I put a new 5 lb co2 tank on my stout to carbonate it. I sprayed it all over with soapy water to check for leaks I saw nothing. I put all of it into the fridge and went out to pour off it … oooohhh… maybe 2 weeks later and my co2 tank was empty. My regulator is about 10 years old and the high pressure gauge is broken up pretty bad at this point. SO, I bought a new taprite regulator on their. I put a 10lb co2 tank on there (because I had one) and reassembled the setup. I then checked for co2 leakage. Nothing. So here are my questions.
can my regulator leak out the gauge?
1.5 I swear I didn’t see anything but can old regulators just leak somewhere? I checked all the hoses?
I have a 4 way manifold on there from about 10 years ago. Should that get cleaned out with pbw or something ever? I have check valves on it.
Thanks team, this is very frustrating and I hate releasing co2 without drinking while I’m doing it.
You could try carbonating a keg, then turning off the gas at the tank and disconnecting it from the keg. If your beer doesn’t pour the next day, the leak is at the keg.
A long time ago I saw somebody took a section of an old inner tube and fit it over the top of a keg so he could fill it with water and look for bubbles. I thought that was pretty cool, but usually spraying with star san works well.
Yes, regulators can leak.
He cut a cross section of 6 or 7 inch wide inner tube and stretched it over the top of the keg, making a water tight bowl above the posts of the keg into which he could pour water, so that the top of the keg was under water.
If the keg is empty you can fill a bucket or a big sink, put 30 PSI into the keg, and put the top part of the keg into the water. I have also put my manifolds into a bucket water to find leaks. Learned this ages ago when my farmer uncles would check for leaks on the smaller tires on the farm (not rear tractor tires of course).
Higher pressure on the keg or lines will help you find slow leaks.
I have had leaks in the regulator assembly and at the regulator to tank connections. I used Star San to find those.
If your manifold has the valves with stamped red handles the valves are suspect. They tend to leak when the valve is in the open position. I’ve had sever instances of this. Fill a bucket or sink and submerge the manifold/hose assembly and turn the valves on and off to test for this. Pressure in the normal range works best.
If you don’t find any other leaks suspect the gas in post O ring. It’s the hardest leak to find. Probably best to just replace it and lube with keg lube or other food grade lubricant.
I had a valve with a red handle that was a leaker when submerged, at the threaded base. It broke when I tightened it, revealing porosity in the brass. Had to replace it, then no leaks with the new valve.
Holy crap. a weephole? That’s a new one to me. Wait … is that the hole where I accidently opened my regulator with a keg that was at 35 psi and it shot beer up the lines, past my failed check valve, and then shot beer out of my regulator like a carnival fountain? btw I immediately took that regulator apart and gave it a thorough cleaning. It now works 10x better than the day I bought it.