Stu takes apart and CLEANS a Hi-Gene beer engine.

[Stu]

Stu takes apart and CLEANS a Hi-Gene beer engine.

OK. Feel free to nick pictures, tidy it up or indeed anything else anyone fancies doing with it.

CLICK ON THE PICTURES TO SEE A BIGGER ONE

So....

To start with, lay the beer engine on its side. Be very careful if (like me) you do it on the dining room table as it has a tendency to dig into wood.



Take a half inch spanner (or adjustable spanner). Take the brass screws off.
There is one on each side.



You'll notice that there is also a plastic washer between the metal and the plastic top of the chamber


After taking out both brass screws, pull the pump handle down as far as you can, exposing the allen screw



Take this screw out carefully with an allen key. It appears to thread rather easily, although it doesn't actually matter very much because without taking out the brass screws, you can't expose it enough to get it out



Now undo the jubilee clips holding the small piece of rubber tubing. Pull the tubing out.



Take the nut and the other screwy bit off (I don't know what it's called, but they look like this)

Unscrew the thumb nuts. You will probably find that you need some pliers to do this (When putting it back together, you need to make sure this is especially tight, otherwise the pump will leak)



Take the bottom ring off. Also, gently twist the bottom plastic piece from the metal chamber



Take the sock off and gently pull the metal chamber and top plastic piece apart. Bear in mind that there is a plastic piece inside it so don't go "yanking" hard.



Next, you need to remove this nut. It is VERY tight. I found that I needed some pliers to hold the bar whilst undoing the nut with a spanner.



Take all the pieces apart. You should have the following:



Turn your attention to the top and bottom plastic pieces.



Take the plastic washers off and using some pliers, unscrew the bottom plastic piece



You will find the bit you unscrewed now comes apart and you will need to take off (and possibly replace) the rubber rings



I found mine didn't actually need replacing, although I made them slightly more pliable by using some olive oil.

On the top plastic piece, there is another screw in tube. Mine appears to have some sort of silicone sealant, but came out easily anyway



I now found it a good idea to start the cleaning process off. I absolutely love Milton (clicky linky). It is a food-grade bleach (designed for baby's bottles and so on).
I put these bits in for an hour.



Now is a good opportunity to clean out the swan neck



Pig of a job and I can't really recommend anything but using a very small bottle cleaner, some cleaning stuff and patience.
Might be an idea to put the sparkler in milton too.

To put it back together, it is exactly the opposite and hopefully it should look like this:



Things to remember:

Ensure that the nut holding the washers on is really tight.

Make sure that the washers go back in the right order: The loose washer goes on top separately.


Make sure the thumb nuts are really, really tight.

Check the integrity of the small tube - replace if necessary. Mine looked fine, but had in fact got a hole in it.

Don't forget the sock (I did, twice!)

When putting the bottom plastic part onto the chamber, make a note which direction you want your external pipe coming in. Otherwise you'll have to strip it down again.

So you want to refresh the washers and other pieces?

These can be purchased at CFBS online (>>Direct link to the parts<<)

 

[Stu]

Here is my original post

I'm sure you've all seen one of these before (and many of you have one in bits)

Might or might not be interesting to you, but mine was seized so I took it apart tonight.

Here's the main barrel piece which is seized (sorry, I'd already taken it apart)

Stripped the surround that was holding it together

Then the white plastic pieces came apart with a little force.
I then stripped all the rubber gaskets down as well as managed to move the actual internals.

Here it is all completely stripped down

So here are the bits that almost certainly need replacing. They're dry and brittle.

In addition, I've taken apart the intake pipe and it looks icky and sticky

So any suggestions would be very welcome.

In addition, the little pipe is looking dead. So I'll be replacing it. Plus there is of course no input pipe so I need one of those too.

Now to put it back (for now) in case I forget how it goes back together.

 

[Vossy1]

For servicing parts contact CFBS :thumb:
You could have done a 'how to'...if you take it apart again well worth consideration to help others :thumb:

 

[Stu]

For servicing parts contact CFBS :thumb:
You could have done a 'how to'...if you take it apart again well worth consideration to help others :thumb:

Thanks Vossy.

Scratch that comment.

It's not just CFBS any more... they have an online store

http://cfbsonline.co.uk/

That's an awful lot of money for some gaskets and o rings though isn't it? Best part of £22?
I was expecting a tenner or something.

I will take it apart and do it more as a "how to". Realised afterwards! I might even make a video!

 

[Vossy1]

Stu, I'm sending you and Chris PM re a potential 'how to' :thumb:

 

[Stu]

I have updated my original post

 

[mojonojo]

:thumb: massive thanks for the how to!

 

[welly]

First of all big thanks for posting such a thorough tutorial - a really great help in understanding how my ebay bargain fits together. I managed to pick up an almost identical beer engine (mine has a water jacket) on a work trip to England in April. (The only chance of getting a beer engine here in New Zealand is to buy a refurbished one and they start at around $450.)

I thought I would probably need new seals so followed your link to CFBS but was put off by the GBP14 shipping cost - the seals were going to cost more than the beer engine! I decided that I would wait until I had a chance to take the beer engine apart to see if I really did need to stump up for a new seal kit. So, following your pictures I managed to dismantle my beer engine. However, I discovered that this part (ringed in red with my superior Gimp skills) is missing.

This presumably explains why I wasn't getting any suction when I first tested the beer engine. I went back to CFBS to order the seal kit only to find that they no longer supply it.
Do you know what this part is made of and is it a flush fitting to the cylinder or does it just need to seal against the white piece with holes in? It may be possible to source something similar here in New Zealand or if anybody knows another supplier of the seal kits that would be great, thanks.

Also, when I dismantled my engine the parts were in a different order to those shown in your picture.

Mine had the small white and brown washers at the bottom of the shaft. I tried switching them around as yours is but the brown washer would just slide up the shaft. Do they all hold in place better once my missing part is added?

Any help would be much appreciated and thanks again for the great tutorial.

Cheers

Welly