keg holds pressure, can it still leak?

Tracking down a leak...my info
soaped up my regulators and gas lines/disconnects and no leaks.
I bought some kegs from midwest and they shipped them to me pressurized... had to pull the release valve for 10 seconds or so to release the pressure.
I hooked them up yesterday and my c02 tank is empty today... obviously have a leak, but if the kegs held pressure during shipping and the regulators and lines are not leaking, where do I look next?

When you close your kegs, make sure you hit them with a burst of high pressure (I use about 30 psi) to properly seat & seal the lids...often they will leak until this is done. Afterwards, spritz a little StarSan around the lid, posts and release valve and look for signs of bubbling. Do this even if the keg in question has been holding pressure fine, as each time you open or vent it there is potential for leaking when you close it back up. I prefer StarSan to soap for this purpose, simply because I don't care if a few drops of StarSan get in my beer.

When testing, don't forget to spray all gas connections, even on store bought equipment. I lost two tanks of gas before finding a leak on a pre-assembled "Y" splitter from MoreBeer.

but... my kegs still had pressure this morning, even though the co2 tank was empty... to me, that means that the leak is somewhere on the regulators.
am i right in thinking that if the leak was with the lid or a post, the keg in question would not have co2 pressure when pulling the release valve?

another thing I have found... the pressure release valve on the regulator opens if I turn the pressure up past 17 psi on the regulator... I can turn the psi up to 40 or so on the other regulator and that release valve does not open... do I have a bad one, or am I doing something wrong?

How big of a CO2 tank?
How full was it?
Were your kegs full of beer or empty?

5lb c02 tank filled on friday... filled both kegs at 8pm on friday and set both regulators to 35 psi. tank was completely empty by 11am on sat...

Definitely does not sound like a keg issue.

The leak would sound like it's between the tank and the regulator, otherwise, the kegs would have lost pressure as well.

Get the tank filled again, and this time hook everything up and set the PSI to about 35 and then do the soap test. If there's no sign of any leak, another possibility is that you simply got a short fill on your tank and the entire contents transfered to the kegs over night.

At 35PSI, you should be able the hear any leaks.

shoebag22 said:

another thing I have found... the pressure release valve on the regulator opens if I turn the pressure up past 17 psi on the regulator... I can turn the psi up to 40 or so on the other regulator and that release valve does not open... do I have a bad one, or am I doing something wrong?

Click to expand...

just to make sure you guys saw this post... I have a 3 reg system from midwest... both kegs have their own regulator. If i turn the pressure up past 17 on one of the regulators, the pressure relief valve opens and lets co2 out... this is probably why i lost my whole c02 tank, but i don't think this is how the regulator is supposed to function...

shoebag22 said:

just to make sure you guys saw this post... I have a 3 reg system from midwest... both kegs have their own regulator. If i turn the pressure up past 17 on one of the regulators, the pressure relief valve opens and lets co2 out... this is probably why i lost my whole c02 tank, but i don't think this is how the regulator is supposed to function...

Click to expand...

That doesn't sound right. You ought to contact Midwest. They're very good about making things right.

that is definitely not how your regulator is supposed to be. you may have a blown diaphram, or your safety valve is bad. depending on the make and model of your regulator, you will probably have to replace the whole things.

Definitely contact Midwest and see what they can do about it.

Twice I had cracks in a plug o-ring that made for a leak when the line was connected, even though the line and the keg both held pressure by themselves.

got my tank refilled on saturday and hooked everything back up. after realizing that I cannot turn the one regulator past 17 psi, I put both regulators down to about 12-14 and the tank still has co2 as of monday morning. did a soap test on all the fittings and am confident that the problem is with that pressure release valve...

the problem just seems odd to me. I initially had the psi to 35 to force carb... sometime during the night that release valve opened... just not sure why that valve didn't open when I initially set it past 17 psi...

Could be a bad diaphram like I said in my previous post. If the diaphram is faulty, it may gradually creep up in pressure when set above a certain limit. once it reaches max capacity, the release valve opens. It sounds to me like the release valve is doing it's job, but the diaphram is not. either way, probably better off having it tested or just replacing the regulator.

called midwest and they are sending a replacement free of charge... gotta love that!!!