I have an older Olymp 400 (EL400re) boiler (electric), what I want to clean out and change the anode.
The cleaning part is easy, as it has an inspection hatch. That said, I cannot seem to find any suppliers for the gasket for the hatch… or really, any suppliers of parts online.
Does anyone have any ideas? I found boilermax.ch, who advertises that they have a paid-for service with a database of suppliers - but their site doesn’t seem to work when you want to sign up for said service…
Is it generic enough that you can get something from aliexpress?
Generally, if you can’t get hold of a gasket, you make one.
(That’s what we used to do).
Perhaps talk to your local boiler service/installer? They generally have a list of suppliers they get parts from. For some reason, suppliers may not want to sell directly to consumers…
Or even get them to get you the part numbers? with part numbers, it should be possible to google and buy it or OEM equivalent? Perhaps even at a lower cost than your local boiler service/installer?
Perhaps contact Olymp customer service and inquire? (https://www.olymp.at/?lang=en) ? Generally, companies support the end user …
Might be worth considering how DIY potentially affects your ‘insurance coverage’?
Insurance for what? Hot water?
I’ve dropped both Olymp and Sixmadun an email, but doubt I’ll get a response. As Tom suggests, will probably end up with liquid gasket and bob’s your uncle.
Getting frustrated with the whole “you need a dedicated firm to gouge you” mentality, for even the simplest DIY tasks. I wanted to fit a garden tap, and got quoted 4k for that… ended up doing it myself. Want to connect a washing machine? Oh, that needs an electrician. Change the shocsk on a car?
I feel like I’m ordering more and more things for the house (e.g. white appliances) actively avoiding Swiss brands, as they seem to demand a support network of middlemen to service them… and parts (for consumers) are near impossible to find directly.
Hi Spinal,
As far as I am aware, some insurance companies exclude coverage on some home ‘infra’, if there is DIY involved. Some localities even have rules that you must hire a local company (e.g. electrician, etc) … Hence my comment…
As a home owner in Switzerland, I am painfully aware of the challenges you are facing. I was a home owner also, even before the days of big German DIY stores around zurich. Made many trips to germany and ‘conversions’ from Swiss sizes to German sizes… lol …
Regrettably, this industry is highly controlled by small businesses. I’m painfully aware of ‘you need a dedicated firm to gouge you’ mentality. Just as an example, I wanted rocks for my aquarium. I could not believe the prices, even bulk prices. Eventually, i got lucky when I walked into a rock supplying company for construction. He was a good guy, asked me what I needed the rocks for, gave me good advise (i need rocks that will not continuously cloud the water) and sold me the right one at close to bulk price. That dec, i stopped by his store, thanked him with a bottle of wine, showed him pics of the established aquarium and had a chit-chat with him. He then asked me how to save money because he was going on holidays soon. I suggested that he overpay into his credit card, use the credit card instead of withdrawing cash from ATMs …
There are good guys/companies around. You have to hunt. What you save in CHF, you pay for with time, resources and emotional/psycological weight… but it builds your local network. These people can and will refer you to others … that’s one way the Swiss do it … It’s rough going at first …
I think you would be better off calling the company customer service. I think you will get better results with phone calls than emails. They may ask for the serial number… Ask them for installers/ repair companies in Austria/Germany… If you can talk to one of the technicians/engineers, then they may be able to give you suggestions, perhaps even point you in the right direction (as opposed to first level tech support who will, may be, open a case and send notification to someone) …
Swiss people/companies, as you are now well aware, are much less likely to bother to sell you the gasket, since the ROI is very small. Perhaps similar companies in Austria/Germany (being remote) are more willing to help, sell and mail you the gasket?
All the best … Cheers …
There are a few ‘one-man’ places which do provide parts for things here but they are not too easy to find as their websites are generally circa. 1990 with no search functions, inventory listings and so on.
V-ZUG do have a trade-counter at their factory in Zug where you can buy parts but not everything and the prices are quite high.
I tend to go for Siemens/Bosch as their parts are available online easily.
