It could be that the PO found the leak and over-tightened it, causing a crack in the brass that you only completed in trying to solve the problem. It appears that the assembly operates as a one-way check valve system, so it does need to be configured that way if you ae looking for almost-fit parts.

beanmuncher wrote:At the moment, I'm infuriated with myself for managing to break the parts in question and disgusted that little brass parts, with walls ~3+mm thick can break like that when manipulated by hand tools.

Awww.. don't feel bad. Back in 1970 I worked part-time as a tire-changer at Montgomery Wards in the San Fernando Valley when I was going to college. A fellow came in and requested that we not use the air gun on his lug nuts on his sports car. I got the 4-way wrench out (we didn't use torque wrenches back then- it was the days when cars were made out of real metal). Without trying, I easily twisted two studs off by hand. It was the only time that happened in the 15 months I worked there.

use green loctite, or, even better, just go ahead and solder the parts together.

at the moment, I'm just waiting for the epoxy to fully dry... it looks like it is going to work (I do stuff like this all the time at my lab)

if it doesn't work, i'll root around my junk machines to see if i can come up with something. i ought to have a similar tee someplace, and the other part appears to be a checkvalve, but with female threads on one end instead of the normal male/male.

Thanks! Hopefully, the epoxy will work, and failing that, the parts I have coming from McMaster-Carr might...

I just checked on the epoxy and once it fully hardens (read: sometime tomorrow) I should be good to go... the stuff hardens rock-hard.

barry wrote:if it doesn't work, i'll root around my junk machines to see if i can come up with something. i ought to have a similar tee someplace, and the other part appears to be a checkvalve, but with female threads on one end instead of the normal male/male.

This is oh-so-typical of Barry, the patron saint of home baristas . . . .

by the way, what is green Loctite? I've never noticed it but then, the couple of times when I used Blue loctite it worked fine, so I didn't need to resort to the "nuclear option" . . . .

Ken Fox wrote:by the way, what is green Loctite? I've never noticed it but then, the couple of times when I used Blue loctite it worked fine, so I didn't need to resort to the "nuclear option" . . . .

Loctite 290


It is a wicking acrylic threadlocker, which happens to also form a pretty good sealant for small holes/imperfections. Great stuff.

Well, the machine is heating up now (it has been sitting out on my kitchen table , splayed open, for the last day and a half) and I felt around the epoxy when the pump kicked in, and I didn't feel any leaks. Provided that holds up, I'm not overly worried.

Now, to think about descaling... which is how this whole bloody mess started. Considering how the BZ99 is put together, you need to descale with the machine the way I've currently got it (e.g. minus the sides, rear and top panels), so I'll probably do that later today. I've got a concentrated citric acid solution (40g of 99% pure citric in 10oz of water); I'll dilute that out using the water tank in around 2L of water, pull it into the boiler and roll from there. Overriding the boiler probe is trivially easy... either pop the connection spade, or take a pair of pliers and extend it however much you want.

I figure I'll use the standard descaling for HX instructions - but does anyone have any other ideas?

Also; just got the parts I ordered from McMaster... they were cheap enough, but paying for Saturday delivery was damn stupid ($28 ?!?). Looks like they would have worked, if needed.