i am doing SOMETHING very very wrong. please help!

[boogiesnap]

hi all, i hooked up my first corny to a fresh 2.5# C02 tank saturday afternoon. sunday night the bottle was MT. i thought the release valve on the corny was stuck open a bit. grrrr, ok, noobie error, grab another tank on monday.

tuesday night it's MT AGAIN!!!

i had checked with soapy water, no leaks.

what could i possibly be doing? i did fiddle with the pressure a couple times to test pour pressure at the tap, but could that have dumped 2 whole bottles???

please offer advice, a 3rd bottle this week is gonna kill me.

 

[two_hearted]

Do have a washer between the cylinder and the regulator? If so, maybe it is cracked. I had the same experience and that was the issue.

Or, did you test the corny keg for leaks. Some are tough to get to hold pressure.

 

[boogiesnap]

yup, fresh washer. tested for leaks with soapy water. first time the lid bubbled, i resealed it and retested, no leaks.

 

[onthekeg]

I would imagine if you are killing tanks that quickly that you would hear the release of CO2? Did you also spray your regulator and tank connections?

 

[BigRob]

There's a leak somewhere, there's so many places it can leak, luckily they're all easily fixable with a spraybottle of starsan and some observation. Don't skip testing anything that is connected to your CO2, and you'll sort out the leak.

 

[boogiesnap]

i didn't spray the regulator tank connections, but it held level for the better part of a day after i picked it up from the store. i don't think it's there. but i will check there now in the future.

question....if you hit the release valve on the regulator, how much gas comes out?
could you dump a whole 2.5#'s in a couple seconds that way?

i may have done that.

 

[onthekeg]

the release valve shouldn't dump your tank, the only way it would is if it stuck open slightly and drained over time. You could have a leaky regulator. Spray everything from the valve to the QD on the end of your hose and look for leaks.

 

[boogiesnap]

thanks a ton everybody. where the fark is this leak???

instead of buying a 2nd corny i'm burning up my budget on darn gas. *rant over*

i don't have starsan, i used soapy water. i have iodine and c-brite. is there something better than soapy water i should use?

 

[BigRob]

Not enough to account for that.

Everything needs to be checked, while the system is pressurized.

-Disconnect the gas QDs, and dunk them into a jug of water or starsan, they might not be seated properly, or they might be assembled improperly.

-Attach the gas QDs and spray down the whole area again, if it's not sealing properly, it can leak.

-Spray down the posts, and the lid, the pressure relief valve, etc.

-Spray down the regulator, the connection at the tank, and the connection at the regulator.

-Still nothing? spray down, or immerse your gas line maybe you've got a hole in it.

 

[BrewThruYou]

Very frustrating...I lost two 20lb tanks of co2 to leaks.

There's definitely more things that can go wrong with the kegs than the regulator/tank/hoses. Keep in mind that our reconditioned kegs are old and some have been through hell. If you used the correct hose and good clamps, the hoses should be fine. Make sure you have a seal on the tank to regulator (washer and teflon tape).

The next step is checking the kegs...posts, poppets, lid o-ring, etc. I had one keg with a bad poppet and two kegs with bad lid seals.

 

[boogiesnap]

thanks again. i'll head to the LHBS where i got the stuff, swap a new tank, and very slowly and carefully check everything.

maybe if i shed a tear they'll hook me up.....

what about releasing the pressure in the keg while the tank is still on, could that drain a whole tank?

i may have done that too.

 

[airmek]

Fill your tub with water. Assemble and pressurize your system. Submerge everything but the regulator. Including the entire keg. That will show you the tiniest of leaks. It can be difficult to find a leak with soapy water if you are using a low quality soap and/or have hard water.

As far as submerging the entire keg, pay particular attention to the edges of the rubber. I once had a keg that had a tiny pinhole leak under the rubber and was difficult to track down.

 

[Burgs]

thanks again. i'll head to the LHBS where i got the stuff, swap a new tank, and very slowly and carefully check everything.

maybe if i shed a tear they'll hook me up.....

what about releasing the pressure in the keg while the tank is still on, could that drain a whole tank?

i may have done that too.

No, the only way you'd drain the whole tank is if you left it open and walked away. Just burping it for a few seconds isn't going to do that.

 

[boogiesnap]

Fill your tub with water. Assemble and pressurize your system. Submerge everything but the regulator. Including the entire keg. That will show you the tiniest of leaks. It can be difficult to find a leak with soapy water if you are using a low quality soap and/or have hard water.

As far as submerging the entire keg, pay particular attention to the edges of the rubber. I once had a keg that had a tiny pinhole leak under the rubber and was difficult to track down.

ok thank you.

will this still be good idea even though the keg is full of beer?

