Zen & the art of Enolmatic maintenance

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So I did a stupid thing.

I have an enolmatic bottle filler and had accidently snapped off the vacuum regulator valve (see pic 1).

The bad part is that the bit that snapped was actually part of the base. I could have simply glued it back on, but decided to go with purchasing a whole new base. (See the replacement base in pic 2)

Purchasing the base was fun... I normally would get it from St Pats of Texas, but they had a rather disturbing comment on their website stating.

We do not supply parts for equipment purchased elsewhere. In short, we will no longer be the service department for most of the winery equipment suppliers.

Ok, Fine, I was a loyal customer of theirs for years, but I did not purchase my original unit from them because I did not even know they existed at the time. It really didn't matter in the long run because I saw that they were out of stock of that particular part.

So, It was off to ubrewsupply in Canada (the only other place I could find that sold enolmatic parts). I got a new base and also a new vacuum regulator. Ended up costing me $215.00 (Canadian). What can I say but.. YIKES!!

So, after receiving the base, I set about the task of replacing the old base. WHAT A PITA!!! The screws (steel) were so corroded, I had to drill them out to get the unit apart. I ran to the hardware store and spent another $5 for stainless steel screws.

Once back, I took my time and carefully transferred all of the components from the old base to the new base. Got it all together and it worked fine. I then went to install the nozzle and shaft and realized that there was a bracket that holds the shaft that was still on the old base.

The problem was that the bracket was clipped into the base in four spots and screwed in two places. It was nearly impossible to get this bracket off of the old base without destroying the bracket.

So it was off to my brother's shop. We did eventually get the bracket off (without destroying it thankfully) but it involved a sawzall, a drill press, tile nippers, and a pair of pliers. The whole thing took about an hour.

When I got back, I had to remove all of the parts from the new base. There was no way to properly secure the bracket otherwise. I installed the bracket, re-installed all of the parts, and now, finally, have a working enolmatic....

Next time, I will simply buy a new one.

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John
You should try the all in one wine pump - considering it does have a 1 year warranty and is completely 100% rebuildable if needed,as I have all the parts made for me as we assemble them them as a family.

Not only just the base itself would pay for the entire system
(all in one wine pump ) that can bottle - transfer and filter as well.
 

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