The Mashmate Killed My Esky!

[Julez]

After weeks spent rebuilding my brewing setup (pic attached), I have got stuck on my final hurdle - making my Mashmate weldless thermometer work in my esky mash tun! It doesn't matter what I do, the bloody thing leaks. It's a Willow 33L esky.

I've tried thread tape, using multiple silicone washers, combinations of big and small washers, etc - still leaks <_< . The only successful combo was using the RUBBER washer supplied with the kit, but I'm not too keen on having anything non food-grade in contact with my wort. It's got to the stage where my esky is buggered from over-tightening the nuts on the thermo - the inner wall is very soft and has become quite concave where the thermo goes. I think this is compounding my leak problem...

Before I rush out and buy another esky :angry: are there any tips for making this thing work and form a nice, clean seal? At this stage I'm reluctant to use the thermo at all, unless I can be certain I won't destroy another perfectly good esky!

Cheers

 

[Fents]

what sort of thread is it? i've found these black plastic 1/2" washers in the irragation section of mitre10 and they have a massive flange on them which will probably cover the concave you have made by overtightening it, bang a few silicone seals on it too just to make sure. not too sure if the are HDPE plastic but i use them will no ill effects.

 

[Cocko]

Hi Julez,

I have had a similar problem with the wall crushing... Although it finally sealed and seems to be happy atm, I had this thought and will be trying it in the future.

Get a piece of poly pipe with the inner diameter the same as the thread on thermo.

Cut a length the same width as you eski wall.

Cut down one side so you can sort of roll the pipe smaller. [One edge over the other]

Put it into the eski wall and un-roll.... this should create a more solid inner for your washer and nut to clamp against.

Does that make sense?

As I said I am yet to try it but it is the plan I have to over come the same problem.

Just a thought.

Cheers

 

[raven19]

Some options:

1. Expanding filler in the void?

2. Sleeve as per Cocko's post

3. Use factory washer and then put a bead of food grade silicon (from Green Shed or similar) over the exposed areas

 

[Julez]

what sort of thread is it? i've found these black plastic 1/2" washers in the irragation section of mitre10 and they have a massive flange on them which will probably cover the concave you have made by overtightening it, bang a few silicone seals on it too just to make sure. not too sure if the are HDPE plastic but i use them will no ill effects.

It's 1/2" thread, setup as per the pic below. It's really weird and I still don't really know why it's leaking or where it's coming from. The steel washer that comes with the kit seems way to big in its I.D. to me. I turfed that for a correctly sized one and have tried combos from 1 to 3 silicone washers between that and the esky wall to no avail. The penetration hole has only 1mm of leeway around the threaded part of the thermo probe too, so it was all done pretty neatly.

The only thing I can think is that I need to strengthen the esky wall somehow, maybe with some kind of expanding foam, but not sure what to use, or if I can stop the inner wall buckling. I guess the key is not to over-tighten....

 

[Julez]

Hi Julez,

I have had a similar problem with the wall crushing... Although it finally sealed and seems to be happy atm, I had this thought and will be trying it in the future.

Get a piece of poly pipe with the inner diameter the same as the thread on thermo.

Cut a length the same width as you eski wall.

Cut down one side so you can sort of roll the pipe smaller. [One edge over the other]

Put it into the eski wall and un-roll.... this should create a more solid inner for your washer and nut to clamp against.

Does that make sense?

As I said I am yet to try it but it is the plan I have to over come the same problem.

Just a thought.

Cheers

Hi Cocko,

That does make sense and it's a great idea.

What might be even better is to drill a right-sized hole through the inner wall, but a larger hole in the outer. Then, if you could find some thick-walled pipe or rigid tubing where the ID was the same size as the inner hole and the OD was the same as the outer, it would provide a really solid base to screw the inner nut and washer up against. You would'nt have to cut the pipe length-wise then, either.

Thanks!

