New regulator not working correctly

[chapman_164]

I just hooked up a new CO2 regulator (Taprite T742HP). When I put it on my 5# tank and tested it I noticed something that seemed a little strange: When I set it at anything less than about 18 PSI and open the regulator outlet valve I get a little spurt of CO2 as the pressure drops to 0 (low pressure gauge) and then the flow stops. If the regulator is set above 18 PSI then when I open the outlet valve the pressure drops about 18 PSI but I get a continual flow. Is that normal operation or is there something wrong in my system somewhere? The tank isn't full, but it's far from empty (the high pressure needle stays around 600 PSI the whole time). Did I just get a bad regulator? Thanks.

 

[kevink]

What happens if you open the regulator outlet valve and then set it to 18 (or anything less than 18)?

 

[chapman_164]

I get a short (1 second?) spurt of CO2 as the low pressure gauge falls to zero, then it stays there with no more gas coming out (at least not noticeably). Once you close the valve again the pressure slowly (like over 15 seconds) recovers to what you had set it at.

 

[Boom]

If you leave it in the on/open position, have you tried slowly turning up the dial? Maybe it's actually at 0 or something low.

I'd hook it up to the keg and see what it does, it'll have something pushing back on it and you'll be able to tell us the symptoms better

 

[Rev2010]

Is this while hooked up to a keg or are you just opening the valve and letting CO2 just vent out into air?


Rev.

 

[chapman_164]

No keg hooked up. Just letting the CO2 vent (or trying to - nothing is coming out).

It's sounding like it's a bad regulator. Luckily I bought it from brewhardware.com so Bobby already has a new one on the way to me. As usual, thanks for the great service Bobby! And thanks all for helping me to diagnose the problem.