Where is my leak?

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Striker169

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Ok so I have a dual body regulator hooked up to a 5# tank. I had a full tank and after about 6-8 hours after hooking it up to my kegs I had only about 1/3 left. Now if I leave it unhooked from the keg, I can hold pressure but as soon as a I connect I seem to loose it. I got a spray bottle and soapy water and I sprayed all over the top of the kegs and didnt see any bubbles or anything and dont hear a leak... any help/advice?:confused:
 
If I had a dollar for everytime this came up....

How do you know how much CO2 you have left? The gauge? That doesn't work. Weigh the tank, then subtract the tare weight stamped on the side. That will tell you how many pounds of liquid CO2 is still in there.

The pressure changes depending on the temperature so everytime you put it in the fridge, you think you're losing gas.
 
1. Disconnect all kegs. Open and shut the tank valve, check low-pressure gage pressure in 24 hours. If it hasn't changed, the basic setup is ok.
2. Hookup one keg, repeat 24 hour test.
3. Check each line on the same keg.
4. Then start checking the rest of the kegs, one at a time.

I've got three regulators, five gas lines, 51 connections & 15 kegs. Leaks are a pain.
 
David is right. I jumped to conclusions. Maybe you do have a leak. The troubleshooting list there is trying to determine if your leak is one of the kegs or in the regulator/disconnect side. It's probably a leaky lid. Get some keg lube for those O-rings.
 
I had a slow leak through the walls of a hose. LHBS told me that what I had was junk (quite old) and sold me a thick walled replacement hose. No leak since. Granted, it could have been the barb fitting, or crimp, but he seemed to have seen this a few times before. Apparently there are certain types of clear hose that become CO2 permeable as they age.
 
Well my tank weighs consierably less so I know it is not a temp difference in the guage reading. I tried taking the lines off the kegs last night to check and see that and it seems that there is a leak in the setup somehow... and possibly the kegs but I think I need to find the leak on the regulators first. Again I tried the soapy water and saw nothing any other tips on how to find this leak? I would think that by loosing half the pressure on the high side over night it would be fast enough to see with soapy water....
 
Losing half your high side pressure would not mean you've lost half your CO2 tank...it would mean the tank is completely empty....OR....that you're noticing how CO2 pressure drops as temperature drops.

CO2 pressure stays constant as long as temperature is constant and there is still liquid CO2 in the tank. As soon as you're down to a few drops of CO2, the high side pressure rapidly drops to zero.
if there's even 2 ounces left in the tank it'll read 800psi at room temp, or 400-500psi inside a keg fridge.

Are you sure you have a leak?
 
Well the tank has gotten considerably low, and the pressure was dropping even before I had the tank + kegs in the fridge
 
I had a leaky pressure-release valve on my keg. Took a while to find because of how the valve is built. Just my 2 cents.

kvh
 
Striker169 said:
Well the tank has gotten considerably low, and the pressure was dropping even before I had the tank + kegs in the fridge

At the risk of sounding rude: Is this your first gas bottle? If so don't worry, you just experienced your first empty gas bottle. As long as there is any liquid remaining, they read 800psi (500 cold). When that last drop is gone, the go from 800 to <100 psi VERY fast. Typically it's just a few hours, but if you're trying to carb a new keg it can be just minutes.

Now that you know it's empty, weight it and mark the tank. Next time you will know how much you have remaining.
 
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