 

[BoilerBoy]

I've used a food grade rubber obtainanle through "Clark Rubber" in my kettle and 55L esky its whte in colour and about 2-3 $ for a 100mm x 200mm strip and good thickness as well around 3-4mm.

Just make sure when cutting out washers to fit around threads to allow for a tight fit that needs to be pushed on so the rubber squeezes around the thread.

Cheers,
BB

 

[Julez]

Some options:

1. Expanding filler in the void?

2. Sleeve as per Cocko's post

3. Use factory washer and then put a bead of food grade silicon (from Green Shed or similar) over the exposed areas

I think a combo of 2 and 3 could be good, but I'm definitely leaning towards the sleeve idea. Thanks raven :icon_cheers:

 

[clean brewer]

I had similar issues with mine, pissed me right off.. :angry:

I got rid of the stupid washers/silicone that came with it and used red fibre washers, black rubber o-ring washers(now have some red ones from Craftbrewer but im not undoing it at all while it doesnt leak) and back-nuts(the ones with the flange)... Works a treat now....

Only put up with it leaking through 2 brews a little, also dont over tighten...

:icon_cheers: CB

 

[Julez]

Well, I "fixed it", though not pretty I think it is functional...

I was thinking about the sleeve idea of Cocko's and realised an easy way of doing it. I went ahead and enlarged the hole in the outer skin of the esky, but left the inner hole the correct size. Instead of making up a plastic sleeve, I could then just use a plain old steel nut.

So the current (working) config consists of a nut, steel washer and rubber gasket on the outside of the inner wall (i.e. sitting in the recessed space where the esky inner wall is) and 2 x silicone gaskets, steel washer and nut on the inside of the inner wall. I also used thread tape and tightened the crap out of everything :beerbang:

 

[schooey]

Go buy two big stainless washers big enough to go over the 1/2" BSP thread of the mashmate. Go to Crazy Clarks or Go Lo or similar $2 shop and get a silicon baking tray for a couple of bucks. Trace the washer onto the slicon tray twice and cut them out and then assemble the thing with the supplied stainless nut first, then a stainless washer, then a silicon washer you cut, then put it through the esky, another silicon washer, then the other stainless washer and the other supplied nut. Don't tighten any more than you need to, and Robert's yer Auntie's live in toy boy...

 

[Julez]

Go buy two big stainless washers big enough to go over the 1/2" BSP thread of the mashmate. Go to Crazy Clarks or Go Lo or similar $2 shop and get a silicon baking tray for a couple of bucks. Trace the washer onto the slicon tray twice and cut them out and then assemble the thing with the supplied stainless nut first, then a stainless washer, then a silicon washer you cut, then put it through the esky, another silicon washer, then the other stainless washer and the other supplied nut. Don't tighten any more than you need to, and Robert's yer Auntie's live in toy boy...

That's pretty much exactly what I did, in the end! Even down to the silicone sheet. The only difference is, I did tighten the bejeesus out of it, since I no longer have the problem of the inner wall flexing.

Cheers :icon_cheers:

 

[fcmcg]

Go to Crazy Clarks or Go Lo or similar $2 shop and get a silicon baking tray for a couple of bucks.

+1 for this idea...i did it too...works a treat....

 

[Hutch]

The problem I found was that the plastic void crushes too easily when tightening the nut (and the plastic gets even softer at mash temps).

I found that filling the void with 2-part epoxy-putty allowed for a solid structure to tighten the nut against. You can either form it with a smooth round hole for the mashmaster to pass through, or you can drill the stuff once it's set. There's no concern with the old "food grade" issue, as the wort never touchs the stuff (it's only in the void between the plastic layers). You still need to use a silicon (or other) washer to ensure a good water-tight seal. Rock-solid, doesn't leak, and can take a fair knock without budging.

 

[Tim]

Get an ice cream container and make a food grade HDPE washer from it. Cheap and easy

 

[Andyd]

Silicon baking sheets work well too (they're a bit more compressible than ice-cream containers...)