Need Help, Katadyn Vario injury!

My heavy but loved Katadyn Vario has suffered a severe injury! Has any one successfully or ever quasi successfully repaired the inlet nipple(no giggles) on the side? My Vario jumped off a pile of gear I was carrying to the car for a show and tell and even though the inlet was carefully turned toward the middle of the bag it snapped right at the base. I know people have diff preferences, I have a sawyer also but I go out with groups and the vario just excels at that number of people. Repair recommendations coveted!!

John

Well, I'll start off with the obvious: duct tape and/or super glue.

Have you contacted Katadyn? I can't remember the details of how that filter is constructed (and in the picture on REI's website, the connection point you talk about is, of course, in the back and invisible.)

It looks like the pump head is a different assembly - would Katadyn sell you a replacement body cylinder? Or, would they be willing to repair or exchange it?

If worse comes to worst, REI is having a 20% sale right now, which lowers the pain of replacing it from $100 to $80. (And you'd still have the filter membrane from the old filter to use as a replacement in the old one.)

Good luck.

It depends on what kind of plastic the housing is made of. If it's PVC, CPVC, Styrene or Acrylic, solvent cement can be used to glue it. If it's Nylon, Polyethylene or Polypropylene, no glue will hold for long. The reason that it broke might be that the plastic has degraded from sunlight. All plastics degrade somewhat, but some are worse than others. PVC, Polyethylene and Polypropylene are among the worst. Light colors degrade before black. If the plastic has become brittle, the repairs are likely to be less than satisfactory.

We once had a problem with our Katady along that same line. I wrote the company and asked them if this were normal. They sent me a new unit.

I was impressed.

Agree, if you can figure out the correct cement for the plastic it may be fixable. Because it's the inlet side you don't have to deal with water pressure, just shearing(?) force from the hose pulling it sideways.

I also like the idea of contacting Katadyn. They're not your typical gear maker.

Good luck!