So far, I haven’t come across that (and would rapidly change insurance if that’s the case 
) .
It’s quite frustrating to have to jump through all the hoops just to be a bit self-sufficient. e.g. a backnut broke on the toilet - I ended up ordering it in the UK and picking it up during a trip as couldn’t find it here.
The guy at Bauahaus even suggested to replace the whole cistern…
The UK is my go-to place for spare parts although Ali-Express is good for nuts and bolts etc.
The nylon runners on the round glass doors of our shower were cracked and broken so the doors would not slide smoothly.
I got no response from the manufacturer or distributor and the only original part I could find was a one-off on eBay for £80. (I needed eight).
So I bought some brass M6 bolts and nylon wheels (with an integrated ball-bearing race) from Ali-Express. I cut off the bolt heads and filed down the threads to make a compression fit with the center hole in the bearing and screwed this into the existing off-set plastic parts.
Works a treat and was less than CHF10 in total.
Nice job!
Re: gasket, if it is the kind where you have a flat rubbery material, I wonder if you can get a whole sheet and cut to shape?
I had a small leak in the oil pump from the boiler and instead of replacing the rubber gasket as recommended by the manufacturer (which should cost maybe $5), the repairman wanted to replace the whole pump for $300.
Honestly? No clue
I haven’t taken the boiler door off yet, as that entails draining the boiler. So if then I don’t have a gasket + anode ready (even an instant gasket), that’s no hot water until I find it.
Right now, leaning towards some instant gasket… then with the old gasket, I can shop around before I do it again next year…
Sometimes the anodes get supplied with a gasket.
Perhaps your anode is a non-manufacturer specific part and so a generic one will do?
Slightly off topic … the concept of ‘small’ fixes is quite foreign here, still … it’s the ‘car repair’ consumer type (disposable) mentality → replace the full component when broken → less work and higher roi (not for the consumer) … lol … first world mentality?
Tom1234 might have a good alternative with less overhead … manufacturer or OEM product could work too …
EDIT: with full appreciation for everybody’s ideas/thoughts, and me blabbing out loud, the rubber gasket has to meet some physical and material characteristics (resistance to heat, submersion in hot water, and/or others?) … hence my preference for tom1234’s suggestion …
Fully agree, and terrible experiences … last week, our dishwasher broke (7 years old, with ‘extended warranty’, because the Fust one is only for 24 months). Called Fusst. Handyman came. A ‘bad gasket’ had leaked humidity into an electrical sensor (for water temperature), and for security reasons, the sensor blocks the whole machine. Repair cost (covered by warranty) 450 CHF. He said also 'your pump looks also that it contributes to the problem, it is working, but needs to be changed. This one NOT covered, (as the DW still works), and would be an additional 300+400= 700 CHF 
Then he says "but if you go to Fusst, I can talk to the manager and he will give you a special price for a new DW, based on the repair costs estimate.
One hour later, I am marching to Fusst to talk to the manager… who offers a 10% of the cost of the pump (i.e. 30 CHF), as discount to the purchase of the new DW (worth 1000 CHF+). I think my WTF could be heard even in my home country…
I told my hubby - let’s buy in IKEA. At least, they give you 10 years warranty!
I guess this is the issue, Olymp is not a Swiss company. But the online search for “Olymp Ersatzteile” points to shops in Germany and Austria with lots of replacement parts.
@Spinal: if not on the shop I link, this damned gasket should be in any other of the shops that come up after searching for “Olymp Ersatzteile”. By the way, what’s the shape of the gasket?
Gasket = Dichtung
Flat gasket = Flanschdichtung
Ring gasket = Dichtscheiben
PS. boilermax.ch is a trip to the 1990s.
Confirmation of what I wrote earlier: !!
Indeed.
Switzerland is a small market. And Spinal had the luck to get a house with a boiler from a small (ish) company from South Tyrol.
The chances for a Swiss supplier to have the part in stock are low. Better check with suppliers in home market (Austria) or huge market (Germany).
Indeed - and the form only works (apparently) in internet explorer…
