Hello All,

The seal on the screw thread on the top of the sight glass was leaking a tad at full pressure. I unscrewed it to look at the seal and found that the seal was in decent shape, but I noticed this little metal tab below the screw and above the sight glass (see pictures). I think the screw would go down further and make a good seal if the tab was not there, but for some reason I think the tab is intended to keep the sight glass glass down, or has some other function. I looked at some schematics and could not find the tab listed on any diagrams. Can anyone shed any light on this subject? Is that tab suppose to be in there? Can I remove and not have it in there without hurting the machine? or Do I simply just need a new seal for that screw? Thank you for any ideas. - Erik

I've removed and and added adapter to almost a dozen of these machines but have never seen that tab.
I'm going to say it's safe to remove.

I've seen several on older units,
just like the copper sleeve around some of the heating elements,
I believe (just my theory) they were thinking about having scale attracted by copper rather then building up on other metal parts,
the HE one could had been also for heating dispersion, but the sightglass one O doubt.

Yes I agree with the above statement, safe to get rid off.

OK, I will remove the metal tab and see it the seal holds better. If so, maybe I can nip a little of the tab off and through it back in there in hopes of it being some kind of anode, but considering the age of the machine and the lack of buildup on it thus far, it does not seem to be attracting any particulate of any kind. Thank you Redbone and Stefano65 for your responses. I appreciate the help. - Erik

I've seen these on a couple of late 80s - early 90s Europiccolas. I couldn't figure out what it was for and just threw it away prior to re-assembling the sight glass. No negative impact on sealing.