BreakMate FAQ: Are parts dishwasher safe?

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It seems like a no-brainer, right? BreakMate parts need to be cleaned and you have a dishwasher - so why not dish wash your parts in order to sterilize them?? The common consensus is to never wash any BreakMate parts in a dishwasher. The main reason(s) for this are age and rarity.

• Age
  • BreakMate parts are getting quite old.  At this point, some could be upwards or close to 20 years old. The plastic pieces have undoubtedly become brittle over time and even if they haven't, running a 15+ or 20+ year old part through a high-pressure, high-temperature through a dishwasher is just a bad idea.
• Rarity
  • Many BreakMate parts are becoming much harder to find.  So, if you were to break a part - even with standard use - getting replacement parts is becoming more difficult with each passing day.  Why would you risk a higher chance of breakage using a dishwasher to clean your parts?

The recommended way to clean your BreakMate parts is with a Vinegar solution, or a diluted bleach solution.  Then you should use a toothbrush or similar tool while handwashing in this solutions to clean/disinfect your parts.  If you want to clean out the internal lines, you'll need to run this solution into and then out of the BreakMate.  Usually 1-2 passes (fill up the carbonator completely and then empty completely) with this solution and then 2-3 "clean water" passes (again, fill up completely, drain completely) is good enough to clean the internal lines and compartments.