Cracked/leaking airlock

[Brewer dad]

I put a small hairline crack into my 3 piece airlock a while back, tested it at the time and appeared not to leak so kept using it. Started a brew Saturday, checked on it now and saw no airlock activity despite obvious activity in the beer. Upon closer inspection I saw liquid level was low in airlock, topped up and immediately was bubbling away. I see the crack is leaking on the outside ever so slightly, so at some point the level is going to drop again. Doesn't appear to be leaking into beer but can't be 100%. I'm using starsan so not too worried about it getting in there, but would prefer to avoid it.

If liquid is low/non-existent in airlock, I'm assuming it's still capable of burping just will take more pressure buildup. Would allowing this extra gas to sit on my beer between burps have adverse effect?

I've got a backup airlock sanitizing now, will probably change it out this evening while fermentation is still going strong. I'm fine with tossing cracked one if it's dead, but just wondering if it can still be useful. Though I guess if liquid move through air could too...

 

[VikeMan]

If liquid is low/non-existent in airlock, I'm assuming it's still capable of burping just will take more pressure buildup. Would allowing this extra gas to sit on my beer between burps have adverse effect?

If there's no liquid in the airlock, I don't think it would "burp" at all. Instead, it would tend to continuously vent (as long as CO2 is being produced and assuming no significant changes in air pressure in the room.

It's actually fuller airlocks that would cause more time between bubbles, but that tiny bit of extra pressure wouldn't hurt anything.