About every 4 to 6 months, my vacuum breaker starts leaking steam and I take it apart, soak it, and clean it well so it doesn't leak anymore. I know that this is a pretty common thing since I do shut the machine off at night. Around January-ish, I did an update to the machine to add a second check valve (so it doesn't overfill the boiler and leak all over the place), and also updated the vacuum breaker so that it drains into the drain box. I ordered the new vacuum breaker and tubing through LM in order to get this done. It seems like after I did the upgrade, the vacuum breaker doesn't seal all the way fairly quickly....fairly quickly I mean like a week or two after I clean the valve. This is starting to get pretty annoying as it's a PITA to take it apart every three weeks to clean the valve.

I'm wondering if it has something to do with something other than hard water. I have a whole house water softener and a 20 micron whole-house filter on the main line. In front of the GS3, I have the Chris' Coffee dual filter package, which is the smaller softener filter and a maybe a 10 micron(?) filter. When I take apart the valve, it is discolored on the outside and the inside has some sort of reddish tint to the parts. I'm posting some pictures below to see if anybody has ideas.

Also, when I installed the vacuum breaker, it has a very small tilt to it so that I can unscrew the valve from that elbow and still clear the cup tray. This is the only thing I'm unsure about, but if I have to unscrew the elbow from the boiler to clean it every 6 months instead of 3 weeks, I will.

EDIT: Corrected OPV to vacuum breaker

While I don't own a GS3 I did install one of those LM vacuum valves in one of my machines. I've found it to be far more sensitive to any kind of build up then the barbed valves I was using previously. After the second time it started leaking slightly after only 3-4 weeks of use I pulled it out & replaced it with one of my old barbed valves. No more issues since then.

Isn't that a vacuum breaker not OPV?

Yep, that's a vacuum breaker, not an OPV.

The discoloration is weird, as if it was hit with an acetylene torch. Mine still looks like new. To service you only need to remove the silicone tube and remove the upper housing; no need to remove the assembly from the boiler.

My original started leaking at 8 months or so. When servicing it I noticed there was no Dow 111 lube on the O-ring. When reassembling I lubed the new O-ring and replaced the Teflon seat (though I don't think this is at all necessary; will just replace the O-ring next time). I'm at a year now with no issue at all.

To the OP, have you tested your water at the supply end of your machine? If so, can you post the values? It has nothing to do with your discoloration but will help to determine your scaling rate.

When servicing the vacuum breaker, I always remove the cup tray, top cover and rear cover. That way I can remove the entire assembly by unscrewing the elbow at the boiler. This allows checking/cleaning of the elbow and makes it easy to replace the assembly and ensure that it's vertical.

The assembly doesn't have to be exactly vertical, but it should be close. When the boiler cools off, the piston needs gravity to drop and open the valve. If it's not vertical enough, there's a chance the valve won't open -- i.e., the vacuum breaker won't vent air as the boiler reheats. When that happens, you'll get quite a "pop" from the steam wand the first time you use it.

However, the angle has has no impact on whether the breaker will close when boiler pressure begins to build. That's a function of the o-ring, the Teflon seat and the piston shaft. As long as they seal, the valve will close regardless of it's orientation.

The contamination looks like rust to me. Do you have galvanized pipes in your house? If so, you should investigate replacing them with copper. Meanwhile, you may need to use a 5 micron filter to get rid of the small particles.

That said, I agree that the o-ring should be lubricated. The last couple of times I replaced the piston, o-ring and seat with a kit sold by LM USA and noticed that the o-ring came pre-lubricated. The one I just replaced lasted quite a long time -- maybe a year.

Thanks for the responses. I get the OPV and vacuum breaker mixed up all the time.

I do agree that it looks like rust to me. I don't have galvanized pipes (I do have copper), but my water source is horrible. I just hosed off my 20 micron whole house filter the other day and it was clogged with reddish brown rust particles. When I take the breaker apart, it looks reddish brown, not white...which leads me to believe it's something else other than scale.

I'm half tempted to look into plumbing bottled water and a flojet into it. I was tempted last year but now I'm wondering if I should get more serious about it. I do have an RO system too, but I might have to add a few minerals back into the system.

The red color you're seeing in your filter and on the valve.. it could be iron. I have a problem with Iron in my water source, and the treatment system we have to deal with it is quite the system.

The only reason I suggest it, is because without using any treatment, or just simple softening, there would constantly be red rings or coloring on any plumbing in the house, including sinks showers and toilets. IDK for sure if thats your problem, just a possibility.

I personally gave up trying to get my home water usable for espresso. I use bottled water. Luckily my machine lets me switch between a reservoir and plumbed in, so I have a lot of freedom to choose whichever water I want to use, be it a 5gallon and a flojet, or smaller bottles and using the reservoir. Currently I buy bottles of Volvic water from the grocery store.

wiz561 wrote:I do agree that it looks like rust to me. I don't have galvanized pipes (I do have copper), but my water source is horrible. I just hosed off my 20 micron whole house filter the other day and it was clogged with reddish brown rust particles. When I take the breaker apart, it looks reddish brown, not white...which leads me to believe it's something else other than scale.

I've been dealing with the same red sediment/rust issue with our well water for 35 years. Your 20 micron filter is going to let too much sediment through. I use a 4.25" 5 micron filter on the line feeding my house & a 2.5" 5 micron filter on the cold water line in my house. At my coffeebar & at the kitchen sink I have a softener cartridge followed by an extruded carbon filter.

If a large 5 micron sediment filter adversely affects your flow rate leave the 20 micron filter in place to catch the larger particles & add a 2.5" 5 micron filter after it.

It's unfortunate that there isn't enough space above the GS3 vacuum breaker to use the $10 generic barbed valves that CCS & others sell. I've been alternating the same 3 in & out of service for years. I've never had to replace the red o'ring & it makes no difference whether I lube the o'ring or not. Once cleaned it's good for another 6+ months of service.

JohnB. wrote:It's unfortunate that there isn't enough space above the GS3 vacuum breaker to use the $10 generic barbed valves that CCS & others sell. I've been alternating the same 3 in & out of service for years. I've never had to replace the red o'ring & it makes no difference whether I lube the o'ring or not. Once cleaned it's good for another 6+ months of service.

John, how tall is the barbed valve?

JohnB. wrote:I've been dealing with the same red sediment/rust issue with our well water for 35 years. Your 20 micron filter is going to let too much sediment through. I use a 4.25" 5 micron filter on the line feeding my house & a 2.5" 5 micron filter on the cold water line in my house. At my coffeebar & at the kitchen sink I have a softener cartridge followed by an extruded carbon filter.

If a large 5 micron sediment filter adversely affects your flow rate leave the 20 micron filter in place to catch the larger particles & add a 2.5" 5 micron filter after it.

Interesting, and glad to hear that others have seen this before. While I don't have a well and it's city water, the city gets it's water from a well that's probably lined with limestone. lol... So right now, this is my setup...

20 micron -> Whole house softener -> cation softener -> 10 micron carbon -> gs3

Are you saying do this?

20 micron -> softener -> cation softener -> 5 micron -> gs3

Flow rate is important to me and I'm a bit leery about replacing the 20 micron whole house filter with a 5 micron one. Although, I do see reddish stains on some of the fixtures...

I'm going to open a new topic to see if a gs3 will work with a gravity fed 5 gallon jug or do I really need a flojet. I'm getting tired of dealing with the water and if it's OK with a gravity fed one, I might just do that. If I really need a flojet, I might be looking into a 5 micron filter setup like yours.