Early last month I picked up a brand new taprite 3 body secondary to replace the basic distribution block I was using and I noticed that it doesn't seem to keep pressure. I am using brand new hose and 15.7mm pinch clamps and have put leak detector fluid at both ends with no bubbles and even at the threads of all parts of the new regulator and the primary but am getting no bubbles. I don't think my primary is an issue because if I shut it off like in the picture, it holds pressure just fine, and I didn't have any leaks with it and my distribution block that I noticed but the new secondary slowly drops pressure overnight (the right gauge in my pic was at 30 last night). The new set has a sticker that says it was supposedly built and tested in march of this year, so I have a hard time believing it could be leaking but I honestly don't know what else it could be. I have tried a different hose on the off chance it could possibly be that and re-doing the clamps with new ones and it still dropped pressure. Should I just contact taprite at this point? or maybe austin homebrew where I bought it? it's been longer than their 30 day return period though so I don't know if they can help me.
Brand new regulator leaking?
- Thread starter zolakk
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I'm just guessing, but it appears the secondary regulator is measuring the pressure of the volume of air trapped in the red tube and manifold by the closed valves. The volume of air in the tube could experience pressure changes if the temperature changes, but I'm not sure how much it would take to cause a 10 psi drop in the tube. Will the gauge pressure rise if it gets warmer in the room? Do the other regulators experience the same thing?
That's a possibility, but the room is kept around 78 degrees (give or take a 2-3 degree swing) so i'm not sure if that's a big enough temperature change to make that big of a difference in the pressure. Also, I left it overnight and it continued to drop, with the left two dropping with the right one after it dropped past the 15 they were set at to the 10ish they are at now, which is why I think there's a leak somewhere
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If there was a leak, I would expect the pressure to continue dropping to zero psig.
It has dropped a bit more since my last picture, so I am sure by tonight or tomorrow morning at the latest it will be 0 on all three. What should I do in that case?
Submerge the whole thing in water and look for leaks
Have you tried tightening all the regulator and manifold connections (gages, connecting pipes, valve connections, etc?)
I re-pressurized the set and put both the primary and secondaries in water and after settling and waiting about 20 minutes, I didn't see any bubbles but it's such a slow leak I'm not surprised. Instead of sitting there all day watching it, I set up a camera so I can go back and watch in fast forward and hopefully I'll have better luck spotting the leak
So it took about 30 minutes or so to show the first bubble but it seemed to be coming from under the middle and left knob. I tightened the black plastic parts down a bit more on all three and it still seems to be leaking, but at least more slowly. I ended up contacting Austin Homebrew where I bought it and after a bit of discussion, they agreed to have me ship it to them to take a look at what's going on.
glad that worked for you
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