Powered Co2 Regulator / Flow Guage ?

I bought a bunch of sanke 5 gallon sanke Kegs (available from me for 20 bucks a peice), and the guy gave me the following Co2 Regulator. I've never seen one. It has a 115 VAC Solenoid on it. It looks like it also has a water flow guage. He said it was like $200. Anybody have any idea how to use it for homebrewing? I figured I might as well integrate it into my future kegging setup.










Sorry the pics were soo big. I even resized them in half.

I'm pretty sure that's used for real time soda carbonating like one the fast food soda fountains. I can't imagine a use for the valve in a homebrew setup but you could remove it. The other problem is that you need a pressure gauge, not a flow.

Welding regulators that look like that.

http://www.arc-zone.com/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=437_6

Not much use to you, but I'm not sure if you can get it off and replace it with a pressure gauge.

He used this in kegging. The gauge on the front is a pressure gauge. Anyone got any more ideas?

The gauge on the front looks like it reads in HUNDREDS of PSI which would be the tank pressure.

Yeah, the front gauge is the tank pressure, the sight glass is a flow tube. It shouldn't pose any problems to you, although I have never used one for kegging. I have taken the flow gauge off regulators and replaced them with pressure gauges, but I've never done it with a flow tube like that. As long as it doesn't leak, it should be fine, and you don't need the solenoid as far as I can see.

But why would he have this supposed $200 thing if he only used it as a basic Co2 reg? I am still confused.


A-HA
http://www.plantlightinghydroponics.com/cap-reg1-co2-regulator-and-valve-p-1008.html

He must have had it left over from some "hops" growing

The requirements for welding & brewing are very different, but you could probably use that along with some inexpensive secondary regulators. I suspect you would have to have it powered ON all the time and it is difficult to get a flow regulator to maintain a static pressure. I suspect the previous owner just opened the valve and pressurized as needed.

You would be better off selling it and buying a standard regulator.

IrregularPulse said:

But why would he have this supposed $200 thing if he only used it as a basic Co2 reg? I am still confused.


A-HA
http://www.plantlightinghydroponics.com/cap-reg1-co2-regulator-and-valve-p-1008.html

He must have had it left over from some "hops" growing

Click to expand...

So by this I assume that it would usually be used in conjunction with a CO2 monitor contoller and would work sort of like a Ranco controller. Thatis, when the set temp is reached the solenoid is either enrgized or de-energized to open/close the valve?

I don't see how that could be useful for kegging.

It is a quality welding regulator that was likely set-up to release CO2 (via monitor or timer) for indoor gardening or AQ use. There really isn't any use for the solenoid for kegging, so remove it. You'll just need to get a pressure gauge somewhere on the regulator output, and I am sure it will work fine.

GilaMinumBeer-- I think you hit it right on the head.

I'll just sell it I think. I put it on Craigs list. There is an avid Plant grower at work I'll mention it to. Thanks for the help guys.