Gas Leak?

possessed_haemorrhage · Saturday Dec 16, 2006 5:48 pm

G'day,

I've just hooked up a Harris regulator to the co2 bottle and turned the gas on, then turned it off, to see if the dials go down or not. The dial on the left is going down (I'm not sure if this is high or low pressure? Extreme newbie), but very very slowly.

I've tried:
Tightening the gas disconnect
Tightening the Regulator more
Tightening the clamps on the disconnect and the regulator

What else can I try?

Cheers,
Stephen

gregb · Post by **gregb** » Saturday Dec 16, 2006 6:13 pm

Dial on the left is pressure to the keg. It could be that the beer is absorbing more CO2.

Cheers,
Greg

possessed_haemorrhage · Saturday Dec 16, 2006 6:17 pm

Okay, I might sound like a complete fool here...I havn't connected the line to the keg. I figured this wouldn't matter?

gregb · Post by **gregb** » Saturday Dec 16, 2006 6:26 pm

Gas leak somewhere then. Check the disconect, I recall another poster had a dicky disconect that emptied his tank.

Cheers,
Greg

possessed_haemorrhage · Sunday Dec 17, 2006 9:16 am

Well I changed the clamp thing that goes over the hose on the regulator last night, and the dial didn't move over night. So now that problem is solved, the dial on the right went down a tiny bit. What could this be?

Schooner · Post by **Schooner** » Sunday Dec 17, 2006 10:52 am

To test your regulator for an internal leak.

turn on the tank valve and set your low pressure to 100 kpa .

now turn the low pressure valve anti clockwise all the way to
reduce it to zero and turn off the tank valve.

now hook up to your keg and use the pressure release valve
on it to bleed out all the line pressure.

your low pressure should read zero and the tank should still
say full or whatever it was that you started with.

let this set several hours or overnight, the high pressure dial
should not move and if it does you may have a problem.

To test your lines for leaks:
turn on your tank valve and set your low
low pressure to 100 kpa.

first use your hand to see if you can feel any
leaks and listen for them.

get a spray bottle and fill it with soapy water,
spray all your connections and your quick
release keg fitting.

If there is a leak tiny bubbles like froth will
appear - take your time , watch , respray -
sometimes it takes awhile for them to show up

possessed_haemorrhage · Monday Dec 18, 2006 4:21 pm

Cheers for the replies, blokes. I took it to my HBS and the bloke said if there's a leak, it would be so small it wouldn't be worth worrying about.

In other news, I just hooked up my first keg (Holy Smoke Stout) and it's f---ing BRILLIANT. I wish I got into kegging sooner haha. Now I have to try and not drink it tonight after my workout. Bugger.

possessed_haemorrhage · Monday Dec 18, 2006 4:28 pm

Quick questions:

What factors determine how long the keg will stay good for? I think read on here it will stay good from a couple weeks to a couple months. Is this correct?

Is there anything I need to do when I'm not drinking it? Besides turn the gas off?

OldBugman · Post by **OldBugman** » Monday Dec 18, 2006 4:30 pm

I leave my gas on all the time.

luke · Post by **luke** » Monday Dec 18, 2006 5:49 pm

I turn the gas on when I am pouring the brew !

Ross · Post by **Ross** » Sunday Dec 24, 2006 11:05 am

possessed_haemorrhage wrote:Cheers for the replies, blokes. I took it to my HBS and the bloke said if there's a leak, it would be so small it wouldn't be worth worrying about.

Just seen this post & can't believe the irresponsibillity of your local HBS!!!
a leak in your regulator is potentialy EXTREMELY dangerous. If the guages drop while it's not connected to your kegs, it's faulty - get it fixed.

Cheers Ross