AQUAvalve silicone seals are inserted into the recesses in the top & bottom floats of the Autopot AQUAvalve. It´s recommended that the silicone seals are taken out of the AQUAvalve before washing, make sure when inserting the silicone parts into the valve that they are pushed back into their recesses until it creates a tight seal when touching the hole and are parallel to the underlying surface, otherwise they may not seal well and cause valve failure.