Troubleshooting-Expobar-ValveClean

How to Remove, Clean and Lubricate Your Steam and Hot Water Valves

Removing, cleaning and lubricating your valves can be a quick fix for a leaky or sticky valve, and is good for keeping them up and working properly. You will be required to remove the housing from your machine. Housing removal has not been included as it can vary from machine to machine. In our instance, our wand was already removed from the valve body, yours does not need to be to go through with this process.

Things You Will Need:

• 2x 19mm wrench
• 1x food safe lubricant

1. Once you have the case off of the machine, locate the backside of the valve you are looking to remove. It should look something like the picture below. You will need to start by first removing the nut from the hardline attached to the back. It has been highlighted in the picture below.
   
2. Once you have removed the nut from the hardline, you will need to remove the secondary nut that is behind it. This actually holds the valve in place.
   
3. Once this has been removed, the valve should be able to be taken off of the machine. To actually open the valve you will need both 19mm wrenches. One to brace the valve, and the other to actually unscrew and open it.
   
4. You’re going to be looking to unscrew the nut on the front of the valve, right behind the knob. Once you’ve broken the nut free, you will have to unscrew the nut as far as it will go, and then start unscrewing the knob like you’re opening it. You should end up with the valve body and the knob separate as illustrated below.
   
5. Highlighted in the picture above is the area that you can clean and apply lubrication to. You can lubricate the shaft with a food safe lubricant down to the o-rings and up to the top. Be sure not to apply lubricate to the teflon cap at the top end. The next area you want to check for any sort of build up is inside the valve body itself as shown below. You want to look down the valve and check in the middle where the o-ring is, and make sure there is no build up in there. The whole valve body itself can be soaked to help clean off any residue, and you can put a non-abrasive brush in there to help clean out any extra build up.
   

DISCLAIMER: Do NOT use any chemical cleaning products. This can strip the chrome plating from the valve. Soap and hot water will be sufficient for cleaning the valve.

Once you’ve sufficiently cleaned and lubricated the valve, you can reassemble to finish the process.