A look into the Mini Regulators and their problems.
Background of this thread:
- The mini reg has been a feature piece of the mini keg kits that AHB enjoy
- More than a few AHB members have experienced troubles with their regs
> Flow rate
> Gas loss
> Poor pressure control
- AHB members disappointing their bros on a beer sharing arvo with dodgy gas rates...
------------------------------------
Mark from All Things Home Brew has been handling warranty claims on request, but in parallel the AHB community has been looking into finding a root cause - among ourselves - as the beer gurus we are.
A couple of weeks ago I suggested to Mark that I could have a look for him - he sent me 3 regulators and a couple of boxes of bulbs to really thrash it out and see if I could discover what might be happening.
My first research grant.
Scientists, prepare to be shattered. Ignore the number sequence, I had other media but reduced before this post and am too tired to rename.
01_TestSetup.jpeg
This is the layout on the island bench (aka laboratory)
The four regulators at the back are mine, one faulty (I kept it) which has been replaced and three (replacement plus two) which I consider reasonable to use.
The three at the front are Marks
02_FullFlowPerfectNewReg_reduced.mp4
I have ran two sets of bulbs through each reg, a week between tests and left pressurised between tests. The second bulb was used tonight.
These new regs have behaved perfectly. Massive flowrates, tipped upside down to shoot liquid into the reg body....shook them up a bit. Still perfect.
Note: These regulators have a serial number on them laser etched onto the reg body near the bulb. None of mine do.
05_FaultyRegLowFlowSpringNoise_reduced.mp4
This is my faulty regulator. The flow rate is poor. What i need to mention is that I tested my regulators about 10 days ago and all but one performed similar to the new ones in 02. But tonight, they all performed nearly as bad as my faulty reg, even with a new bulb for two of them. No idea why. But that's the facts.
06_FaultyRegSpringNoise_reduced.mp4
When I paid attention, I observed a spring-like clicking noise. This is the same regulator with the bulb removed to help isolate that noise. This noise is not characteristic of the new, well performing, regulators.
08_HeatingThreeRegulators.jpeg
Over the months I've been thinking about this, I wondered if there was some impact from the cooling by the CO2 into reg body. Since my own regs were performing as though they were faulty tonight I was curious if a bit of heat might do anything.
75 degC for half an hour.
09_RegHotFromOven.jpeg
Added heat seems non destructive from the external appearance. Once it cooled a bit I wound the dial to the limits and the click noise happened once then not again.
10_FullFlowAfterHeating_reduced.mp4
2 regs have an increase in performance after heating. This video is of one of them and shows the remainder of the bulb discharging and not the performance of the reg changing.
11_GroupTestOfRegs_reduced.mp4
This is quick burst from every reg, new ones first. Then I played around with the two still-faulty ones.
Summary:
The level of performance from the new regs is exactly what we should expect. In the fun of playing with my new gear those many months ago, I can't say I noticed mine behaving like that... I don't think they were scrutinised.
The new regulators with a serial number hint at a different supplier, while potentially the same supplier for Mark at ATHB, quite possibly a new sub-supplier. I get that impression - but Mark hasn't said anything.
As a customer I would like to see my regulator behave that well and now that it appears another of mine has diminished, I may well ask mark about it.
The oven trick was a bit random, but it did bring my other two regulators back to life. I might give it another go to see if my third good reg has a heart beat.
Wrap up:
Well, aside from the horrid cinematography and my inability to manage videos on a mac (knight me retard), I hope you find that helpful with any existing questions or with the start of new ones.
Anyone out there can let me know what I could have done better as well.
The three gents on the other thread will get posted / delivered one of the three good ones I have here and hopefully that will come closer to wrapping up any outstanding warranty matters. The rest will be handled through Mark directly.
Attachment Notes:
Had to move videos into compressed volumes. Forum does not permit me to upload .mp4 files. Best I came up with on the fly.
Acknowledgement:
Mark continues to support AHB and his customers.
View attachment 02_FullFlowPerfectNewReg_reduced.mp4.zip
View attachment 05_FaultyRegLowFlowSpringNoise_reduced.mp4.zip
View attachment 06_FaultyRegSpringNoise_reduced.mp4.zip
View attachment 10_FullFlowAfterHeating_reduced.mp4.zip
View attachment 11_GroupTestOfRegs_reduced.mp4.zip
Background of this thread:
- The mini reg has been a feature piece of the mini keg kits that AHB enjoy
- More than a few AHB members have experienced troubles with their regs
> Flow rate
> Gas loss
> Poor pressure control
- AHB members disappointing their bros on a beer sharing arvo with dodgy gas rates...
