Is my dual regulator broken, or am I?

Disclaimer: I'm completely new to kegging. I've searched around, but haven't found any threads that really cover this.

In playing around and looking to carb my first keg, I'm noticing a few things that I think are odd. Please let me know if this is normal for a dual regulator system.

Note:
- I always attach the carbing keg to the "outside" regulator - the one furthest from the tank.
- There is nothing attached to the "inside" regulator - the one closest to the tank.
- Ambient temperature is about 55 degrees
- My system is the Brew Logic Dual Tap Draft System

Issues:

1. With both regs set to 0 and gas off, when connecting the keg, the attached reg doesn't show pressure. I need to open up the gas for the reg dial to (presumably) climb to the pressure of the attached keg. Maybe this is normal and is the reason for a "bleeder valve" setup?
2. When not connected to a keg, and the gas is on, the outside regulator will spin up to around 50 psi before the overflow valve starts letting out
3. When turning the knob to the desired pressure, it will fill to the pressure, but then overshoot. I typically need to "sneak up" to the right pressure
4. When looking to shut down the system, I unattach the keg and turn off the gas. In order for the previously attached (outside) regulator to get to zero and not continually climb, I need to set the internal regulator to some PSI and purge the outside until zero. Then I need to purge the inside regulator. During this, the outside climbs a little so I then purge it the rest of the way.

Thanks in advance for any help you can provide.

Mike

Shameless bump. Lots of views but no replies.

I do not have a clue what is going on with your regulators. Based on your description, something is wrong. (You already know that so I'm of no help.) I'd suggest that you call Midwest Supplies and talk it out with them. I'm sure they are familiar with their products and will do right by you. Give them a shot at it.

I just spoke with Midwest:

mmonacel said:

[*]With both regs set to 0 and gas off, when connecting the keg, the attached reg doesn't show pressure. I need to open up the gas for the reg dial to (presumably) climb to the pressure of the attached keg. Maybe this is normal and is the reason for a "bleeder valve" setup?

Click to expand...

This is normal. There is a check valve to ensure that beer doesn't come back up the line into the regulator

mmonacel said:

[*]When not connected to a keg, and the gas is on, the outside regulator will spin up to around 50 psi before the overflow valve starts letting out

Click to expand...

This is indicative of an obstruction in the pin valve of the regulator

mmonacel said:

[*]When turning the knob to the desired pressure, it will fill to the pressure, but then overshoot. I typically need to "sneak up" to the right pressure

Click to expand...

This is normal. This happens because the line needs to equalize out. So to hit 10psi, turn the knob to around 8 or so and then it will likely equalize out to 10 for instance.

mmonacel said:

[*]When looking to shut down the system, I unattach the keg and turn off the gas. In order for the previously attached (outside) regulator to get to zero and not continually climb, I need to set the internal regulator to some PSI and purge the outside until zero. Then I need to purge the inside regulator. During this, the outside climbs a little so I then purge it the rest of the way.

Click to expand...

This is again indicative of an obstruction in the pin valve

To clear out an instruction in the pin valve, I was provided these instructions:

Tools:
- Gloves
- 9/16 wrench

Steps:
- Remove the red gas line from the affected regulator. Do this by unscrewing the chrome swivel nut at the end of the gas line on the regulator side. Don't remove the brass one since you'd need to re-tape it when reconnecting it
- Turn the regulator knob 3 or 4 turns
- Hold out the relief valve a little with a gloved hand. Don't need to pull it out all the way as that could kink the internal spring on the relief valve. Just a little should do
- Turn on the tank using short bursts of air to clear the obstruction. Use short bursts since otherwise it could freeze the obstruction in place
- Test to see if it worked. Turn on the gas and set the regulator to 10 psi. Come back in 10 min and if the regulator has climbed significantly past 10 psi, there is still an obstruction. Repeat the process if needed. If after the second attempt the obstruction still remains, you'll likely need to replace the regulator.

I haven't yet done this, but I wanted to make sure to update the post for others that may run into this.

I just had this happen to me too. I have the same set up. I followed the instruction above and it works perfectly now. It took me 2 minutes and half of that was looking for the wrench. Thanks for listing the instructions. It saved me a bunch of hassle. Gotta love the HBT community.

Thank you mmonicel.
I had teh same problem. Thanks to you I will be able to fix my problem. Funny thing though- all three of us had a brand new regulator with the same problem. Is this a normal thing for new regulators?

Not sure, but glad to help out.

im having the same problem and just sent the company i got it from a email asking if it was faulty lol. im gonna try this because i think its worth a shot. followed the instructions above and set it to 10psi before i went to bed, just woke up and its still at 10. and the dial actually works for making adjustments now lol. thanks alot, thought i was gonna have to buy a new regulator.

same issue here. this fixed it right up though! thanks.

I totally over-carbed a keg because of this problem. Set it to 30 to force carb, and it crept up to 60!

THANK YOU. My brand new dual regulator had one regulator that was creeping up to 50+ and this fixed it.

I am having the same problem with a brand new regulator. Should the gas be turned off when unhooking the red CO2 tube?

A little more clarification on the instructions would be greatly appreciated.

Steve

StRyanVT said:

I am having the same problem with a brand new regulator. Should the gas be turned off when unhooking the red CO2 tube?

A little more clarification on the instructions would be greatly appreciated.

Steve

Click to expand...

Yes, it's assumed the gas is off when you're unhooking the red liine.

Thanks for the post. I also had a problem with the regulator creep, but following these instructions, it was easy to fix. My kegerator worked great for a year than this. Thought I would need a new regulator, diaphragm or something, but this fixed it.

Hi

More general answer - any time you unhook a line, turn it off. You *might* not ned to, but it won't hurt if you do. Valves in each line make this a lot easier to do. You only have to shut off the upstream (towards the tank) valve on the line you are fiddling with.

Bob

I have the same system, and I hate to say it, but I fight with the same issues 3 years later. Every now and then I have to do the above steps to keep it from shooting up to 30 PSI over night.