What's the difference between regulators

[Black n Tan]

I have had a Micromatic regulator for the lat 4 years and I expect I will have it for many more to come. It is high quality and is serviceable if something goes wrong. I set it at pressure and that is where it stays. I recently had a Keg King regulator fail on my party set up even though it wasn't used much. However I see recently that most Aussie retailers that stock Micromatic regs seem to only sell the Premium Plus version which to my understanding is not serviceable. So if you can get the Micromatic Premium Reg and not the Premium Plus: you may need to ask questions to ensure you get the right one.

 

[GalBrew]

Like a bath towel. They all bloody work, some of them are expensive and some of them look good.

I disagree with both of those points. I think they all look the same, so from aesthetic point of view who gives a **** about which regulator you get?

As for 'they all bloody work' that is not the case. I've had cheaper ones that have had very slow and hard to find leaks through ****** welds. I've had one that was almost impossible to accurately dial in the pressure you wanted. I've also had one that worked fine for 5 minutes and then died for no particular reason. As soon as I got sick of all that I got a micromatic which has been rock solid in reliability and is very easy/accurate to adjust.

 

[GalBrew]

I find my cheap regulator very difficult to adjust pressure down once set higher. Nothing feels linear. Generally I need to depressurise the whole reg to establish the desired pressure.

Yes, yes I know the diaphragm pressure release on the screw but that's not what I mean. On my cheap reg the adjustment is always rough and exponentially harder as I adjust to higher pressures. Hard for hand strength.

I imagine these micromatic Harris regs being smooth to adjust pressure and easy to correct up or down even from carbonation pressures to the silky smooth dispensing pressures.

Are the expensive regs better that way?

A micromatic is very smooth compared to the cheaper ones I have used in the past (which are exactly how you describe).

 

[Lord Raja Goomba I]

Micromatic for me. My previous keg system in another lifetime had it. Buy once cry once.

It didn't creep, held pressure and dropped off pressure well.

My big thing now is going to be getting a dual pressure reg for different dispensing pressures and carbing a keg whilst another is already ok.

 

[Grott]

What are the American Taprite regulators like? Any knowledge.
Cheers

 

[nosco]

Yeah ive been looking at dual outlet Taprite one online. My no name one i have atm is giving me the shites.

 

[tavas]

If you go American it may not fit your gas bottle

 

[nosco]

Its sold in Aus so I think it would be ok.
The ad also says that they are made from brass that has tarnished a bit :unsure:

 

[Grott]

Its sold in Aus so I think it would be ok.
The ad also says that they are made from brass that has tarnished a bit :unsure:

Decided to get it at $36 "tarnished brass" special. Type 30 thread therefore suitable for Aust. bottles (not a good fit for fire extinguisher conversions however 2 nylon washers work). The "tarnish" on the one I got was bugger all, its just an older model with the screw driver adjuster rather than the knob type. As I now use for dispensing only, no big deal.
Cheers

 

[Lethaldog]

I've got a Harris, had it for about 8 years, can't fault it!

 

[nosco]

I love a 2 or 3 outlet Harris but i dont have $400 odd spare atm. I might check out the taprite

 

[megabyte]

Do any of them come with a gauge where serving pressure isn't just a blip on the dial? All the ones I've seen go up too far even for my force carbing needs.

 

[Rocker1986]

Mine's got two gauges on it, one for high pressure and one for low pressure, which I use to dial in the serving pressure. The low pressure one has increments of 1 PSI (the red numbers). The high pressure gauge pretty much just stays at the same pressure all the time other than temperature changes or when the bottle gets low. Not sure if you can quite see the differences in the gauges in this photo or not..

 

[megabyte]

Mine's similar, but see how the low pressure gauge goes all the way up to 90psi? I usually serve at about 9psi, so I'm only using about 10% of the scale (I admit I exaggerated a bit when I called it a "blip" ). Even when I force carb I only use about 35psi so the rest is wasted space.

Am I missing something or is there a good reason these gauges go up to 80-90psi (other than cost)?

It bugs me because I have one of those pissy 2.6kg tanks sitting on the floor and getting your head at the same height to read the gauge without parallax error is very inconvenient. A gauge with a lower scale (or a logarithmic scale) would make a lot more sense for kegging right?

 

[Rocker1986]

I have no idea to be honest :lol: but I tend to agree that having it go up to 90 PSI is a bit pointless for a home set up. Perhaps they are used in other operations that do need it to go that high though.

I'm glad I got one of the 6.8kg tanks, at least I can easily adjust the regulator when necessary by just sitting on the floor next to it.

 

[Grott]

The tap rite as mention, only goes to 60psi and is real easy to read.
Cheers
Have it set on 12 psi, enlarge photo for better view.

 

[droid]

@MB i have my dials facing up so a quick squat down to get close is all that's needed.

 

[GalBrew]

I've got my bottle mounted on the wall around eye level with one of those bracket things from keg King.

 

[nosco]

The tap rite as mention, only goes to 60psi and is real easy to read.
Cheers

image.jpeg
Have it set on 12 psi, enlarge photo for better view.

Hows the Taprite so far Grott? Any wandering? It take about 24hrs for mine to wander 2 or 3 psi sometimes. And if i take a keg off the manifold it will change again. Maybe its my manifold?

 

[Grott]

Been excellent so far, stays at set pressure when turned on. The pressure set gauge will creep up a bit when the gas is turned off and the flow valve is shut. This is normal, about the flow spring in the gauge having to move to a new position of equilibrium causing the slight increase. When the gas flow is activated again sets exactly where you had set it. So far been impressed.
Cheers