Is this a check valve?

Short story: Fully carbonated beer hooked up at 10 PSI @ 35 F. Refrigerator dies, temp rises to 75 F, beer backs up into gas line. I'm not sure if it got into/damaged the regulator?

Does this look like a check valve? Haven't seen one like it before. Assuming it is one, and that it's working properly, all I need to do is clean out my hoses and disconnects, right?

No. That is a regulator with a pressure relief valve.

I've never seen a check-valve built right into a regulator before, but I honestly haven't had my hands on more than 4 or 5 regulators in my life.

This is one kind of check valve http://www.northernbrewer.com/brewing/ball-check-valve.html , other are built in shut off valves that are used on some manifolds.


+1 on safety blow off valve

That looks like an overpressure valve. The check valve should be part of the shut-off at the bottom.

But the fact that the beer backed up into the CO2 line suggests it's not a check valve.

Some people have reported success running sanitizer through the regulator, but I prefer opening it and cleaning it out. There are some fiber gaskets in there that will get saturated with beer and cannot be cleaned-in-place.

Not that I've had it happen to me or anything



-Joe

Alright, I guess that makes sense. I always just assumed it was a check valve, but when I saw beer in the lines I realized my error. This regulator was originally used for a sankey setup, and I just read that sankey disconnects [all?] have built-in check valve. Burned.

Any tips on diassembling and cleaning out this reg?

greenbirds said:

Any tips on diassembling and cleaning out this reg?

Click to expand...

Carefully.

Some regs are kinda tricky in how they assemble the interlocking parts.