diaphragm issues on regulator?

[adamjab19]

Disclaimer: I'm an idiot. I don't know anything about regulators and should have asked first.

So yesterday I kegged my first beer and had just enough CO2 in a paintball tank to set the lid of the keg. No problem. I go and get the CO2 tank refilled today and wanted to purge the keg and hit it with a little more CO2, for whatever reason. I go to hook up my CO2 tank to the regulator today and CO2 comes flying out of the check valve and the regulator freezes instantly not too mention my hand that was right at the check valve. Ouch! I called the LHBS and they asked if I had the toggle (the red switch thingy) near the gas line closed, I did. They suggested a blown diaphragm.

Can I replace it? Where can I get a diaphragm? I am SO pissed right now!

Here is the regulator

Thank you.

 

[samc]

google the brand/model of the regulator and see if it has a rebuild kit.

 

[adamjab19]

I have another call into the LHBS to figure out the brand name.


How the hell am I suppose to attacht the CO2 tank then? Am I suppose to have everything closed? (i.e.-the shutoff valve and pressure adjuster knob) Or am I suppose to have the shut off valve open but the pressure adjuster knob closed?

 

[adamjab19]

Also, could it just be that the bottle is overfilled and this the way it is being blown off? I really don't feel like repairing or buying a new regulator.

 

[Fett327]

Are you setting the bottle sideways as it is shown in the picture? Probably not, but I thought I'd ask since im pretty sure you should always keep the bottle upright. I heard something about the liquid CO2 gettin into the regulator and causing bad stuff to happen. Then again, it may just be something I heard.

 

[adamjab19]

I did it sideways too....damnit! I really had no idea what I was getting into I guess. I'll give it a try in a few days I suppose.

 

[adamjab19]

Well I tried the regulator late last night and it didn't go bazerk when I put the CO2 bottle on when it was standing up! So maybe the thing isn't totalled. There is a leak between the nipple on the tank and the adaptor thing so I am going to get a new O-ring for the tank.

 

[adamjab19]

Okay for completness:

I replaced the O-rings on both tanks. The one tank is still leaking from the adaptor thing but the other tank is rock solid! I have no idea what the hell was happening at first with all of the CO2 flying out of the quick release.

 

[david_42]

Most likely, since you had the tank horizontal, the regulator passed some liquid CO2.

 

[adamjab19]

Yup. The regulator got frosty cold in just a few seconds and took several minutes to thaw.

 

[adamjab19]

Ok now I really have the problem solved.

After doing some reading online I realized for the small CO2 tanks the best way to tell how much CO2 you have left is to weigh the tank. Online an empty 20oz CO2 tank should weigh 28oz. A filled one should weigh 48oz. (28oz tank + 20oz of CO2) Now, I screwed around with my tanks trying to figure out was going wrong and I thought I lost a ton of CO2 because they were constantly leaking gas. But after weighing it today (a few weeks after all of this) it came out to 2lbs 15oz....almost 48oz!!!! They overfilled my tank!! There is no way I lost only one oz of gas with all that I went through.

This is why the gas relief valve on my regulator was going nuts, not a bad diaphragm.