Kegging,, AHH Please Help.. Co2 leak??

[Kplum]

I was excited.. Got the Kegerator set up.. Put the regulator on 30psi.. High Pressure looked good, and boom.. my high pressure bottomed out.. My co2 tank is in the freezer.. When I opened the freezer I could tell that i was breathing co2.. I have read and read.. sprayed and sprayed.. cannot find a leak.. I did notice my co2 bottle had ice on it.. my regulator is soaked with condensation or gas or some sort of liquid.. My regulator does hum when i get it to 30psi, but it stops prettywhen it gets there.. have no clue.. I have unhooked and tightened and unhooked.. sprayed some more.. cannot see bubbles.. I might just be paranoid.. My co2 tank does feel significantly lighter.. I am thinking my co2 regulator gasket is bad.. I just do not know how to tell.. maybe i should get an oring in conjunction with the gasket.. ]

I am just worried about breathing in gas.. that cannot be normal..

any suggestions..

 

[Wellshooter]

Why 30 psi? Normal kegerator pressure is 8-10 psi. Are your lines rated that high? Mine are not. I would also recommend that the bottle be on the outside and run the hose inside.

 

[Kplum]

i was trying my hand at force carbing.. so 30psi.. does it really make a big difference if the tank is on the inside?

 

[ImperialLover]

No. It doesn't make a difference unless your freezer gets to like negative 200+. I have a keg/draft setup and it's an annoyance to have a leak and not be able to find it. If you've sprayed and can't find a leak then try to disconnect everything. Check out all of the o-rings in your regulator. I had a problem like this in the past and an o-ring was pushed to the center creating a small leak that never made enough air to bubble up when sprayed. However, when submerged (as you do a tire when looking for a lead) it bubble consistently. Try to submerge your system's regulator and connections. If no bubbling then check the lines themselves. Hope it was helpful. Happy brewing.
Chase

 

[Kplum]

I guess I can just submerge the regulator in a bucket of water while its hooked up.. if that doesnt work.. I guess I will take the keg apart and try again.. I may just transfer to another keg and see what happens, if i cannot find the leak in the regulator.. thanks for the help..

 

[ImperialLover]

No problem brother. Keep us posted.

 

[Kplum]

I lost all Co2 today.. There has to be a leak somewhere, or just not hooked up right.. I am thinking of transferring the beer into another keg.. then take the keg that has beer in it currently and reworking that.. I do not have keg lube, so i guess I will have to get some.. Still cannot find leak anywhere.. I took the regulator apart and all looked good.. I will redo the orings in the keg.. see what happens.. I need to get some more co2

 

[ahave]

+1 on dipping your rig under water to look for leaks. Just make sure you bake it in the full sun for a while to make sure you get all the water moisture out!

If you can hear the reg humming then you must be passing gas through the regulator, but does not necessarily mean there is a leak - a fully carbed non leaking keg of beer will hum if you set it to 30 psi.

I would def check the tank gasket for any damage or brittleness.

I use regular Vaseline in place of keg lube. Seems to work fine.

 

[Kplum]

+1 on dipping your rig under water to look for leaks. Just make sure you bake it in the full sun for a while to make sure you get all the water moisture out!

If you can hear the reg humming then you must be passing gas through the regulator, but does not necessarily mean there is a leak - a fully carbed non leaking keg of beer will hum if you set it to 30 psi.

I would def check the tank gasket for any damage or brittleness.

I use regular Vaseline in place of keg lube. Seems to work fine.

I will try that..

 

[nootay]

is your co2 tank standing up or laying down? Not sure what type of kegerator you have but with my freezer on top, fridge on bottom refrigerator, i know my tank would not fit in my freezer standing up and i hear bad things can happen with the co2 tank laying down.

 

[mosquitocontrol]

Check all parts of the regulaotr. Not just the connections. Mine had a hairline crack when I received it new. Spray every inchh. Not sure how I feel about Submerging. Not something I would ever do.

 

[Kplum]

My co2 tank is standing up.. I am going to fill a 5# and a 20# today.. Give it another whirl.. The thing about submerging is that when I opened the diaphram up.. There is not alot of hardware.. A plastic disc, spring, O-ring.. I think it should be okay in water for a short period of time.. Especially if you dry it.. I cannot see where you would run into problems with it.. I might be wrong though..

 

[Kplum]

UPDATE:

Well I refilled my co2 today.. I sprayed everything, and found a small leak going from reg. to tank.. I fixed that, That could have been when I took the regulator apart.. I let is sit for and hour.. I lifted the freezer open, and could still breathe the co2 gas.. My high pressure dropped.. I also noticed that i could touch the gas in line to the keg and could hear a small leak, that happened when I giggled the connection.. So I tightened the hell outta that.. Going to give it another hour to see if i can still smell the co2 gas.. Running out of ideas..

Can any of you smell the gas when your kegerator is open?

 

[Kplum]

I wonder if it is just coming out of the hole on the reg. diaphram..