I recently got a 5-way secondary regulator that I’ve mentioned in a few threads. I noticed today that two of the regulators don’t zero out. When the screw is all of the way out, one will creep up to 8 psi, and the other to around 5 psi. Were they just set wrong to begin with? Is there an easy way to adjust them?
Thanks
I would research the manufacturer specs and/or online manuals. If you don’t have any luck with that you’ll have to revert to a contacting the manufacturer.
Is there any residual pressure in the lines causing this to occur?
Most gauges have a little screw under the lense that you can zero the needle with. I know that’s the case with A/C gauges, but I’ll have to check when I get home and see how hard the lense is to remove on a CO2 gauge and if indeed there is a set screw.
I have several gauges, but only one that had an adjustment screw. It was marked Ashcroft. All the others appear to have no way to make an adjustment. Anybody else?
The problem is not in the gauge, it is in the regulator body. When the screw is all of the way out gas still bleeds into it. The regulator is made my a company called Chudnow, but I don’t see anything about fixing them on their website. Has anyone tried fixing a regulator? It is new enough that I could return it, but I’d really rather just fix it myself and not deal with shipping.
Do they come equipped with c-valve shut offs? Also does it come with a master relief valve on one of the ends? Have you tried purging with that if it has one. One more thing, if it is just “residual” pressure trapped in the body, then when you have it “online” with pressure on it, it actually may be giving you an accurate reading. Set your master to a given psi and see if the other gauges that zero out give you the same reading under pressure. If so, I wouldn’t sweat it unless it really bothers you. That’s my best shot for your problem. Let us know what’s happening after you investigate more.
I don’t know what c-valve shut offs are, but below is a picture. There doesn’t seem to be a master relief valve. It is just residual pressure that bleeds into the regulator, it seems to read the correct pressure. It is more of an annoyance than anything else I guess, since I can only use that gauge for beers that I want carbonated at higher than 8 psi, which is most but not all of them.
The C valves are the red cut off valves. It looks like you have a relief valve per regulator. I’ve never seen those before but, if you put the valves in the horizontal positions(gas shut off) and open the relief valves do the gauges go to zero? They should. Even with the screw out all the way you may have to do this to zero them out. Give it a try and let us know.
Yes, they go to zero when I open the relief valve, but creep up after I close it. Having the screw all of the way out just doesn’t zero the gauge.
Do they stay set where you want them while in use?
As long as where I set them is above where they go when the screw is all of the way out, there’s no problem, they don’t move. It just behaves like I haven’t unscrewed the screw enough, even though it is as far out as it gets.
At this point, I’d call the place where you got them and explain what’s going on. They may either give you tech assistance which will remedy the problem or send you another rig. Let us know.