 

[mosquitocontrol]

Definitely check everything including your regulator. When I first got my regulator it had a hairline crack which was leaking co2. If I recall correctly, it wasn't directly next to a connection so I had missed it the first go around.

 

[airmek]

ok thank you.

will this still be good idea even though the keg is full of beer?

As long as it's pressurized it should be fine. The weight of the beer will help submerge it. Sanitize the fittings and lid etc if you need to open it or disconnect the hoses afterwards.

 

[boogiesnap]

So I think I found the leak. There is a dent in the in post on the corny. I can hear a faint hiss and if I jiggle the disconnect it get louder or softer.

At least I'll know what to look for next time.

 

[Toymaker]

That's great that you found the leak. Check for others!
I had a couple of leaks in my setup too the best way to find it was by submerging the whole setup in water. I took the faces of the gauges apart so they'd dry out then dunked the whole thing underwater. I had one leak that would have emptied a tank in no time and another that would have taken a few days. I tested my kegs before hand with just co2 for a couple of weeks. I charged them up to 15 PSI and left them. Make sure you test your lines and ball/pinlock connectors too!

 

[day_trippr]

So I think I found the leak. There is a dent in the in post on the corny. I can hear a faint hiss and if I jiggle the disconnect it get louder or softer.

At least I'll know what to look for next time.

fwiw, if the dent/ding is on the top rim of the post, that may not be the root-cause of the leak. Usually, if wiggling a QD causes gas to escape, it's due to a defective post o-ring.

I'd definitely replace that o-ring, give it a film of keg lube, reattach the QD, and see if it still leaks when wiggled, before giving up on the post...

Cheers!

 

[BigRob]

Make sure the "ding" isn't just the liquid post, both posts are not identical.

 

[boogiesnap]

thanks guys.

that raises another question, should the QD "wiggle" at all? the liquid side seems very snug, but the gas side is pretty loose.

is there supposed to be an O ring or gasket inside the QD? (not the tiny tiny one inside the housing)

i'm going to lug the whole set-up, full keg and all to my LHBS where i bought it from today and ask them to diagnose and solve.

 

[boogiesnap]

here's a pic of the dent.

 

[day_trippr]

There's no o-ring inside the QD that makes contact with the post.

That the gas QD is wiggly compared to the beer QD is probably significant. The QD should only wiggle to the extent that the o-ring is compliant. It should never feel "loose".

The displaced metal from that ding may be slightly pinching the top of the o-ring, but I'm still betting the problem is a bad o-ring. What I'd do is remove the o-ring and use a small file to remove the displaced metal at the top edge of the o-ring groove to bring that edge of the groove to the same height as its surrounding, then fit a new o-ring.

But as long as you're taking the keg back to your LHBS, have them replace the post with a new o-ring and let them deal with the dinged post

Cheers!

 

[greenbirds]

I know you mentioned this in your original post, but triple check the pressure relief valve on the corny lid. I have had some that were very difficult to detect a leak coming from them, even when they are completely twisted on. I have replaced at least 5 valves out of my 14 kegs with these new design valves.

Another area where I had a leak was the regulator output to the gas hose. I use worm clamps, and sometimes it's difficult to get a proper seal, especially if the hose end is chewed up from being reclamped multiple times.

Good luck, CO2 leaks are the worst.

 

[Darwin18]

Did you replace the O-rings that the keg came with? Also are you using keg lube on the O-rings, especially the one on the lid? A little keg lube really helps set the seal...

 

[boogiesnap]

Did you replace the O-rings that the keg came with? Also are you using keg lube on the O-rings, especially the one on the lid? A little keg lube really helps set the seal...

i did not replace any seals. got it from the LHBS, assumed it had been reconditioned.

i'm going to pick up some lube this week-end.

 

[BigRob]

The "dented" post in the picture you posted looks a lot like a liquid post fastened to the gas in side of your keg.

 

[alestateyall]

i did not replace any seals. got it from the LHBS, assumed it had been reconditioned.

i'm going to pick up some lube this week-end.

I think reconditioned to most vendors means that the keg doesn't leak co2. They don't replace anything they don't have to. That is why some reconditioned kegs come with a free set of o-rings.

I proactively changed my o-rings when I got my kegs. The post o-rings were beat to hell when I exposed them. I also had a bend on one of my gas posts just like yours. I replaced the post so the bent lip would not cut the post o-ring or push it out of position.

 

[alestateyall]

The "dented" post in the picture you posted looks a lot like a liquid post fastened to the gas in side of your keg.

I think it is a gas post. It has 12 points at the base. Those points are only on the gas posts.

 

[beninan]

The picture you posted is a gas post. The number of "points" doesn't determine gas or liquid, rather than the notch that runs horizontal around the "points". As you can see in the picture, there IS a horizontal notch around the points of the post, so that IS a gas post.