reynolds5520

Recipes 

look in the plumbing supplies section of your favorite hardware store for leak detection soap. It has more than just simple soap and water. Even a very slow leak will eventually bubble up. Combine this with increased pressure, and you should find it soon enough.

There are a bunch of things that can be used to improve the bubble performance of soap and water. For a food safe DIY formula try equal parts Dawn dishwashing liquid, water, glycerine, and an HEC based personal lubricant like K-Y or the Walmart brand Equate. It will be thick and gooey and slow to evaporate, better for keeping it in place until a bubble forms. These bubbles will be long lasting too.

Rinse well when you are done, you don't want everything to be slippery the next time it gets wet.

2puttbird

Recipes 

Thanks for all of the helpful replies, guys. Bought some high-end bubble stuff (sorry if I'm getting too technical) and cranked it up to 40psi, but couldn't find anything. Even used it on the regulator, including the relief valve.

Detached my CO2 header and dunked it in a bucket of water ... nothing. Also dunked the keg connectors, just in case my valves weren't working properly. Don't think it would be wise to turn my CO2 bottle (to which my regulator is directly attached) upside down in the bucket, so I'm coming up empty.

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If you're not having fun, lower your standards ...

My keezer build thread --> Mid-Missouri freezer conversion

mikescooling

Recipes 

At this point you may want to start to valve-off the system, then later go back and see where pressure was lost. Turn everything off with pressure on and up to 40psi and let it sit, then starting from the tank (tank off), open each vlave looking to see if pressure has dropped. That includes disconnecting the kegs.

2puttbird

Recipes 

Thanks for the reply. It's currently sitting pressurized with all of the valves off, so the secondary gage is reading the pressure of gas in the regulator, the main hose, and the distribution header.

The pressure is dropping, albeit very slowly. It's down to about 35psi from the original setting of 40psi a few hours ago. I haven't done the calculations, but given the relatively small volume of gas that is being measured, I think that 5psi represents a very small amount of lost gas, which is probably why my second 5lb bottle lasted 6 weeks.

So the only thing left is the regulator ... I did put bubble soap on the regulator joints a couple of times (and there are a lot of joints, as you know), but didn't see anything.

It looks like I can get a good quality dual-gage regulator for $50-$60, and at this point that isn't looking like too much money to spend. Any recommendations?

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If you're not having fun, lower your standards ...

My keezer build thread --> Mid-Missouri freezer conversion

mikescooling

Recipes 

I just had my regulator go bad, it would creep up in pressure. I got a Taprite and like it a lot.
http://www.amazon.com/Taprite-T742-2-Commercial-2-Product-Kegerator/dp/B004S9B3DC/ref=sr_1_cc_3?s=aps&ie=UTF8&qid=1363588805&sr=1-3-catcorr&keywords=taprite

2puttbird

Recipes 

Hi all.

Bought the 742-2, which allowed me to rip out the header and primary gas line. Ran an overnight pressure test and it was solid as a rock. I'm back up and running!

Thanks, everyone, for the tips and suggestions!

__________________
_________________________________________________

If you're not having fun, lower your standards ...

My keezer build thread --> Mid-Missouri freezer conversion