Burn-me steam wand stiffening up

[boyscout]

Has anyone else noticed the movement of the burn-me steam wand tightening up after a while?

It was loose and free here on installation, but has developed a resistant rubbery feel, as though it's no longer on a ball joint but on the end of a stiff rubber hose. Not a crisis yet, it can still be pushed into position and stay there, but it takes more effort than it did, you have to kind of overshoot where you want it to be and then let it bounce back to where you want it.

Should it be lubed with something? What? Fuggedaboudid? Or is it an emerging problem that may get worse?

Thx in advance.

[peppersass]

I don't really know the answer to your question, but FWIW, I've seen quite a bit of variation in the stiffness of steam arms and water arms on the GS/3. My first GS/3 came with the no-burn steam arm, which was quite stiff. The water arm was stiff, too. I installed the burn-me arm on that GS/3, and it wasn't stiff at all -- very smooth. I was a little concerned that over time it might become too loose and flop around. My replacement GS/3 came with a burn-me arm installed by CC. It was stiff, as was the water arm. The steam arm has remained relatively stiff, except for one occaison. I happened to be away for about a week, and of course turn off the machine. When I got back, I noticed the steam arm had loosened up quite a bit. But after a day or so at operating temp, it stiffened up again.

My feeling is that it's OK for both arms to be a tad stiff.

[boyscout]

Thanks Dick. If it doesn't get any worse, it's bearable, but disappointing. We'll see what happens in time.

THanks for your input.

[networkcrasher]

I occassionally put some food safe silicon down into the joint and that frees it up for awhile. I don't mind it being a little tight, but prefer it the way it originally came.

[boyscout]

To update this question, after my burn-me steam arm reached a certain level of stiffness, it remained constant until about ten days ago, when it seemed to become noticeably freer again.

A long-awaited tube of food-grade silicone arrived from my dealer this week and I put some in the socket a couple of days ago. Today I notice quite a bit of black residue up around the top of the ball joint.

I believe that what I'm seeing is worn particles of rubber (or whatever other compound is in that joint) from weeks of using the wand when it was stiff. My little-used hot-water wand was also very stiff, and has been remarkably freed by the application of the silicone, it glides incredibly smoothly now. It - which had little use while it was stiff - is noticeably more free after silicone than the steam wand.

The steam wand is free-moving too, much like it was when the machine was new, but not as free as the hot water wand. The extra remaining stiffness, and the black residue, make me concerned that damage has occurred to "rubber" in the steam wand's ball joint assembly, although no ill effects have been noticed other than the residue.

The main purpose for this note is to caution those who may have decided to just live with stiff wands... early lubrication with food-grade silicone may prevent damage to the joint and *possible* future issues.