Today I discovered a large puddle from my over flowed drip bucket, the water is coming from a part that's function is unbeknown to me.



I dont know what the function of this part is, it has a drain to the drip cup so i assume that some water is normal but i don't think a constant drip is, the machine was off for the last few days so the supply pressure is all that was on the line.

im hoping someone can tell me what the device is, and where to start looking for the cause of the drip.

Hi

It is a over pressure valve(OPV), it is got a spring inside with a gasket that closes a relief valve. The pressure it starts opening at is adjusted by the big brass flat screwable part on the right of the picture. The small Allen key is there to hold it in place.

You might has to replace the gasket or clean it. What you could try is to unscrew it and sand it down with some sand paper(if it is in good condition). Make sure the water is off. Clean the gasket and the surface it seals against and you should be fine. There is a o-ring on that screwable part, check if it is still soft, if not replace the it too.

The opv should be set at a higher pressure than the pump pressure, and most suggest 12 bar.

thanks, il take it apart and check it out.

I think its working ok now, what pressure is it regulating, the supply pressure of the incoming water line or something internally?

well i took it apart and cleaned the rubber gasket a bit and put it back together but when i turn the machine on and its getting up to temperature its starts to leak again quite a bit , as well the water level in my sight glass goes all wonky and the vacuum breaker on the top of the sight glass starts making noise, when the machine hits temp it all calms down and settles out but the opv still drips a bit

my due has started leaking water from the first group drain pipe as soon as the machine is turned on and starts to warm up , the water begins to drip out , im not familiar with the inner working of every gasket so i was wondering if i should be looking for a bad seal or if the solenoid could be bad.

Cleaning a gasket may not solve a leak if the gasket is worn. It may be time to replace. A little DOW 111 on the gaskets can help.

If a solenoid is leaking, it is probably a gasket in the solenoid valve body; when one refers to a "bad solenoid" it is usually the coil that is being described (which would fail to open or close the valve, it wouldn't cause a slow leak).

If a solenoid is leaking, I'd suggest disassembling it and cleaning ip any scale that could be letting water seep past the seals. If that fails, you may be able to replace seals, but unfortunately many (most?) solenoid valves don't have replaceable seals, and need the whole valve body replaced, at which point, you generally replace the whole thing.

Good luck!

thanks, i think i have to order a new rubber stopper part for the opv valve anyway, since it is the worst leak i have. So i might just order a solenoid just to have on hand. im also going to be replacing all the seals in the water an steam valves, something i should have done the first time i think.