Keg Leak Troubleshooting - Regulators for Dummies

[whitegoose]

Hi all,

I've been trying to troubleshoot a gas leak somewhere in my system, and after reading some of the other threads on here and youtube videos, I'm stil a little stuck, and I think it's because I don't properly understand what my regularot is telling me.

Last night I disconnected all my gas quick disconnects from all 5 kegs, left the regulator untouched at serving pressure (12 psi), and then turned the gas off at the cannister. I understand that this will help me diagnose whether there is a leak in the lines/disconnects/regulator/cannister or a leak in the kegs.

I checked the regulator this arvo and the low pressure gague had dropped to almost nothing. Does this mean 100% without a doubt that there is a leak somewhere before my kegs? It seems logical but I have dunked everything in soapy water and I ain't seeing any bubbles, so I just want to check my assumption.

I didn't actually take note of what the high pressure gague was reading (whether that had dropped as well) as I didn't know it could be important - is it important? What could the high pressure gague tell me if it drops or doesn't drop?

Are there any other tests I can try? Any info appreciated.

 

[Rodolphe01]

Have you checked the gas tank valve? I had a leak in mine where it would only leak when off, and it wouldn't drain the tank, just the head space in all the kegs & lines, eventually sending the beer flat... and using bulk gas when I turned the tank back on. I don't know the anatomy of CO2 valves/taps, but google image search of water taps tell me it is as though the gas was escaping past the headgear nut when the tank was off. I confirmed this by spraying soapy water around the spindle part of the tap, I could actually hear it hissing ever so quietly too if there was n other noise around.

I picked this up when the tank was 11 months old, shop did a straight swap for a new one under warranty. A few days after 12 months was up (and I lost receipt) the new tank is going the same from time to time... I tend to leave the gas on now.

Incidentally, at the moment my gas isn't connected to my kegs and the lines were pressurised at 30PSI a few days ago, high pressure reg hasn't moved, low pressure is at 25PSI.

 

[whitegoose]

Is the "gas tank valve" the knob on top of the tank that you turn on or off? If so, yeah I gave it a good spray with bubbly starsan and didn't notice anything. Also, my system is definitely leaking when everything is on and connected. I lost most of of my tank over a month or so (I leave my gas on and connected all the time) - probably got about 3 kegs worth of gas and now my high pressure reg shows 7.5 bar remaining having dropped rapidly about a week ago.

I actually did find a leak in a tiny crack in a one-way valve on my gas line (for protecting the regulator) when I first became aware of the leak. Fixed that, bubble tested everything, looked sweet, so I plugged it all back in. Then yesterday it looked like the gas had dropped dramaticaly again (I am actually about 8 days into slow-force-carbing a keg, but it seemed to drap way faster then expected), so I unhooked the disconnects, turned off the gas at the tank to reassure myself, and then 24 hours later the low pressure reg had dropped to nothing.... So having found and fixed a leak I now don't know whether I'm going crazy or what, hence why I was asking whether the low pressure reg dropping to 0 when the gas is off and kegs disconnected means 100% that I've got a leak.

Interesting that yours dropped slightly over a few days - I assume you don;t have a leak that you know of...

 

[HBHB]

Turn the gas cylinder on, disconnect from the kegs and drop all the connections into a bucket of water with the pressure on your normal pouring setting.

A fair% of leaks will be at that end.

If nothing, then check the barb/JG fitting at the regulator by turning pressure up high to around 300kpa and spray with water and detergent.

Most other leaks will be from around the gas side of post o rings or a flattened o ring under the diptube within the post.

Spray soapy water inside the vents for the PRV on the lid and pressurise to 10 psi/75 kpa and check after a few minutes, then lift the pressure to about 300kpa.

It doesn't take much of a leak to empty a cylinder over a week or so, but soapy water will show them up better than a starsan mix.

Martin

 

[whitegoose]

Sweet thanks for the tips, I'll give them a go over the next few days (or at least once I get a new bottle of gas ).

As a progress update about 4 hours ago I tried my original test again - I disconnected all the kegs, then turned off the gas at the bottle, leaving the reg setting on 12 psi... I just checked and the low pressure gague is still at 12 psi, but the high pressure gague has dropped from 7.5 bar to 0... does that tell me anything useful? Or is that expected?

 

[whitegoose]

So I still haven't had much luck. I got a new gas bottle (as the last one was empty) and as at the same time I replaced the line from the regulator to the first splitter/join... but still when I unplug all the gas disconnects from the kegs and turn off the gas at the bottle (but with pressure still in the lines) over about 48 hours the pressure is all gone. I'm taking this to mean there is a leak somewhere but I cannot find it at all no matter how much soapy water I try, and I have also dunked all teh disconnects and splitters into a bucket of water.. I'm starting to think it could be the regulator.

Will I damage the regulator if I stick it and the connected gas bottle upside down into a bucket of water?

 

[Silver]

Can you put a plastic bag over your reg, expel most of the air and seal bag with tape or rubber band. If bag doesn't expand you'll know your reg is OK.
Process of elimination.

 

[Amber Fluid]

Are you using a manifold?... could it be that if you are?

 

[Edak]

While you are checking for leaks in your gas, make sure you also look at your beer lines... I opened up my kegorator yesterday to show a mate and everything was swimming in dunkel weizen, about 8 litres of it :-(
Tiny leak over a couple of days did that. Never had a leak before and will never have one ever again.