Help a moron with a goofy regulator, please?

I have a second hand regulator that has always been "weird". It works fine for a while, and then goes kitty whompus. I have a dual primary, and I know the high pressure gauge is inaccurate. Especially since my friend dropped it and broke it. Anyway, both primary gauges work fine at first. Then, on the first one, the pressue creeps up or down. Not a big deal, really.

The second primary goes to my 4-way distributor, and I keep that at serving pressure, approx 11 psi. Today, it seems like no gas is going through at all. I have a quick disconnect on that line. When I disconnect it, some gas does go through. However, when I turn the adjustment screw, the pressure doesn't vary at all.

It's possible that a little bit of water might have backed up into the gas line when I cleaned the taps, but I do have check valves installed, and both primary regulators are "stuck".

It's possible that I'm almost out of gas in that tank, too.

I'm out of ideas, so I thought maybe some of your brilliant minds could point out something obvious to me.

I will get the tank filled in a couple of weeks, and I have my back up 5# tank in the kegerator right now so my beer is still pouring!

you need new gauges if they are not in perfect working order. sounds like the tank could be dead.

Why not move the suspect reg to the 5# tank to trobeshhot an see if it's the tank

JesseRC said:

Why not move the suspect reg to the 5# tank to trobeshhot an see if it's the tank

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Ah! Good idea!

Since the suspect regulator is on my 10# tank, and another (really nice) regulator is on the 5# tank, that would work.

On a semi-related note, the regulator on my 5# tank won't fit on my 10# tank. It needs a longer "stem". So I can't put that regulator on my 10# tank.

I'm probably missing something but it sounds like you're just out of gas. Your kegs are pressurized to your serving pressure and may be what are keeping the lines (all the way back to the reg) at serving pressure. Switching tanks will eliminate this possibility though.

SpanishCastleAle said:

I'm probably missing something but it sounds like you're just out of gas. Your kegs are pressurized to your serving pressure and may be what are keeping the lines (all the way back to the reg) at serving pressure. Switching tanks will eliminate this possibility though.

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I don't think I'm out of gas, though. I mean, when I take the regulator off, and open the valve, Co2 comes out, and the high pressure gauge reads 400 psi (I know that's not very accurate). It's not hooked up to any kegs any more- I pulled it off yesterday and tried playing with it a little bit.

Oh, well, I'll fill the tank first and then see what happens!

Hey moron, switch tanks and pull the faulty one apart. There very easy to daiassemble and inspect, there's all of 3 or 4 pieces. Maybe a stuck or ripped diaphragm, it's hard to say. It takes almost zero mechanical know how to rip one apart.

wildwest450 said:

Hey moron, switch tanks and pull the faulty one apart. There very easy to daiassemble and inspect, there's all of 3 or 4 pieces. Maybe a stuck or ripped diaphragm, it's hard to say. It takes almost zero mechanical know how to rip one apart.

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This regulator is different looking than my other- it has four phillips screws in the corners, around the bonnet. Should I just unscrew those, and check out the diaphram? It looks like cornelius brand.

YooperBrew said:

Ah! Good idea!

Since the suspect regulator is on my 10# tank, and another (really nice) regulator is on the 5# tank, that would work.

On a semi-related note, the regulator on my 5# tank won't fit on my 10# tank. It needs a longer "stem". So I can't put that regulator on my 10# tank.

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You can also get stems at Lowes.

YooperBrew said:

This regulator is different looking than my other- it has four phillips screws in the corners, around the bonnet. Should I just unscrew those, and check out the diaphram? It looks like cornelius brand.

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Sounds like a NAD.

YooperBrew said:

This regulator is different looking than my other- it has four phillips screws in the corners, around the bonnet. Should I just unscrew those, and check out the diaphram? It looks like cornelius brand.

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Yup, thats exactly what my buddies regulator looked like. There's just a spring and rubber diaphragm under there. Here's your chance to be your own hero.


I would unscrew the pressure screw out a ways first.

wildwest450 said:

Yup, thats exactly what my buddies regulator looked like. There's just a spring and rubber diaphragm under there. Here's your chance to be your own hero.


I would unscrew the pressure screw out a ways first.

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will do! Finding a phillips screwdriver right now......................

can you just turn the short stem regulator 90* on the axis of the stem? If the tank is sitting on the ground, the reg will be parallel with the ground, not the tank.

B

Ok, now what? What am I looking for?

I took the "innards" apart. Everything looks ok, and there aren't any rips or tears in any of the gaskets or in the diaphram.

