Busted Regulator Gauge

Well my quest to start my kegging career appears to be stalled. I had gotten a kegerator and regulator off of craigslist about a month ago. I had gotten everything else I needed this past weekend through kegconnection.

Tonight, I was going to keg my first batch. I had filled each keg about a halfway up with sanitizer, and was going to test the lines, and run sanitizer through them. When I hooked up the regulator, I noticed that the gauge for the PSI had a cracked cover and the face looked a little bent. I hooked up the gas line to a corny and slowly began opening the valve. Nothing on the gauge. Opened her some more. Nothing on the gauge. There was definitely CO2 going through, but the gauge was not registering the PSI.

So I pressurized each keg, and shut her down.

I'm assuming that replacement of the gauge is something that I can do, and that they will sell these gauges locally. Can someone please chime in on this situation? I'd appreciate it.

Also, is there anything I should be concerned about tonight or is there anything I need to do?

http://cgi.ebay.com/MARSH-0-30-PSI-PRESSURE-GAUGE-NIB_W0QQitemZ220446887969QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item3353a89021&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14&_trkparms=65:15|66:2|39:1|293:1|294:50

Do you have one or two gauges? If it's two gauges, is it the high pressure (tank pressure) or low pressure (line pressure), that's broken? If it's the low pressure gauge, then be careful when pressurizing the kegs, you don't want to over do it. The kegs should have a pressure relief valve to prevent that, but I don't always trust 'em.

It's the low pressure gauge. Thanks, I didn't know the terminology. I'll go relieve some of the pressure just to be safe. Thank you.

You shouldn't have to relieve the pressure once it's in there, even if it's pretty high. It's when filling that problems can happen. From the sounds of it, you didn't over pressurize it, because you'd be posting questions about why the keg blew it's top instead of whether or not you can replace the gauges.

And yes, they are replaceable. Bobby posted a URL for one on eBay (I believe, I didn't look it up), or you can go to your local hardware store. Just remember to get the low pressure gauge. I have three regulators, two have 0-60 psi, and one has a 0-100 psi low pressure gauge. The 0-100 is over-kill, so I'd recommend the 0-60.

The one I linked to is 0-30 which is plenty of range. You're looking at 16 bucks shipped.

Thanks guys. And thanks Bobby for the link. I actually have a Compressed Gas store within 2 miles that sells them. (I saw the gauges there when I stopped there to get my co2 tank filled.) Really upset I didn't pick one up. I'll just have to stop there on my way to work tomorrow.