Does an Aeropress Wear Out? Surprising Aeropress Lifespan

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The Aeropress is a cheap and very effective tool to brew a good cup of coffee. It’s so cheap that some people might wonder; does it wear out quickly?

An Aeropress can be used for 3-5 years before the rubber seal starts wearing out. The seal can easily be replaced after this time. The rest of the plastics don’t really wear out but can become brittle over time. If treated well and the seal is replaced. An Aeropress can last 10 years or more.

How an Aeropress wears out and what you can do to prevent this or fix it once it happens can be found below. 

Does an Aeropress Wear Out? 

The Aeropress is a cheap and very effective tool to brew a good cup of coffee. It’s so cheap that some people might wonder; does it wear out quickly? 

The rubber Aeropress seal does wear out over time but replacement parts can easily be bought. The rubber seal tends to start leaking after 3-5 years of regular use. The plastic parts don’t really wear out from normal use. 

The seal rubs on the side of the chamber so it just slowly wears over time. The rubber also gets harder over time which makes it harder to create a good seal. There are some ways to rejuvenate the seal but at some point it will have to be replaced. 

The plastics get dull over time but this doesn’t impact the functionality of the Aeropress. Over a long period of time, the plastics will get brittle and it becomes easier to break one of the pieces. Unless it’s stored in direct sunlight all the time, this is unlikely to happen in less than 10 years. 

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Can a Worn Out Aeropress Be Repaired?

The good news is that it’s easy to get replacement parts for all the parts of an Aeropress. On the Aeropress website, you can get all the essential parts separately. The seal, piston and chamber are all separately available. 

Looking for some other accessories for your Aeropress? Click here to find the 7 best.

The most common thing to wear out is the seal since that is where all the friction happens. This part costs about $10 +shipping to replace. Of course it would be best for the environment to just replace a single part and not replace the whole thing. 

However, since Aeropresses are pretty cheap and by the time the seal wears out, the rest of the plastics probably don’t look too good anymore either. Looks don’t really impact the functioning of the Aeropress but it’s also nice to have everything fresh. So replacing the whole thing can also be a viable solution. 

Especially if the inside of the chamber is very scratched up, that might be a reason why there is some leaking past the seal and it’s better to replace the whole thing at once. 

The other parts like stirrer and little funnel that come with most Aeropresses aren’t separately available but those aren’t really essential parts. You could find replacements for those around the house or on Amazon although they won’t be exactly the same. 

How Long Does an Aeropress Last? 

I know two examples that are three years old, are used regularly and still in good working order. The plastics are a bit dull but otherwise there is nothing wrong with them. 

Online many reports can be found of people having theirs for 5 years and are still going strong. After 3-5 years most people replace the seal but after that, they can keep going.

The Aeropress is made from pretty durable plastics except for the seal. And as long as you take some precautions like not using steel wool or scrubbing pads to clean it, it will last for a very long time. 

Over time the plastics will become brittle and it becomes easier to break them. It depends on your storage conditions but for most people, an Aeropress can last 10 years with one or two seal replacements. 

How To Make an Aeropress Last Longer?

If you want to make sure your Aeropress lasts as long as possible, here are some easy tips you can implement and make sure your Aeropress lasts longer. 

Cleaning

• Clean your Aeropress quickly after use. Don’t let the wet coffee puck sit in there for a long time. It’s really easy to expel the spent grounds anyways. Just twist off the filter cap and push the grounds out. Then run water over the seal and filter cap to get rid of the grounds. Then let it dry.
• For a more thorough clean, take the Aeropress apart and clean it with warm water, detergent and a sponge or other non abrasive. Don’t use any abrasives on the Aeropress since this will scratch the plastic and there shouldn’t be anything stuck inside anyways. 

Storage

• Keep the Aeropress out of the sun. UV rays will make the plastic more brittle faster and increase the likelihood of the plastic breaking/cracking. 

How to Revive an Aeropress Seal

As you can read above the most likely part to fail on an Aeropress  is the rubber seal on the piston. Once it wears down too much, It’s simply not large enough to create a seal against the chamber wall. 

However, there can be some other causes for a leaking seal and a few fixes that are easy to try. 

• Run the rubber part under hot water before use. Heat will expand the rubber a little bit which might just be enough. 
• Soak the seal in odorless mineral oil. Wash it off carefully after soaking. Baby oil is usually mineral oil but does have a fragrance. Coffee slowly extracts the oil in the rubber which makes the seal smaller and harder. Soaking it in oil will replenish this.  

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