CO2 leak, help!

[AttenuatingCircumstances]

Guys, I have had a keg leak for some time now and am getting rather frustrated. I have replaced just about all of the moving parts on the keg, have sprayed all of the connection areas with Star San and have not been able to discover where the leak is coming from.

A little about my setup, I have a refrigerator in the garage that has both my keg and my CO2 tank inside it. I do not have a temperature controller on the refrigerator (bad on me, I know). I set my regulator to 10 psi and it stayed there for about a week and the CO2 level in my tank remained unchanged. Then it started getting hot outside, in the 90s, and the pressure in my keg shot up to 20 and the CO2 level dropped by nearly half. The temperature has fluctuated here in Alabama from the mid 60s to low 90s from day to night. Could this temperature fluctuation be driving my leak or is it most likely something in my kegging system?

 

[stpug]

I've heard and seen regulators act funny, especially in cold environments. A friend has a regulator he has to finger-tap a few times just to make sure it's displaying the correct pressure. I've seen him do this on the keg pressure gauge and watched the dial drop to less than half of what it was indicating. He even has to do this 24+ hours after making any kind of adjustment to the system (new psi, changed keg, disconnected gas hose).

Tank pressure readings will always be lower in cold environment and higher in warm. My 20 lb co2 tank with a taprite dual-gauge sits in a garage that gets close to 100F in the summer (now), and in the 30s in the winter. Over the winter the tank volume was reading about 50%; six months later (now) it's reading 75-80% full. You need to take those volumes with a grain of salt, with the exception of REALLY low readings (those tend to be much more accurate ).

With all of that said, are you positive you have a leak or could it be a gauge issue?

 

[AttenuatingCircumstances]

thanks for the quick response, it is definitely a leak as the gauge goes down to 0 and the tank has lost all its weight. It is such a slow leak that I'm not able to find where it is coming from. It has also happened with 2 different kegs so I'm beginning to think that it could be the regulator or the tank itself.

 

[stpug]

Yeah, tank emptying and needing refill is obviously a leak.

I would find it unlikely to be the tank, however that doesn't mean that it's not. If it's a usual beat-up looking tank, can you get an exchange from your gas supply place? If you can then it would only leave the regulator as the culprit. I wonder if they could even check your regulator for leaks, dunno?

The regulator should have some kind of gasket where it seals to the co2 tank (rubber or cork I think). Does your regulator have this gasket?

 

[Tegra]

What a pain (expensive and time consuming)


I just got a setup that I was worried about because it has been around the block a few times.

I wanted to feel assured that nothing was leaking for the 3 gauges and 6 taps and was told that the only way to feel sure was to submerge the whole lot in a pool and watch for bubble. I did and now I feel confident in the whole setup.

Interestingly just before this we bought a refurbished fridge that lost its coolant after a week. They took it back twice and used their fancy electronic leak testers and each time it died again. Finally, almost in desperation, the owner submerged the whole thing in a large tub and instantly found the leak.

So sometimes he blunt tools work the best!

Tom

 

[AttenuatingCircumstances]

Yeah both my tank and regulator are brand new and I've got the rubber gasket installed as well. Most of the fittings came wrapped in teflon tape and I've wrapped the others that originally weren't and still no luck. I like the idea of submerging it all in water, I may have to give that a try.