WTF! How can I be outta gas already!?

Grrrrrrrr. I just filled and set-up my 1st keg last friday. I pressure tested 3 kegs several times last week. I also tested when I sanitzed and after I filled it. I did not see any bubbles or leaks. Now it is Tuesday and the gauge is on empty!!!

I realize pressure testing empty kegs can use up gas now but to empty a 5 lb tank in less than a week?! Did I do something wrong? Should I not keep the pressure on to the full keg? It was not even carbonated yet. I turned it up and down a few times playing with it and bled some pressure off, but to empty it? Gas should last alot longer than this shouldn't it!

Man I am pissed! I guess I am just too much of a dumb-fück for kegging. I suck at bottling too though so...

You should pressure check the rest of your connections. Do you have the washer in place between CGA-320 fitting and the tank?

You have a leak.

It sucks.

Check everything with soapy water.
Turn off your gas until you have time to find it. A tank can leak out all of the gas overnight.
No big secrets or shortcuts.

Maybe they gave you a really short fill... like 2 pounds. Put that sucker on the scale after your next fill.

olllllo said:

You have a leak.

It sucks.

Check everything with soapy water.
Turn off your gas until you have time to find it. A tank can leak out all of the gas overnight.
No big secrets or shortcuts.

Click to expand...

I thought I did check it all. I sprayed soapy water pretty heavily on all the tube clamped areas (at the regulator, at the dissconnects, at the tap) and also at the posts (with and without the disconnects on), the lid. Did i miss something? I turned the gas off but I believe it is empty anyways.

Do you have the washer in place between CGA-320 fitting and the tank?

Click to expand...

Huh? Do you mean the gasket that goes between the tank and the regulator? If so yes, the guy at merriam graves even put it on for me.

I guess I am just pissed 'cause I thought I checked it all out really well and I do not know what else I can do better. So I feel like I will never be "sure"

okay checked AGAIN! There was a leak right at the tank/regulator connection. DAMN!
I swear I checked that.

Which leads me to this question. I asked the guy at the gas place if I should put teflon tape on the tank threads in addition to the gasket. He said no. What do you folks do? Teflon tape or just the gasket alone?

Just the gasket. The threads have nothing to do with the seal, except to hold it tight. It takes a while to get a good idea of how tight to turn the nut. I always open the tank valve after hooking up a new tank, then shut it and leave it for 24 hours. If the pressure bleeds down, I give the nut 1/8th of a turn and re-test.

David has the correct method for testing that connection. Sometimes you have to crank that thing down a hair more than you would think.

Sucks about the leak. One comment though. You said "the gauge is on empty!!!" You should know that outside of "0" telling you it's empty, Your CO2 tank's high pressure gauge is useless.

Why? Bottled CO2 is stored in a liquid state and evaporates to fill the empty space above it at a pressure equivalent to the vapor pressure of CO2 at the temperature inside the bottle. In layman's terms; the HP gauge will *always* read 800-1000psi when warm and 4-600 when cold. Even if your tank only has one tsp of CO2, it will read 4-600 until that tsp is gone. Then it will go from 400 to < 100 in minutes to hours. This is also why propane tanks on grills/RV's/etc do not come with pressure gauges to determine their fill level.

Here's another thread on a leak that may beuseful:
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=39199&page=2.

Bobby_M said:

Sometimes you have to crank that thing down a hair more than you would think.

Click to expand...

Agreed, you can really come onto that connection.

Any reason that gasket is teflon and not rubber or something else more compressible?

May have something to do with the cold temperature when the gas is released.

pldoolittle said:

Any reason that gasket is teflon and not rubber or something else more compressible?

Click to expand...

The liquor store I part time at has a good 20 co2 tanks and jockyboxes for wedding parties we cater, etc. All of the gaskets we use are a fiber gasket material not Teflon. Of course we are constantly connecting/disconnecting the things so that might be for longevity reasons, but I have never seen either Teflon or rubber gaskets.

Edit: I take that back. A few of our tanks have a rubber o ring embedded in the face of the connecting surface.

Mine is a plastic disk that resembles teflon/HDMW.

Take your regulator with you when you swap or have it filled. Lock it on and ask the guy to do a test with a sniffer.

BierMuncher said:

Take your regulator with you when you swap or have it filled. Lock it on and ask the guy to do a test with a sniffer.

Click to expand...

I'll try that next time. I guess I figured if I had them hook it up in the first place it would be done properly. Nope.

I did not really check out the gasket. They put it on straight out of the bag. I guess it looked more like a compressed fiber type disk.

Oh, and I do know it shows a lower reading when cold. I guess it isn't totally empty, but it is pretty darn low in the "red zone" so I am not expecting it to last much longer. Thanks everyone. Guess I'll be swappin' it out soon. At least it isn't terribly expensive (yet) I guess. Just sucks.

knights of Gambrinus said:

Oh, and I do know it shows a lower reading when cold. I guess it isn't totally empty, but it is pretty darn low in the "red zone" so I am not expecting it to last much longer. Thanks everyone. Guess I'll be swappin' it out soon. At least it isn't terribly expensive (yet) I guess. Just sucks.

Click to expand...

Sounds like you may be empty, but don't bet on it. Have you weighed it? If not, weigh it and subtract the TW (usually stamped on cylinder). That's how many # of CO2 you actually have.

Regardless of how much CO2 is in the tank, you gauge will only show one of four readings

<100# - Time for a refill.
400-600 - Cold.
800-1000 - Room temp.
1000+ You left it in your car.