1/4" Ffl Fitting On Regulator Gas Out

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pk.sax

RIP bum
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I've had had 2 fail now, 1/4" FFL fittings I bought to put on the Cornelius Dual Reg.

The first time I really couldn't make sense of what made it fail, it was not through the thread for overtightening.. I was gentle. I could hear the gas whizzing out so I caught it in time and swapped the disconnect, saved the cylinder.

This time it failed with no warning, so I am out of gas... But I think I've found why they are cracking. I'd swapped the disconnects on my kegs to pour a different keg and that one having dropped in carb obviously started to take some gas out of the cylinder. I think it is the chill effect caused by the rapid gas flow making the plastic brittle and break under any stress it might be under. When I pulled the gas line out I found the grey collar had gone brittle and broken off a few peices too.

On the first one breaking I contacted the retailer and he offered to replace it, no problems there.

I wonder if anyone else has used these on the regulator as gas disconnects and had a similar experience?
The NRVs are ususally a little way down the line and don't touch the regulator itself, which I think is the cause: the brass on the reg cooling down so much with gas flow making the disconnect go brittle.

See pics of first failure:
image.jpeg
image_1.jpeg

This time:
ba85bc37.jpg

Notice the discolouration in that plastic.
 
Can't say that i've seen it - I've got a single reg and was planning to replace the barbed fitting with an FFL, but after reading this I'm not so sure! Don't really like the idea of losing a whole cylinder of gas just to test the theory.
 
Strange!! you could use a stainless/brass/metal fitting I got a ss one from a industrial tool shop Total Tools
 
Looks to me like the routing of the gas line is placing plenty of stresses on the fitting, I'd put an elbow on the reg or tension- relieving 'pipe loop' in that line directly after the reg as there's nearly a 180 degree bend in it, could even be exacerbated by door closure. The chilling it gets won't make life any easier for it, while the discoloration is indeed suss.
HTH! :icon_cheers:
 
I've never known this problem before & I'd be very surprised if it's caused by cold. The discolouration at the break looks like a possible manufacture flaw to me, but i've forwarded the pics to John Guest for comment.


cheers Ross
 
Is your gas cylinder steel or aluminium?
From looking at the pic that stain looks suspiciously like a rust stain? Either way, a ss fitting would solve all your problems.
 
Thanks for the feedback guys.

Yea Ross, last time the discolouration was very faint, I didn't give it much though, put it to plastic fracture. This time it is more pronounced, obviously a breach happened and since it wasn't caught in time it got prolonged exposure. Anyway, would be interested what JG say about it. I was using these purely to keep it all JG at the business ends.
I get that much of HB is experimenting but it is fantastic when retailers like you give things attention like this.

Cheers

PS: cylinder is alu mykegonlegs, the 6.8 Kg. a bit annoyed but at least the inline nrv saved the kegs :)
 
Hey Ross, any reply from them ever came back?

Those barbs and the line to fridge gets really cold when the gas is flowing.
 
No, they didn't... I've just sent a follow up email, so hopefully will get a prompt reply.


cheers Ross
 
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