GB/5 steam boiler vacuum breaker hiss

[Jared Rutledge]

hey all, i installed my new (to me) 3 group semi-auto gb/5 tonight, and while the shots were pulling fine, the vacuum breaker on the steam boiler continued to hiss at a medium volume until i shut the machine off and bled the pressure off. does the gasket or teflon thingy in the breaker need to be replaced? is the gasket easy to find at a hardware shop? counter culture used to service it, i'm going to call them tomorrow but any help would be much appreciated.

other than that, this machine slays tho. i easily pulled the best shots i've had in ages without the grinder even being dialed in.

[miKe mcKoffee aka Mike McGinness]

A bit of scale or other crud may have gotten in the breaker valve during shipping. It's supposed to close when the pressure rises. Sometimes just fiddling with it (carefully tapping it 'cuz it hot!) while under pressure will get it to seal. Could be the gasket but I doubt it, unless you saw steam escaping from around the gasket of course. Did you take the cover off to see where the steam hiss was coming from?

[Jared Rutledge]

you mean the grate the cups sit on? yeah. straight out of the vacuum breaker valve, around the little post. i pushed it in and out while the machine was bleeding out, and it still kept leaking. are they easy to take apart and inspect once the machine is cooled?

[miKe mcKoffee aka Mike McGinness]

I've never successfully got one to work properly again after it quit working properly if cleaning descaling didn't do it. I'd just replace it, ~20 shipped. http://www.espressoparts.com/W10836

Anything is easy if you know how. Everything is hard if you don't! For me it wouldn't be worth investing much time or effort, too many other things to do...

[Mike Sabol]

Those Vac-breaks always do that. Before you order more parts turn the unit on and follow Mike's advice of carefully fiddling with it while the machine has full pressure. Pretty much every one of those I've ever changed has done that hissing/leaking for the first little bit. It might be that the rubber seal needs to get a little hot and plyable before it seals. (Assuming that the part is new). If the part is the typical LM piece then all you need are two wrenches to get it apart. There is just a basic rubber o-ring on top of the piston which you can inspect and you can just twist it back together if you don't see any debris. Watch out for the copper crush washer when you take it off, be sure to save it. Use teflon tape when you put it back on. It's pretty easy/straightforward.

[Jared Rutledge]

the o-ring was dry-rotted. got a ten pack of number 80 o-rings at Lowes for two bones. fixed the hiss immediately. thanks all!

[Bill Warnock]

you have a gb5 yet your cutting corners??? it is a saftey device and when need be you'll want it to work right either that or you'll see the milk disappear from the pitcher your steaming haha, not always but it does happen.
just replace it you'll be better off that way. also if that one was hissing i'd replace the opv as well if you really had that much scale and it sounds like your dealing with a used machine?? if you can disassemble it im sure you could do either of those two things with out counter cultures or anyone's help its very easy turn off machine open steam valves till no more steam crescent wrench and teflon tape prefer the pink stuff its thicker remember put tape on with the threads(i know some dont use tape but I do there is a little brass/copper washer) and bam your done take you longer to bleed the boiler than to install just dont over tighten cause then YOUR SCREWED!!!

[Bill Warnock]

sry mike you covered a lot of that didnt read your post if you use tape you dont always need the crush washer (if you lose it)

[Jared Rutledge]

yeah i called imperial service in statesville (the only close LM service reps) and they said to just put a new o-ring on it, which i did. teflon taped too. also bill - holy run-on sentence batman. use some commas bro.

[Bill Warnock]

i fix espresso machines im not an engrish teacher

Jared Rutledge said:

yeah i called imperial service in statesville (the only close LM service reps) and they said to just put a new o-ring on it, which i did. teflon taped too. also bill - holy run-on sentence batman. use some commas bro.

[Brady]

Jared Rutledge said:

yeah i called imperial service in statesville (the only close LM service reps) and they said to just put a new o-ring on it, which i did. teflon taped too. also bill - holy run-on sentence batman. use some commas bro.

I'm with Bill here. Replace the whole thing (including the copper washer) - $20 and 15 minutes worth of work, tops. Wish I'd seen this earlier, I'd have asked the Dripolator guys to take one back with them today. I do have one on hand, let me know if you want it.

BTW, is Imperial really still authorized to do LM service? I was under the impression that they just did Bunn and other drip. I'd take their espresso machine service advice with a grain of salt, based on some stuff I've seen and heard.

[Jared Rutledge]

yeah they are. richard geldart from Franke (marzocco's US importer) told me that in April at the WBC. i guess it might have changed since then, but i dunno. i'll get a rebuild kit in the next week or so anyways (to have on hand) but the issue with the vacuum breaker was just the o-ring.

[Brady]

Jared Rutledge said:

yeah they are. richard geldart from Franke (marzocco's US importer) told me that in April at the WBC. i guess it might have changed since then, but i dunno...

Duly noted.