sealing the calcium reactor cover

[bcjm]

It is sealed by 8 plastic thumb screws right now but the water keep seeping through. It is hard to find a new O-ring. Don't even know the size. Does anyone here use other kind of gasket to seal the cover?

[Origami]

Who makes the reactor? Do you have the old o-ring? www.oringsusa.com has a bunch of them but you need to know the size.

 

You can also use o-ring cord stock. You just have to glue up the ends after it's trimmed to size. http://www.mcmaster.com/#o-ring-cord-stock/=36640a

 

Another option might be to get some rubber gasket material (Lowe's has it in the plumbing section - it's a small sheet of red rubber material) and cut something out, too.

[davelin315]

Just about any rubbery product will work - you can use the neoprene o-rings, too. Also, if the o-ring is not broken, you can coat it with a bit of vaseline that will help it to keep a better seal. By the way, you don't need an o-ring that fits in the groove if you tighten properly (do opposite corners one at a time working like a compass (North-south, east-west, ne-sw, nw-se). The reason the grooves help is that it keeps the o-ring in place, but there are some that don't even have that (such as seals with neoprene o-rings).