------------------------------------
Mark from All Things Home Brew has been handling warranty claims on request, but in parallel the AHB community has been looking into finding a root cause - among ourselves - as the beer gurus we are.
A couple of weeks ago I suggested to Mark that I could have a look for him - he sent me 3 regulators and a couple of boxes of bulbs to really thrash it out and see if I could discover what might be happening.
My first research grant.
Scientists, prepare to be shattered. Ignore the number sequence, I had other media but reduced before this post and am too tired to rename.
01_TestSetup.jpeg
This is the layout on the island bench (aka laboratory)
The four regulators at the back are mine, one faulty (I kept it) which has been replaced and three (replacement plus two) which I consider reasonable to use.
The three at the front are Marks
02_FullFlowPerfectNewReg_reduced.mp4
I have ran two sets of bulbs through each reg, a week between tests and left pressurised between tests. The second bulb was used tonight.
These new regs have behaved perfectly. Massive flowrates, tipped upside down to shoot liquid into the reg body....shook them up a bit. Still perfect.
Note: These regulators have a serial number on them laser etched onto the reg body near the bulb. None of mine do.
05_FaultyRegLowFlowSpringNoise_reduced.mp4
This is my faulty regulator. The flow rate is poor. What i need to mention is that I tested my regulators about 10 days ago and all but one performed similar to the new ones in 02. But tonight, they all performed nearly as bad as my faulty reg, even with a new bulb for two of them. No idea why. But that's the facts.
06_FaultyRegSpringNoise_reduced.mp4
When I paid attention, I observed a spring-like clicking noise. This is the same regulator with the bulb removed to help isolate that noise. This noise is not characteristic of the new, well performing, regulators.
08_HeatingThreeRegulators.jpeg
Over the months I've been thinking about this, I wondered if there was some impact from the cooling by the CO2 into reg body. Since my own regs were performing as though they were faulty tonight I was curious if a bit of heat might do anything.
75 degC for half an hour.
09_RegHotFromOven.jpeg
Added heat seems non destructive from the external appearance. Once it cooled a bit I wound the dial to the limits and the click noise happened once then not again.
10_FullFlowAfterHeating_reduced.mp4
2 regs have an increase in performance after heating. This video is of one of them and shows the remainder of the bulb discharging and not the performance of the reg changing.
11_GroupTestOfRegs_reduced.mp4
This is quick burst from every reg, new ones first. Then I played around with the two still-faulty ones.
Summary:
The level of performance from the new regs is exactly what we should expect. In the fun of playing with my new gear those many months ago, I can't say I noticed mine behaving like that... I don't think they were scrutinised.
The new regulators with a serial number hint at a different supplier, while potentially the same supplier for Mark at ATHB, quite possibly a new sub-supplier. I get that impression - but Mark hasn't said anything.
As a customer I would like to see my regulator behave that well and now that it appears another of mine has diminished, I may well ask mark about it.
The oven trick was a bit random, but it did bring my other two regulators back to life. I might give it another go to see if my third good reg has a heart beat.
Wrap up:
Well, aside from the horrid cinematography and my inability to manage videos on a mac (knight me retard), I hope you find that helpful with any existing questions or with the start of new ones.
Anyone out there can let me know what I could have done better as well.
The three gents on the other thread will get posted / delivered one of the three good ones I have here and hopefully that will come closer to wrapping up any outstanding warranty matters. The rest will be handled through Mark directly.
Attachment Notes:
Had to move videos into compressed volumes. Forum does not permit me to upload .mp4 files. Best I came up with on the fly.
Acknowledgement:
Mark continues to support AHB and his customers.
View attachment 02_FullFlowPerfectNewReg_reduced.mp4.zip
View attachment 05_FaultyRegLowFlowSpringNoise_reduced.mp4.zip
View attachment 06_FaultyRegSpringNoise_reduced.mp4.zip
View attachment 10_FullFlowAfterHeating_reduced.mp4.zip
View attachment 11_GroupTestOfRegs_reduced.mp4.zip
