How Many Corny Kegs Should a CO2 Tank Carbonate?

[day_trippr]

I had a rough experience many years ago when outfitting a fridge with a 4 way CO2 manifold, so when I did the second fridge I dunked the works - and
found no fewer than four leaks, including iirc a cracked fisheye washer, less than tight swivel nut, less than tight band clamp, and a poorly taped end plug. Those would have been a nightmare to debug in place, so it was totally worth taking the time to leak test before installing everything...

Cheers!

 

[IslandLizard]

submerged them in a plastic bin with 4 inches of water. turned on the air [...]

Although one could test for leaks using compressed air, I reckon you used CO2 from your tank.

 

[sbro]

Yes, I used the CO2 for convenience as it did not lose much during the submersion test and eliminated the need for an adapter to compressed air.

 

[Broken Crow]

What do you mean?

The angles of the pictures...they skillfully avoided all the details.

 

[Bobby_M]

Note... people are picking up that there's a gasket zip tied to the tank stem of the regulator. Many regs will have one in place and also include a spare. Yes, definitely check that there is one in place between the tank and reg but I suspect it is.

Here is how you can perform a leak down test to see if you have a leak and generally isolate it to where.

Open the valve of the tank fully open. Turn the yellow quarter turn valve on the bottom of the regulator OFF/SHUT. Set your low pressure to 30psi exactly. Turn the tank valve off and start a timer. Does the low pressure gauge hold at exactly 30psi for 10 minutes? No=your leak is probably between the tank and regulator. That nut should be tight, like a 12" adjustable wrench with half your body weight on it.

Yes=no leaks between the tank and regulator and none of the accessories threaded into the regulator have leak problems. Moving on...

Open the yellow valve on the regulator, but keep the three output valves on the distributor/splitter in the closed position. Open the tank valve again, then close it. Set a timer for 10 minutes. Is the gauge still reading 30? Yes means still no leak problems INCLUDING the distributor. If the pressure slipped below 30, your leak is somewhere between the regulator and distributor or on the threads of the distributor fittings. Dunk all that in water and look for bubbles.

Moving on...

With none of your grey QDs attached to any kegs, open valve 1 and perform the leak down process. Open the tank valve, close it, timer... 10 minutes... If valve one holds, open valve 2 and repeat, then valve 3...
If all three of the lines hold 30 psi then your leak is involving one or more kegs or the connection between the QD and keg.


My opinion is that it's somewhere in the tubing to barb connections because it looks like those clamps are squeezing the tubing smaller than the OD. To me, that indicates that the inside diameter of the tubing is slightly larger than the barbs they are connected to. Maybe not. Do the leak down test as it's the most meticulous way of finding the general area of a leak.

 

[tracer bullet]

Here is how you can perform a leak down test to see if you have a leak and generally isolate it to where.

Thanks. That's what I was also trying to suggest way above, but I don't think it made sense. You made it a lot more clear. Interested to see if they will try this.