Can anyone tell me what's wrong with my regulator? Pressure won't stop climbing

[nabdp]

Dual kegco regulator, both lines shut off/closed, no kegs connected, this is what happens when I turn on the gas. HUGE pressure buildup even with the dial turned way back, can't seem to stop it.

Is the regulator broken or can things be taken apart and fixed?



Thanks in advance.

 

[wsmith1625]

I don't know about fixing regulators, but they do sell rebuild kits for some models. Just sharing a deal with you in case you need to buy a new one.

https://www.homebrewfinds.com/2022/...-from-71-99-less-than-single-keg-model-2.html

 

[seilenos]

Are both your low-side valves 100% off?

 

[seilenos]

Regulators are basically:

CO2 -> Bottle Valve -> High Side Dial -> Regulator -> Low Side Dial -> Port Valve -> Keg

so figuring out where the problem could be is a process of elimination.

Isolate each side and test.

With the bottle valve off / port valve open, do you get low side dial pressure rise? Possible a keg is majorly over pressurized and you are getting leak back past any inline check.

With the bottle valve on / port valves off, do you get low side dial pressure rise? Rebuild, repair, or new regulator.

 

[SanPancho]

i'll second @seilenos here and say your best bet is to start by isolating the problem. the fact that your problem is RISING as opposed to leaking means pretty much what he noted- you've got a bad check valve letting gas from kegs back into reg, or something on the cylinder side isnt getting shut off.

you can rebuild it, but do some research and see what a rebuild kit costs for kegco. by the time you add shipping it might be easier to just buy a new one. unfortunately thats the math of the situation.

im working on two right now that are leaking, and i managed to find some cheap rebuild kits. they arent for the same brand, but i think its a diaphragm problem, and from all the regulators i've seen the diaphragms all looks the same to me, so im just hoping they're interchangable...

 

[nabdp]

Great community here, thanks so much all. No kegs are connected, just closed couplers at either end right now.

Air tank on, both port valves off, pressure rises quickly. So bad regulator, it sounds like? I assume it's easier to just buy a new one at this point, I was hopeful I may be able to take some things apart and "unstick" something but it sounds like it may be a bigger issue than that if I'm getting the pressure rise with no kegs connected and both port valves fully on the horizontal/off position.

How the heck does this happen? The last keg was fine. Is it possible I connected a keg with a pressurization issue that blew out the regulator?

 

[seilenos]

I don't there is anything you could have done on the low side to cause an issue. Nothing is absolute but the diaphragm is built for a pressure differential of hundreds of PSI and mucking up the low side would generally cause the differential to decrease. Besides, I believe the relief valve on that model is ~45 PSI so don't see you getting above that.

A regulator is a diaphragm compressed by a spring that itself can be made stiffer or looser via a screw:

diaphragm |- spring -| screw

Tearing into it might show something obvious or not (eg, broken or otherwise misaligned spring).
At this point might be worth a try since the only other reasonable option you have is to purchase a new one or source a rebuild kit (which would require disassembly anyway).