One important caution regarding vacuum breakers in home machines. Vacuum breakers work well in commercial machines that once turned on, stay on for long periods or time. In a home machine where the machine is turned on once or more a day, the valve cycles often. The more often it cycles, the more prone it is to lime build ups that can cause the valve to leak. Often this leak may be a very slow one that goes unnoticed throughout the day. This can lead to the boiler running dry unexpectedly and overheating the machine. If you are lucky, the machines thermal overheat protection kicks in and prevents damage.

The vacuum breaker is extremely convenient and really makes life easier, but there is a price to pay. That price is you need to keep after the vacuum breaker and make sure it is kept clean of deposits before it gets you into trouble.

espressme wrote:? Does the part need to be installed vertically?

Only if you want it to work.