Build up in pressure: Is my regulator broken?

[Micha]

I woke up this morning to the proverbial gallons of beer on the floor. It so happens that there's been a build up in pressure overnight, and the plastic faucet, slowly but surely, leaked the whole keg.

Here's the catch: Even if the the CO2 was plugged to the keg, the regulator was closed. Fully, forcefully closed. The previous day, I had set the pressure to 15 PSI, and by the end of the day, it was at 50 PSI, so I did not trust it anymore[1]. Turns out, even closed, it could wreck havoc.

Hence I just want some confirmation that something's wrong. In the following video, I simply open the bottle, close the regulator, and plug in the regulator a quick disconnect that is left unplugged. The pressure rises. How normal is this?

https://youtu.be/vpf9T2Omr20

Thanks for your input!

[1]: I tried the fix of this thread, to no avail.

 

[day_trippr]

Obviously that's not normal behavior.

But I can see a gas line connected to the low pressure output.
Did you have that gas line connected to a keg during the video or not?

If you had it connected to a keg, repeat everything you did in the video with the keg disconnected and see what happens. With the pressure knob rotated fully counter-clockwise, if the pressure goes from zero to anything when the cylinder valve is opened that regulator is broken. Could be a breached diaphragm.

btw, I cannot find that regulator on the Parweld site. What model is it?

Cheers!

 

[Micha]

Hi there @day_trippr, thanks for your answer!

This was done with the gas line disconnected, but fitted with a quick disconnect, in order to build pressure. The regulator is this one—thanks for checking!—:
http://www.parweld.co.uk/shop/gas-c...egulator-single-stage-2-gauge-co2-side-entry/

That's the first I hear of a regulator that would break under normal use; in particular, that my first time using this one to force carb, hence the first time it is left on for hours at a time. Is it safe to assume that this unit had a defect and should be returned?

Cheers!
M.

 

[mabrungard]

A pressure regulator is an incredibly simple machine. In essence, needle valve, diaphragm, and spring. More than likely, your needle valve isn't sealing. It may need cleaning or replacement.

It appears that the front housing spins onto the back housing that has the gas ports and gauges. With the regulator off the tank, loosen the front housing and you should gain access to the parts mentioned above. The needle valve is under the diaphragm. Lift the needle valve out of the seat and see if something is on the seat or needle. If you're lucky, there will be a bit of debris and its removal could fix the problem.

Reassembly is just the reverse of the disassembly.

 

[Micha]

Thanks a lot for your input Martin—I'll keep that in mind next time I do have a problem. Appreciated!

As this was a fairly new piece of equipment, the online shop in which I bought it gave me a refund for the ingredients, and sent me a better regulator. I've learned since then that some other online shop used to carry this regulator, but stopped because of repeated reports that these were faulty.

Cheers!