CO2 leak question

[Paulinuke]

Here is what I have. Five tap kegerator/freezer. Tap 1 is soda running at 35 pounds off the second regulator body. Taps 2-5 are beer running at 13 pounds off of the first regulator body that is connected to a manifold. Each individual Line has a shut off valve with integral check valve. All of this is connected to a 20lb CO2 cylinder.
The other night I went to pull a pint and nothing came out but a few drops, so I close the tap and try another, same thing. So I opened the top of the draft box up and look down inside the freezer to see that the regulator says 0PSI empty. This cylinder has only been used to dispense 3-4 kegs of beer so far, plus misc cleaning of lines and such. Out of curiousity I tried the other taps and the only one that poured was soda. I know that this means somewere I have developed a leak, I recently moved the kegerator, therefore took everything out and later put it all back together. Shouldn't the check valves have allowed pressure to remain in all of the kegs, unless the leak was from the keg itself. Then if one keg leaked and emptied the whole CO2 bottle the other kegs should still have the residual pressure in them, that pressure shouldn't bleed off right? The only keg that still had any pressure was the soda, but that could have been the CO2 coming out of solution. I plan on getting a refill today and investigating the leak further, but this is really bugging me. Someone must have an idea. Paul

 

[Sherpa FE]

Paul,
If you have this regulator;
http://northernbrewer.com/pics/fullsize/distributor-4.jpg

Then I would pull it, out put it in a bucket of water, and pressure test it up to 50 PSI.
I got two of them that leaked badly. Midwest Brewing Supply said the guys that manufactured them, put out a bad batch of them.

If that is good, then I would start at the regulator, using a saopy solution, or diluted Star-San will work too, and check for leaks, if thats good move on to the next component so on so forth until you can find it.

Make sure you have lots of teflon tape on everything.
The bottle can still empty if the leak is from the manifold, and the shut off valves were off. Thats how mine emptied. I am willing to bet, that if you recently bought the manifold, thats where your leak is.

I will caution you though, once you find a leak, and fix it, dont stop there, check the whole system again. Once fixed, gas will find the next weakest spot and then your process will start over, so it is very important that you check everything.

Hopw this helps
Josh

 

[csp]

I just ran into the same problem with my regulator. I found two tiny leaks underneath one of the gauges. Or to be more specific, where the threads are. Any suggestions on how to fix this?

 

[Paulinuke]

For your problem I think teflon tape is in order. I would take the fitting out of the regulator and clean off all the threads, then reassemble everything giving any threaded fitting 4-5 wraps of teflon tape. Good luck Paul

 

[Paulinuke]

I think I fugured out what happened with my leak. I am fairly certain that when I closed the lid on my kegerator the beer lines came in contact with the pressure relief valves of the regulators and caused it to release from there. Paul