Regulator questions

I just got my first kegging system, which came with the attached regulator:
Dual Gauge CO2 Regulator

Everything has been going fine with the set up, except for a little foam from too short of a dispensing beer line. However, starting on Wednesday night I've had some problems with my regulator and I'm wondering if I just don't understand how to properly use it. I dialed it down for serving to lessen the foam, then afterwards I bumped the pressure back up and tried to balance the pressure at around 10psi. The next morning when I came home from work, the PSI on the regulator said 50psi. YIKES! I bled the keg down to about 10psi again, and cranked the regulator as hard as I could counter clockwise. Coming home on my lunch break, the reg read 50psi again. I bled it down again, and tried to crank it tighter to the left. After work yesterday the same thing happened. WTF is going on here? Am I not understanding how to work this thing or is it possibly a defective regulator? The knob on the front is the only way to control the flow of CO2 to the keg right? Then why if I crank it counter-clockwise until it can no longer screw do I still get CO2 over pressurizing my keg? Somebody help me out here please.

Well my regulator has a screw that adjusts the pressure. And yes cranking that to the left does turn it down. I can even turn it off if i keep turning it to the left. but my screw will actually come out if i keep turning. This may be where your problem is.

try this:
close the valve that is on the regulator.
use the pull discharge and the knob to adjust the pressure to 10psi.
turn as hard as you can to the left and discharge again.
it should read 0 psi.
let it sit there overnight.
hopefully it will still say 0 psi when you wake.

if when you wake it still reads 0 psi, turn it up to 10psi or what ever psi you want.
vent the keg.
then open the valve to the keg.

This should work if the regulator does.

If your keg has absorbed the CO2 at 50 psi, it will take a lot of bleeding to get it back down. A quick bleed only relieves the CO2 ON TOP of your beer, more CO2 will come OUT of your beer to replace it and jack the pressure back up. On my regulator, If I turn it down, it will bleed the lines and the keg, but they all may not work the same.

I'd say disconnect from your keg and set the pressure (you may have to let it out of the gas line) to where you want it. Then leave the pressure relief valve open on your keg for a while to let the CO2 come out of solution (careful about foaming out the top), then hook it back up and re-carbonate.

KiltLifter said:

If your keg has absorbed the CO2 at 50 psi, it will take a lot of bleeding to get it back down. A quick bleed only relieves the CO2 ON TOP of your beer, more CO2 will come OUT of your beer to replace it and jack the pressure back up. On my regulator, If I turn it down, it will bleed the lines and the keg, but they all may not work the same.

I'd say disconnect from your keg and set the pressure (you may have to let it out of the gas line) to where you want it. Then leave the pressure relief valve open on your keg for a while to let the CO2 come out of solution (careful about foaming out the top), then hook it back up and re-carbonate.

Click to expand...

That's a good point about the CO2 being released from over pressurized beer. I'll give that some thought. This regulator is brand new so I assume it's not broken. Hopefully I can get the hang of this because kegging is a million times better than bottling.

bdnoona said:

That's a good point about the CO2 being released from over pressurized beer. I'll give that some thought. This regulator is brand new so I assume it's not broken. Hopefully I can get the hang of this because kegging is a million times better than bottling.

Click to expand...

His keg releasing CO2 would not back feed to the effect the guage reading would it? The reg says it has a back check valve which I assume means a check valve. I would disconnect the reg from the keg as suggested, set to 10 psi and check back in a few hours. I think you'll find your reg creeping. If so two choices.
1) call supplier and ask them to replace your faulty reg
2) dissasemble reg, clean and re-grease everything, retry.

Re-grease? Which parts do you grease? I've pulled them apart, but never "rebuilt" one and didn't realize there was grease.

Yeah, I would think a check valve would prevent the keg from degassing to the new setting but it would also prevent the gauge from climbing. The opposite would happen without a check valve - keg would bleed down to reg setting and gauge would reflect keg PSI.

