Help with iSi Thermowhip

[lesliec]

Last weekend I used my iSi Thermowhip twice, which was a record - I like it a lot, but don't play with it as much as I might. Presumably this startled the poor thing, because its spring is no longer attached to anything.

I've studied another one in a shop and I don't think I've lost any parts (although I don't rule it out); it's just that the spring in the dispensing lever, which looks like it should be attached at least at one end, isn't. And I can't see how it would have been attached in the first place. The whipper still works, but I'm in danger of losing the spring, and I've already wasted two gas canisters because the dispensing nozzle hadn't been pulled back into the sealed position before charging.

Can anybody with an iSi offer any suggestions? Thanks.

[Kerry Beal]

The spring isn't attached - you just put it back in place after you clean it. So you need to be careful not to lose it! I pick up lots of Isi Whips at thrift stores - often have to buy parts like the springs for them.

[lesliec]

Thanks, Kerry. I was sure it had been more firmly attached (somehow) before it ... wasn't, and on the other whipper I examined it seemed to be solid, but if your experience is that they're supposed to be unstuck I shall deal with it manfully.

I'm probably not likely to see one in a thrift shop here - they're not common, and in fact there are regulations around who can buy N₂O cartridges (in theory one must be in the catering/restaurant industry, which I'm not, but I must look responsible or something). I could get another whole top from the local distributors for a significant fraction of the cost of an entire new whipper, but I'm not particularly inclined to do that if I can use the thing as it is.