DJ_L3ThAL
Such rapp, very bass
- Joined
- 11/5/10
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I appear to have a small leak as I lost most (~1-1.5kg) of my 2.6kg CO2 fresh bottle just before Xmas when I carbed one keg at 3bar for 24 hours. The beer was carbed as expected so then I set back to my serving pressure of 1bar on all 3 kegs.
I normally turn off the bottle after use, so I was finding when I came to use the system the regulator would read slightly lower than 1bar and when opening the bottle valve it would squirt gas into the kegs. I thought it might be the keg lids or post seals as I have some new 2nd hand kegs which I didn't replace all seals, but over about 3-4 uses since Xmas the bottle has no liquid left and just gas.
Did a quick leak test with starsan on all connections and couldn't detect any.
I took it to my LHBS thinking perhaps something could be wrong with the bottle as there is some loose metal inside when I turn it upside down, not sure if the keg king bottles have a float spring type non return valve which may be busted? Although that wouldn't cause leaking outwards... Was told to take bottle home to use remaining gas to keep keg headspace gassed as he didn't have any full bottles left, he's happy to take the bottle to KK for checking for faults later this week.
I thought I'd do a thorough leak test (all at 3 bar pressure) in the interim and have gotten to the end of my tether as I've worked backwards through the system removing branches on disconnects, check valve, ball valves and sections of line. It's gone back to being a barbed hose off the regulator (KK MKII) to a barbed metal nipple into a KK plastic gas splitter. I've got three of these splitters and each one on the end still leaks the same.
A full underwater test of EVERYTHING including bottle and reg didn't reveal any obvious leaks (in fact the air inside the gauges bubbled out as soon as I put it under but I left it all underwater for over an hour to let it settle and still nothing was apparent). Have crimped clamps on barbs even tighter, even thread sealed both threads on the regulator outlet nipple with Teflon tape. Haven't tried the gauge threads or the thread on the regulator type30 outlet steam as the bottle is now empty from my tests.
My main question is, can the cheaper beer/gas line from keg king permeate CO2 out slowly? Or could the CO2 bottle itself be faulty and have a small enough leaks to go undetected but slowly let pressure out over time? The high pressure gauge did seem to consistently drop since I got this bottle and I've reseated the type30 bottle connection multiple times in the interim.
Sorry for the essay, hopefully I've detailed it enough that someone can see something obvious from similar experience!
I can post pics of the system if it would help?
I normally turn off the bottle after use, so I was finding when I came to use the system the regulator would read slightly lower than 1bar and when opening the bottle valve it would squirt gas into the kegs. I thought it might be the keg lids or post seals as I have some new 2nd hand kegs which I didn't replace all seals, but over about 3-4 uses since Xmas the bottle has no liquid left and just gas.
Did a quick leak test with starsan on all connections and couldn't detect any.
I took it to my LHBS thinking perhaps something could be wrong with the bottle as there is some loose metal inside when I turn it upside down, not sure if the keg king bottles have a float spring type non return valve which may be busted? Although that wouldn't cause leaking outwards... Was told to take bottle home to use remaining gas to keep keg headspace gassed as he didn't have any full bottles left, he's happy to take the bottle to KK for checking for faults later this week.
I thought I'd do a thorough leak test (all at 3 bar pressure) in the interim and have gotten to the end of my tether as I've worked backwards through the system removing branches on disconnects, check valve, ball valves and sections of line. It's gone back to being a barbed hose off the regulator (KK MKII) to a barbed metal nipple into a KK plastic gas splitter. I've got three of these splitters and each one on the end still leaks the same.
A full underwater test of EVERYTHING including bottle and reg didn't reveal any obvious leaks (in fact the air inside the gauges bubbled out as soon as I put it under but I left it all underwater for over an hour to let it settle and still nothing was apparent). Have crimped clamps on barbs even tighter, even thread sealed both threads on the regulator outlet nipple with Teflon tape. Haven't tried the gauge threads or the thread on the regulator type30 outlet steam as the bottle is now empty from my tests.
My main question is, can the cheaper beer/gas line from keg king permeate CO2 out slowly? Or could the CO2 bottle itself be faulty and have a small enough leaks to go undetected but slowly let pressure out over time? The high pressure gauge did seem to consistently drop since I got this bottle and I've reseated the type30 bottle connection multiple times in the interim.
Sorry for the essay, hopefully I've detailed it enough that someone can see something obvious from similar experience!
I can post pics of the system if it would help?