Gas Leaks

[Ross]

Found my pressure dropping ever so gradually & was convinced I must have a leak in my coldroom somewhere - Turns out it was the coupling nut to the bottle, which though tight, was allowing a slow escape.

Well worth routinely checking all your fittings - I use a pastry brush with soapy water; easy to dap round all the joints & see instantly if there's a leak.



cheers Ross

 

[AndrewQLD]

Found my pressure dropping ever so gradually & was convinced I must have a leak in my coldroom somewhere - Turns out it was the coupling nut to the bottle, which though tight, was allowing a slow escape.

Well worth routinely checking all your fittings - I use a pastry brush with soapy water; easy to dap round all the joints & see instantly if there's a leak.


cheers Ross

Ross your lucky you caught that before your gas ran out.
I had the same problem today on my LP gas, picked up a replacement cylinder from the servo, screwed on my regulator and fired up the burner, came back 5 minutes later to a very strong smell of gas. Seems there was a tiny rock in the tank fitting that stopped the seal from being made. Lesson learnt, connect your gas fittings turn on and have a sniff. However that won't help with Co2 :blink: .

Cheers
Andrew

 

[stillscottish]

Well worth routinely checking all your fittings - I use a pastry brush with soapy water; easy to dap round all the joints & see instantly if there's a leak.

cheers Ross

Agreed. When I first connected up my system there was an obvious leak between bottle and regulator. I rearranged the washers, re-tightened and as there was no hiss I assumed all was well.
Moved the bottle about 5 days later and, WTF, it was half empty. I got the soapo out and, although it was a very small leak, I had lost about 2.5 kilos of CO2.

Campbell

 

[TidalPete]

I used Snoop Liquid Leak Detector to get my gas setup sorted out. Good thing I had it as the standard BSP threads always left a small leak between the extinguisher & the regulator. Snoop is good stuff & detects the tiniest leak. Had to go & get a specially turned brass fitting to solve the problem. All fixed now. :super:

:beer:

 

[wessmith]

Gidday Ross, the standard polyethylene washer supplied for these couplings suffers from "cold flow" and will need constant tightening. We have had good results from a standard red fibre tap washer tightened with a FBS - like a 12" shifter. it certainly holds pressure well.

Wes

Found my pressure dropping ever so gradually & was convinced I must have a leak in my coldroom somewhere - Turns out it was the coupling nut to the bottle, which though tight, was allowing a slow escape.

Well worth routinely checking all your fittings - I use a pastry brush with soapy water; easy to dap round all the joints & see instantly if there's a leak.

View attachment 12798

cheers Ross

 

[TidalPete]

Gidday Ross, the standard polyethylene washer supplied for these couplings suffers from "cold flow" and will need constant tightening. We have had good results from a standard red fibre tap washer tightened with a FBS - like a 12" shifter. it certainly holds pressure well.

Wes

Wes,
I am new to kegging but am using soft copper washers with no problems at all now that the above hassle is all sorted out.

:beer:

 

[wessmith]

The soft Cu will work very well too Tidal Pete. Anything but soft plastic.

Wes

 

[v8r]

a spray bottle with a few drops of dish soap and water is a standard tool in any lpg fitters workshop.. great for checking all joints..

 

[The King of Spain]

I talked to a bloke on a camping trip who had a undetected leak turn into a flame, caused him a freak out as the tap connections were too hot to turn off by hand and he was worried the who thing was going to go while he was looking for somthing to turn it off with.

Since then I swapped a cyclinder of my own, parked the car for a while, came back and the cabin was smelt of gas. Soapy water revealed a small leak. Not impressed, these should be tested....

Since then Ive always tested my bottles with a mist bottle and soapy water before flame on.

Makes you worry about members brewing in bathrooms etc :excl:

Edit

Sorry - reading properly is see you are not talking LPG but anyway

 

[FNQ Bunyip]

My latest bottle of gas from air liquie came with a new washer zip tied to the tap, being bloody lazy I just put the reg on and left it there. Next arvo swapping a keg over I found that it was leaking at that bloody washer , so my lazyness cost about 1.5kg of gas . I'll be changing it every time from now on ..

:beer:

 

[lucas]

heh. I didnt even realise that regulators had replaceable washers, let alone that it should be replaced with another material washer. Might checks for leaks when I get home but I dont think I'll find any as the system has been under pressure for months now and I'm sure I'd be out of gas if it had a leak

 

[shark]

Thanks for the info here. I setup my keg system on the weekend. Was a bit worried about a leak because I was losing pressure when I turned off the bottle after a few hours.

Made up a spray bottle with warm water and dishwashing liquid. Sprayed it on and found a leak between the regulator and gas hose. Doh!

Weighed the bottle and I have lost 1.6kg of CO2.

Thanks for the info! Soapy spray bottle is now part of my kit!