Hi guys,
If the thread is wrong, please redirect me.
I am kind of new to kegging and would teally appreciate a little help with my brand new MK3 from Kegland.
I bought it new from Amazon in the Great Whire North and having a very slow leak around 0.5-1 psi per hour.
Here is the test I perform having a gas line connected to the regulator but not to the keg:
1) With the knob completely removed from the reg, I open the CO2 bottle, so that the HP gauge goes to 750PSI.
2) I trun off the bottle and leave it ovenight. In the morning there is still 750 PSI, so I conclude no leak on the HP side
3) I turn on the bottle and set 50 PSI on the LP side by screwing the knob in.
4) I turn off the bottle and unscrew the know completely out leaving both the HP and LP sides pressurized.
5) In about 24 hours I have about 25 PSI left on the LP gauge.
The problem is that I cannot detect any leaks neither on the gas line nor on the regulator with both soapy water or by submergin the gas line and the pin lock QD into water.
Is that kind of leak something normal or shall I return the reg?
I have found that spraying soapy water on stuff rarely works to find very slow leaks like this. In order to find a very slow leak I find the best was is to completely submerse stuff in water just like you have done. So would would submerse whatever you can in a bucket of water to find the leak. For some stuff that you cant easily submerse like the regulator I would make up a lather of foam similar to shaving cream consistency. Cover the entire regulator guages, and all connections with this foam and you might need to cup your hand around the gauge to hold the foam over the gauge. even a small leak will be able to be found.
Leak checking is a process of elimination but good technique will always enable you to find the leak. Normally is extremly simple to solve once you know where the leak is coming from. I have seen the MK3 guages get damaged and leak before. If the regulator was dropped this could have been the issue as the gauges were quite delicate. on the new MK4 regulator we use much thicker steel on the guages and this has made the guages more resistant to physical damage. With that said if you really want to protect your regulator we would recommend the gauge guard.
The leak will not be in a continuous piece of tubing. It will be on one of the joins, so I would focus your attention on using a bucket of water and foam to find the leak.
I assume the kegs were not connected when you determined the pressure decay was occurring? Can you please confirm.