Rust alet - Carbonator cap

I made a thread a few weeks back regards to the small piece inside the metal carbonation cap, needed a type of clip, well it finally arrived and after 2 days this is what happened. Apparently the metal used chemically reacted and made it rust, can I clean the rust and reuse it? Any feedback is appreciated.

From reading your other thread it looks like you bought a steel clip. What you wanted was a stainless steel clip and considering how hard a time you had with finding the one you did find I'm guessing you are a bit buggered.
Take it out and clean it up, try using a green scowring (sp?) pad and some bar keepers freind to get rid of the rust (rust on stainless can be a pain to get rid of). How does the carb cap fit together, any chance you can take a photo with it laid out as individual pieces in the order it is assembled?
And don't put that clip back in!
Did you try asking Patick who supplies him with the carb caps and then try and see if they will send you one?

Ok I went to Canadian Tire (Canadia Hardware Store) and picked up some rust remover, let it sit for 1.5 hours and now it's completely cleaned. As for the "G" clip I have no choice but to go and purchase another one but this time perhaps I can coat it with some sealant to prevent it from rusting again? Will that do the trick?

As for asking Patrick, he claims he orders the part assembled and has no way of obtaining the parts individually, he then went onto say that I must be the second guy in all his purchases that had this happen to and going to any hardware store will be easy to find a replacement part, well that is far from the truth. Am I upset? Of course I am, I spend $20 after shipping for a device that that has a faulty part and now I have spent countless hours and money to get this thing back in working to avoid spending another $20 for the exact same part that can risk getting damaged again. He is in the business to make money and judging from his response he shrugs it off assuming the ratio between happy customers and unsatisfied customers isn't worth the effort to get me help.

I didn't want to rant knowing as he is a vendor here but I would strongly suggest staying away from these stainless steel carbonation caps, also the fact that he doesn't sell plastic ones angers me even more because now I am SOL from buying anything within Canada.

But I have to suffice with what I got going so unfortunately the hunt continues, here are some pictures of the device dis-assembled.

P.S After hours of googling, I contacted the manufacturer of the metal carbonation cap (I guess where Patrick buys his supply from), and the lady quoted me $0.15 cents for the clip (Thanks Patrick!). But not sure what the minimum requirements are and if I can buy a single item.

If anyone has any plastic carb caps located in Canada please let me know (Preferably ontario). As for making my own cap I would need to remove the gas lock fitting and replace it with another fitting and I'm tired of still buying and spending more money unnecessarily.











This last picture doesn't have the clip, was wondering if I could spray a seal on it?

MagicMike said:

...P.S After hours of googling, I contacted the manufacturer of the metal carbonation cap (I guess where Patrick buys his supply from), and the lady quoted me $0.15 cents for the clip (Thanks Patrick!). But not sure what the minimum requirements are and if I can buy a single item.
...

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Sorry if I wasn't clear, I was meaning you should ask Patrick who supplies him so you can call them direct, as you did.
Did you explain to the lady that you had bought one of their caps and it broke and all you want is one clip. If I was that company I would be mailing you out at least 2 clips - just in case

The company is from China and only deals with dealers. Sorta like Alibaba, I had to pretend I am was interested in buying in wholesale but wanted some "samples". They deal with distributors not the average joe, and if I ventilate my issues to them they would simply tell me to take it up with my seller (Patrick). He will not pursue the purchase of spare parts because he knows the money is in the sale as a whole, not individually.

I won't bother him anymore about it, it's clear he can't help me so I'll make sure to let everyone know in the future if they order this part from him to be careful because anything gets broken it's on the customers shoulder to fix it, no warranty whatsoever.


P.S Patrick won't give up his supplier, even if it wasn't the one I dealt with... that would be suicidal for his business. For all he knows I could be his competition... (Which I'm obviously not)

I live in ontario, and have also purchased the same unit. I did not see your origonal thread, so I'm assuming your g shaped spring had to be replaced, and that replacement piece rusted. I had an issue with mine as well, that g shaped spring didn't hold and all the components ended up getting pushed through. I ended up fixing my cap, but only after I had already placed a 2nd order for a new cap.

I don't know if these metal carbonator caps are flawed or if we just got unlucky. Either way I was unable to find a plastic carbonator cap like you see on amazon.com that would ship to me at a reasonable price, though that plastic one with the hex shaped head seems to be a better option, at least when it comes to removing the cap. The metal cap is hard to remove when its damp, with its smooth surface.

Yes indeed, in fact I run the risk of damaging the spring because it's holding it down and for me to remove it I need to push down and then slightly curve my screwdriver upwards to try and dis-align the clip.

I did some more google searching and realized my only option was to keep the piece I have and live with it, but it kept rusting even after applying sealants and coats over it so I decided to galvanize the piece and drove to Mississauga (75KM), thats 47 miles to my fellow americans one way there. The company explained to me when I got there that the piece is way too small and it might melt in the process because the temperatures they were dealing with were about 800 degrees (1400 Fahrenheit). So the only last option was to find a way to apply the zinc via spray.

Once again I'm out of luck so I came across this little industrial spray can and I coated the clip about 3 times, and tomorrow going to give it another 4 coats and that should do the trick.




Honestly this thread on it's own should be a warning for any other brewers who are thinking about buying this crap device, it's really come to this point where I've spent more time and money then buying 5 of these things. Not finding replacement parts is what kills the deal.

Awaiting reply from China for the part, Patrick should be made aware of this thread if he hasn't already read it yet.

The galviniser's comments on melting the steel don't make sense. Unless they meant that you would loss it's "springyness". I would be caustious with putting zinc on somthing that I would drink though.

The guy said it might dissolve in the acid they use prior to applying the zinc. And I guess you are right about the toxicity of the zinc, I barely applied any pressure on it and it scrapped off. I guess I'm back on the drawing board.

Keep wasting time and money, oh boy

I'd investigate stainless-steel E-Clips: http://www.poolsupplyworld.com/poolsupplies/replacementpoolparts/products/9-100-5107.htm

... or a home-cut stainless fender washer, with a hole in the center.

Might work, might not.

MC

I am positive the vendor would replace it if you sent him an email address or name or some other piece of information to identify you.

Thanks for the post, the issue really is that the spring is dead center and what the purpose of the G clip is that the piece of the G clip turn towards the center causing the spring to stay down. The link you posted might work if the plates are lengthy enough to support the spring to as far as shifting it to the opposite side as far as possible.

I will however give it a try if I can find these locally, not going to wait for shipping I already got 3 parts in transit and it's been 2+ weeks already.

OntarioBeerKegs said:

I am positive the vendor would replace it if you sent him an email address or name or some other piece of information to identify you.

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I bought it from OntarioBeerKegs,

I called and was told (~4 weeks ago) that parts weren't sold separately and was advised to try a local hardware store. Why would I be making all this up and go through all this trouble?

Are you patrick? the same person who told me the above?

Called OntarioBeerKegs, spoke with kyle. Awaiting call back *crosses fingers*

Ok getting the piece replaced, thank you.

316 stainless steel is food grade (not all stainless steels are the same) try McMaster Carr.

Yah I tried that site thanks, but nothing I came across like the G clip I will give them a call tomorrow.