YooperBrew said:

I took the "innards" apart. Everything looks ok, and there aren't any rips or tears in any of the gaskets or in the diaphram.

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That's good, the guts aren't the problem. Did you take the other side apart?

I put it back together, and put it back on the tank. I will try refilling the tank next week (it's about 50 miles away to the gas place). But it's still odd- it's like the adjustment screw doesn't do anything. I get gas flowing at about 5 psi, but can't turn the screw to adjust it up or down. I purged a bottle with a carbonator cap, and hooked it up. The bottle hardened slightly- like up to about 5 psi. But I can't get it any higher.

YooperBrew said:

I put it back together, and put it back on the tank. I will try refilling the tank next week (it's about 50 miles away to the gas place). But it's still odd- it's like the adjustment screw doesn't do anything. I get gas flowing at about 5 psi, but can't turn the screw to adjust it up or down. I purged a bottle with a carbonator cap, and hooked it up. The bottle hardened slightly- like up to about 5 psi. But I can't get it any higher.

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When it was apart did you run the adjustment all the way in and out? Was it smooth or sticky? My buddies did the same thing the adj screw simpy refused to turn in above 10psi.

wildwest450 said:

When it was apart did you run the adjustment all the way in and out? Was it smooth or sticky? My buddies did the same thing the adj screw simpy refused to turn in above 10psi.

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Very smooth. It goes all the way in, and all the way out just fine! It just doesn't seem to do anything when it does.

YooperBrew said:

Very smooth. It goes all the way in, and all the way out just fine! It just doesn't seem to do anything when it does.

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I'm at a loss If you drive it down to Ann Arbor this weekend, I will fix it for you, and feed you some award winning bbq!

YooperBrew said:

Very smooth. It goes all the way in, and all the way out just fine! It just doesn't seem to do anything when it does.

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Like my new sig?

I tried pouring a pint last night, it was a slow pour, I figured I was outa gas, I removed the disconnect and pressed on the valve, no gas coming out, remove reg, open valve on tank, plenty of gas there!, remove line shutoff, gas there, no gas after valve, I installed a new shutoff valve/checkball thingy and it is now working like a champ!

YooperBrew said:

Very smooth. It goes all the way in, and all the way out just fine! It just doesn't seem to do anything when it does.

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sig worthy imo
You have a knack Yooper.
as you were

dammit...beaten to the punch again!

wildwest450 said:

I'm at a loss If you drive it down to Ann Arbor this weekend, I will fix it for you, and feed you some award winning bbq!

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Tempting! Unfortunately, it'd be way cheaper to just buy a new regulator.

(I'd LOVE to do a meet up, though!)

Geez you guys! I wasn't even thinking dirty. I was really trying to fix that regulator.

But now that I AM thinking dirty, I can't believe I said that!

nice cornelius regs! did the problem get resolved?

mordantly said:

nice cornelius regs! did the problem get resolved?

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Well, no. But I didn't put it on my other tank yet. I tell you, though- the insides of those regulators are clean as a whistle!

I decided to take a little road trip on Monday to fill the 10# tank, and then play with it some more. It doesn't seem like there is much that can really go wrong with the regulator. My last hope is that the co2 tank isn't empty, but is nearly empty, so that the regulator won't go up. But, it also won't go down, so I'm not sure that's the issue. It can't hurt to fill the tank, though, to rule out that possibility.

weigh your 10# tank before you drive that far, Yoop. Somewhere on the bottle is the Tare Weight (it will say TW) You'll know how much gas you have left after you put it on the scale.

B

bad coffee said:

can you just turn the short stem regulator 90* on the axis of the stem? If the tank is sitting on the ground, the reg will be parallel with the ground, not the tank.

B

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bad coffee said:

weigh your 10# tank before you drive that far, Yoop. Somewhere on the bottle is the Tare Weight (it will say TW) You'll know how much gas you have left after you put it on the scale.

B

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Well, I did what you suggested. First, I took that cleaned out regulator and let it sit for a day and then put it on the other tank at a angle. It seems to be working now. I will go fill the tank (and pick up a few other items, since I want to go pick up a new ale pale to replace my lacto-infected one) and see if that works. I stuck the other regulator on that tank, and even though gas comes out when I open the valve, it's reading 0 on my gauge, and not registering any pressure.

Thanks for all the help! The regulator is now smooth and adjustable. I think just taking it apart and cleaning it helped a ton. My next task was going to be to take apart the check valves, if that didn't work!