Where Has All My Gas Gone

[fergi]

just went out to pour a james squire golden ale from one of my kegs and nothing, zilch, no beer no gas in any keg,
no gas in the gas bottle either, i only had the bottle refilled about 6 weeks ago so it obviously has sprung a leak somewhere.
as all the kegs are empty would it be a single keg leak or a leak from outside the fridge in the regulator area.

no gas left to check for leaks, i cant get down to adelaide to refill my gas until next week so it looks like buying some stubbies for a week.

fergi

 

[Bribie G]

Could you post a diagram of your line setup to give us some ideas? I've had a similar problem, been through 2 cylinders in a year and finally traced it to a single John Guest "splitter" that gets a bit of stress when moving kegs around, and was just quietly leaking. I replaced it with a four dollar solid barbed T thingo that won't leak and everything is now gas tight. JG is good if you intend to rearrange the lines into different configs from time to time, but I'm now a bit of a barbie fan. B)

Edit: if your kegs are all interconnected back to a common line entering the kegerator then they will flatten each other as the gas supply vanishes.

 

[BobtheBrewer]

Could you post a diagram of your line setup to give us some ideas? I've had a similar problem, been through 2 cylinders in a year and finally traced it to a single John Guest "splitter" that gets a bit of stress when moving kegs around, and was just quietly leaking. I replaced it with a four dollar solid barbed T thingo that won't leak and everything is now gas tight. JG is good if you intend to rearrange the lines into different configs from time to time, but I'm now a bit of a barbie fan. B)



Funny you should mention that. I've had a small leak and thought that I was only going to get 6 months out of my current KOL bottle. Happened after I put in a non return valve and a splitter (JG). Now looks like I will get 8 months out of it (9 if you count the next month when I will be chasing muddies and barra in the Kimberleys). Now I keep jamming the beer line into those JG fittings at every opportunity.
Rowie had a similar problem with his non return valve.

 

[hirns]

This is where the soda stream adaptors come in handy.

 

[Florian]

JG is good if you intend to rearrange the lines into different configs from time to time, but I'm now a bit of a barbie fan. B)

Exactly that. Have lost a few bottles and put it all down to a NRV and a splitter under tension. Will be slowly 'hardwiring' my connections to avoid that in the future.

 

[wombil]

Just a thought Guys,I had a JG fitting leaking and greased it with KY jelly,
No more trouble.

 

[fergi]

Could you post a diagram of your line setup to give us some ideas? I've had a similar problem, been through 2 cylinders in a year and finally traced it to a single John Guest "splitter" that gets a bit of stress when moving kegs around, and was just quietly leaking. I replaced it with a four dollar solid barbed T thingo that won't leak and everything is now gas tight. JG is good if you intend to rearrange the lines into different configs from time to time, but I'm now a bit of a barbie fan. B)

Edit: if your kegs are all interconnected back to a common line entering the kegerator then they will flatten each other as the gas supply vanishes.

Bribie here is a diagram of the keg setup, diagram is not that flash but as you can see all kegs are off t pieces with connections to kegs being QD,s.

fergi

 

[np1962]

Given you have a working NRV then the leak is somewhere on the keg side of it.
Only way to find it is going to be the spray of soapy water onto all your connections when you have gas available again.
i.e. Disconnect kegs, connect gas bottle and turn on, sray each join or connection with a detergent/water mix and look for bubbles.
This should find the leak but if not there is a slim chance that one of your kegs may be leaking from a lid, a loose post or one of your post o-rings may be perished.
My money is on one of the T's though.
Nige

 

[punkin]

I found a leaky o ring and a bad clamp once by unconnecting my kegs one by one and listening to the regulator. If the leak is bad enough to loose all gas in six weeks, you'll hear it flowing through the reg.

Just a process of elimination.

 

[troopa]

Most of my leaks come from new black lid orings
Thought i changed the all out for new white ones from kegking(larger dia and slightly softer) and now dont leak
Saying that the last keg i filled had an old oring ... too lazy to change and i managed to loose 2kg of gas in a night

 

[_HOME_BREW_WALLACE_]

I can't believe there hasn't been a fart joke yet.
Back on topic, the suggestion about spraying soapy wateraround regulators, qc, etc is how i would go about it.

Cheers.

 

[Florian]

Even easier than the soapy water spray is dunking the whole mess of disconnects, splitters and lines in a bucket of water and looking for bubbles.

It obviously doesn't cover your reg and kegs but if you find your leak in the connections you can't miss it and it saves you having to clean up that soapy mess.

 

[Bribie G]

Fergi are those t pieces push-in John Guest fittings, or solid barbed Hard-wired t pieces?

If solid, then there is a problem elsewhere. You could also check your gas Quick disconnects and ALL your posts. I once had a keg beer (not even gas) post that had come partly unscrewed and the gas just leaked away over a couple of weeks without making an obvious noise.

 

[hirns]

As I've lost a bottle of gas due to bad keg lid sealing, I always tip my kegs after they have been filled and gassed to get liquid up around the lid o ring to test the seal. The beer also helps gum up any minor leaks and helps keep the seal once the keg pressure is reduced back down to serving pressure.

 

[Nick JD]

I had a intermittent leaking purge valve. Nightmare to pin down.

No one replaces them when they redo all the seals, yet they contain a seal that isn't closed by internal pressure, but opened.

I think they should be included in the seal kits.

 

[Bribie G]

Yup I've had problems with a couple in the past, always worthwhile keeping one in the first aid kit with a poppet or two as well.

 

[b0neski]

+1 soapy water

I've got a windex bottle full of the stuff - all of my kegs get tested @ 50psi while force carbing - I periodically check my lines at this pressure because they're push on. Food grade silicone grease is good to spear on O rings that are suspect.

 

[Whiteferret]

but I'm now a bit of a barbie fan. B)

here ya go Bribie

 

[fergi]

thanks for replies guys, i will have to wait now until next friday to get more gas,too far away for a quick trip.
bribie they are solid t pieces.
JD i will check those too as you make sense with having the seals in with the kits.

will have to fill up on coopers pale at golf today.
fergi