Wondering if this is normal. I got my first AeroPress about a month ago and made maybe 35 cups of coffee with it before I noticed the rubber seal was breaking down. I emailed them and they sent me a new one right away, and I made maybe 5 cups with this one and already noticed it happening again. I wet the seal best I can before pushing it or pulling it back out, I don't know what else to do about it.

This is my old one:

That seems really odd - haven't heard of or seen in it my use of the old model. Is is possible that any part to your routine might damage it, say in cleaning?

Ted, I hope you follow up with them either way. Short of using sandpaper to clean the piston, it shouldn't look like that. They may need to scrutinize their current inventory.

TomC wrote:Short of using sandpaper to clean the piston

Ha, a good point!

aecletec wrote:That seems really odd - haven't heard of or seen in it my use of the old model. Is is possible that any part to your routine might damage it, say in cleaning?

All I do is rinse it off and rub it with my fingers, and every now and then use some dish soap if I notice it being oily. I use the inverted method, not sure if that could cause anything. I will follow up with them. I asked them the first time if they had heard of it or knew what I was doing wrong but all they said was they'd send me a new one right away.

No, that all sounds like very normal use!

I've had mine for close to 5 years and still works the same as in the first days, the piston doesn't look anything like yours. The only issue with mine is that the plastic walls developed some hairline cracks which are visible when you hold it to a strong light but don't affect the functionality. I haven't been gentle with it either, I clean it occasionally with a dish scrubber and dish detergent.

I wonder if they changed the composition of the piston's material to make it softer.

justgrindit wrote:
I wonder if they changed the composition of the piston's material to make it softer.

seems to me so, we have one at the café and it is around 2 years old now and the piston seal looks almost new

Are there any plastic burrs in the tube body that could be damaging the rubber edge when plunging?

justgrindit wrote:I wonder if they changed the composition of the piston's material to make it softer.

According to Alan Adler, the cylinder and plunger materials changed sometime in 2014 from a BPA-free co-polyester ("Tritan") to polypropylene. The black plastic end cap (and other black plastic accessories) have always been polypropylene, although a different variety of it.

The rubbery seal on the end of the piston is made of a thermoplastic elastomer. If that's changed in some way I haven't read of it, although I've wondered -- my post-2014 Aeropress is a lot harder to press, with way more friction, than any of my three previous Aeropresses were.

It would be easy enough to ask Aerobie... or post a question on that ginormous Aeropress thread on coffee geek. Alan will probably respond.