CO2 regulator problem?

The Homebrew Forum

Help Support The Homebrew Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

Chris Wooffindin

Active Member
Joined
Jan 16, 2018
Messages
32
Reaction score
7
Good evening all,

I'm hoping someone can give me a clue as to a problem I've encountered tonight.

After my CO2 canister ran out over the weekend, I've been trying to refit the same canister now full of CO2. However, when I turn on the gas, the regulator just blast CO2 out of the pressure relief valve. I note that the serving pressure dial instantly max's out whilst doing it.

When I quickly turn off the gas, the serving pressure dial remains in the high pressure position until I purge it.

Is my regulator faulty, or have I adjusted something incorrectly? The regulator is only a few months old from KegKingdom so I'm hoping it's not that (although presumably there is some sort of warranty?). I'm also wondering whether some trap in the pipe after the regulator could be causing the problem as I used a series of John Guest fittings into the fridge, and I have moved a few things whilst I changed the canister.

Any thoughts would be appreciated.

Cheers,
Chris
 
It's stuck open. As it's new you should return it. If that's not practical you would have to dismantle it and clean it. Or, with the regulator not connected to anything but the CO2 cylinder, give it a few blasts using the cylinder valve after setting max pressure. You might dislodge some dirt. Only very short blasts. Do it outdoors and wear gloves at it could burn you. Then set minimum pressure and open the cylinder valve to see if the regulator has closed. My supplier said'always set minimum pressure when fitting a new cylinder'.
 
This is a complete guess but I have heard of the S30 cylinders freezing open so I imagine this could happen to a normal regulator especially if there was alot of moisture in it.
 
Silly question but you’ve remembered the regulator is the opposite way to most things, ie anti-clockwise reduces pressure and clockwise increases the pressure? acheers.
 
Thanks all.

Well.... I think it's now sorted. I disconnected the bottle and regulator from all the pipework to route to the fridge and I noticed that one of the elbows had the disconnect sleeve a bit broken. Not sure this was the problem, but good to fix. I also replaced the seal to the canister as I thought I heard a small hiss.

In the end, now that it's out of the cupboard and I can see the regulator a bit more clearly, I noticed that yes, indeed as Hopsteep suggested I'd totally wound it the wrong way....asad. What a numpty.

I connected a short piece to the end of the regulator and gave it another go connected to one of the kegs, and then correctly wound it to the serving pressure. Everything seems fine now.

In my defence, I am a bit new and clueless to this kegging, but I will learn for next time! Not least as I dread to think how much CO2 I've wasted.

Thanks all to those who have help me out.

Cheers,
Chris
 
Back
Top