Wanted the cover the somewhat obvious but miss looked part- Did you tighten the nut after you set the pressure? I've seen vibration from the fridge/freezer compressor change the PSI if the nut is not tight. I always set my PSI just under where I want it, hand tighten the nut, then turn the screw and nut at the same time bringing it to the correct PSI and making the nut tight.

*EDIT* Just because it's new, doesn't mean it's not broken- Good news is wherever you purchased it from, assuming it's new, should replace it it if it is no hassle. Cheers!*/EDIT*

Sorry for being a total noob on this subject, but when you say to set it to 10 psi, is there anyway to do so besides opening it up by turning the dial until the pressure climbs to 10psi, then backing off a little bit (tightening the dial again)? Once again, I'm sorry if this is an idiotic question, but this regulator came with no instructions.

MoRoToRiUm said:

Wanted the cover the somewhat obvious but miss looked part- Did you tighten the nut after you set the pressure? I've seen vibration from the fridge/freezer compressor change the PSI if the nut is not tight. I always set my PSI just under where I want it, hand tighten the nut, then turn the screw and nut at the same time bringing it to the correct PSI and making the nut tight.

*EDIT* Just because it's new, doesn't mean it's not broken- Good news is wherever you purchased it from, assuming it's new, should replace it it if it is no hassle. Cheers!*/EDIT*

Click to expand...

This is what I think I'm getting confused on. My unit has a dial to turn, not a screw and bolt. I'm not sure how to set the pressure and bolt it into place like you guys can do. I suspect this is user error being my first time with this thing, but don't know how to do it the way you describe.

I don't know what type of regulator you have. I have Cornelius regulators, that are over 30 years old ... eek. They have seen their days, but they work!

Here they are .. taking up the space of two kegs. This week I'll be adding my collar to my keezer .. then moving my CO2 tank outside of the keezer.

There's no nut on the thumbscrew adjuster? Most regulators are flathead screws (like above) and have a matching nut on them. Just like yours, you adjust the PSI by screwing them left/right. You then tighten the nut on the thread tight against the plate of the regulator, so that the screw does not wiggle/turn and throw off your pressure. If you have room on your stem, I would disconnect your regulator, unscrew your thumbscrew, and take it to the hardware shop and pick up a nut. The regulator may be good, but your loosing your set PSI (since it appears to work right until you let it go over night- compressor kicks on, screw turns, 50 PSI!?!?)

Check out the link pic in the OP. My reg doesn't have a screw/nut to adjust. There is a dial/knob thing that is the only think you can turn to adjust the PSI.

Last night I disconnected the reg from the keg. And bled out the pressure in the line. Even with it not connected to the keg, the pressure would slowly climb up to 50psi w/n ten minutes after relieving the pressure. Seemed to me that this should not happen when the dial is turned 100% counter clockwise (closed). I called the guys who sold it to me (Adventures in Homebrewing). After describing it they said it sounded like I had a bad bladder (or something) in the reg. They apologized profusely and are shipping a new one at no charge on Monday. I have to say, I was pretty impressed with that level of customer service. That's how all businesses should run. And I thought I would mention that along with re-posting their link here as a small thanks to them.
Home Brewing Home Beer Brewing Home Wine Making Beer Kegging Equipment Breweriana Beer Tap Handles Liqueur Making Making Soda Adventures in Home Brewing

if the regulator is going up by itself(if you have check valves on the outputs so the keg pressure doesnt push back and give false readinga) the reg is bad. if its new, send it back. they should give you a new one. if its not, there are companies out there that rebuild them. but it costs almost as much as a new one unless you get the rebuild kit and do it yourself.

oops, i didnt see that they already took care of the problem.

good to know there are good business men still out there. glad it worked out well for ya

Glad to hear they made it right. It could have just been a poorly seated poppet, but since it's brand new and you're not in a hurry a replacement is best. Sucks having to fix brand new stuff.

Are there poppets in the reg? Or are you suggesting that a poppet in the keg might be bad? I disconnected it from the keg and the pressure would still climb in the line. Oh well, I should have the new reg today or tomorrow. Hopefully it'll work OK.