: >> >> >> https://drive.google.com/file/d/1C0w2AIcqeqiuG6vqQHi5FW9MmCvCIcL7/view?usp=sharing >> >> It looks like there was water intrusion near the element's base, and when >> it flashed to steam it ripped the element apart. The loud bang was a very >> marginal GFCI socket failing to deal with a dead short on a twenty amp >> circuit. >> >> The circuit is now on a 15 amp breaker, there's a medical-grade dual >> socket rated for 15 amp continuous service, and a new boiler element is due >> this week from WLL. >> >> No one appears to have stock on the Expobar-specific thread sealant - >> Stefano recommends an italian sealant which looks very good - which I'd >> buy, but USPS from Oregon to North Carolina is pretty glacial at the best >> of times, and we're getting impatient. >> >> The local HVAC folks who keep our 75 year old steam heat system working >> swear by Permatex 56521: "It applies easily, sets up quickly, remains >> flexible, and in a clean joint - never, ever leaks." >> >> 56521 has no NSF rating, and its MDS lists ethanol as a primary carrier, >> with 1% Methanol as an additional carrier. While folks have maintained that >> K's coffee: "Could stun a horse & blind a donkey..." I've no desire to >> actualize their experience, and will use the sealant only on the the upper >> threads with 4-5 wraps of teflon tape on the lower threads to isolate it >> from the brew water. >> >> There appears to be good water flow through the E61, with no portafilter >> the Elka pump will fill an 8 oz glass in less than 15 seconds - I'll pull >> the water level probe, clean and inspect it for continuity and scale, to >> eliminate it causing an underfill condition. >> >> Much past this point, my troubleshooting gets fairly mystical, since the >> volume of water flow through the grouphead belies issues with the parker >> valve or Elka pump, my most popular theories tend to include demons, >> Maxwell Houses, and extremely bad JuJu. >> >> Cheers & Thanks >> Jim >> >> >> >> -- >> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups >> "Brewtus" group. >> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an >> email to [email protected]. >> To view this discussion on the web visit >> https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/brewtus/2e070887-e040-46a8-a389-a475b2f26cedn%40googlegroups.com >> >> <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/brewtus/2e070887-e040-46a8-a389-a475b2f26cedn%40googlegroups.com?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer> >> . >> > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "Brewtus" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to [email protected]. > > To view this discussion on the web visit > https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/brewtus/CAGs_PrOB%2B4nC1GOdxpQKMaTsyXZLRiEJ4T2mwh1uGd%3DQW8n_xw%40mail.gmail.com > > <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/brewtus/CAGs_PrOB%2B4nC1GOdxpQKMaTsyXZLRiEJ4T2mwh1uGd%3DQW8n_xw%40mail.gmail.com?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer> > . > > > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Brewtus" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/brewtus/1d52d53c-b844-4cf6-b10b-7a2557a71173n%40googlegroups.com.
