No co2 flow.. :-/

[burton178]

So I'm back to brewing after a couple years and had a decent brew day last week. I did BMs ale version of an Oktoberfest and the fermenter samples taste great!
Anyway, when I left last left off, I was kegging without much issue... I needed to exchange my co2 tank as the one I had was empty. The local arcet dealer obliged and I made my way home with the tank. (both the tank I turned in and the one I received are very old 50+ years I think)

This is where things started to go wrong...

-I put my regulator on the tank nice and snug... As I barely opened the tank valve, the low pressure gauge started going nuts. The needle was whipping back and forth very rapidly. If I opened the shutoff valve feeding to the keg then this behavior stopped.

-this whole time, by the way, the high pressure gauge hasn't flinched (and never did)

- so I had some oxyclean in the keg and put it under pressure To get the cleaner into the serving line.

-the low pressure gauge was reading normally now but I seemed to have little or no control over it with the pressure adjustment knob. In fact the knob feels very very hard to turn as though it's rusted (I can clearly see it's not)

- Now to the biggest problem of all. After just calling it a night (last night) because I was frazzled, I looked at things today. Now I can't get any co2 to flow!!! I have the regulator on snug, tank wide open and the shutoff valve to the keg open.. And I don't hear any gas moving. The relief valves do nothing as well.

The tank is heavy like it's still full but I'm at a loss. My first guess is that I totally jacked up the regulator. Can I open the valve on the co2 slightly to see if anything is flowing without the regulator or would that be disastrous? Or is it designed not to flow without a regulator?

I await your help hbtalk!!!

 

[beaksnbeer]

Regulators function using a diaphragm and spring. The fact you had no movement on it would say it's done. Loosen the nut from the reg to the tank 1/2 to 3/4 turn open tank valve, should hiss. Is your regulator 50+ as well ?

 

[day_trippr]

[...]
The tank is heavy like it's still full but I'm at a loss. My first guess is that I totally jacked up the regulator. Can I open the valve on the co2 slightly to see if anything is flowing without the regulator or would that be disastrous? Or is it designed not to flow without a regulator?

I await your help hbtalk!!!

You can certainly disconnect the tank from the regulator and carefully crack the valve open just to make sure it works. You can then also weigh the tank and compare that weight against the tare weight stamped on the tank to determine how many pounds of CO2 remain...

Cheers!

 

[burton178]

I absolutely hate to post back when I look like a total fool, but maybe, just maybe, someone else can learn from my dumb mistakes..

I went to Arcet with my tank and regulator in hand to see if I could get help solving this mystery. The very nice gentleman, who is the manager of this branch obliged. The most obvious problem.. there was no gas in the tank anymore!!

So the problem was two part:

1. First, the tank I was given in the exchange turned out to be less than 1/4 full. It was absolutely an honest mistake and he exchanged tank today for no charge. The weight of the tank he gave me today FAR exceeded the weight of the tank he gave me Monday (I considered the fact that I may have dumped a full cylinder of CO2 and would have believed that had it not been for the weight difference between the two cylinders... and they were both the same size)

2. Here comes the "I'm an idiot part"... The few years since I had kegged made me forget the regulator knob has to be OUT to be closed.. I was trying to screw it all the way IN... DUMB. That's why it was so hard to turn and also why the regulator was WIDE OPEN making the low pressure guage go CRAZY... I'm guessing this also attributed to dumping out the remaining little bit of gas in the tank.

So, I've got it straight now... Once the regulator knob was in it's proper place we were able to regulate normal low pressure and the gauge was reading normally. The high pressure regulator still isn't functioning properly but I may have toasted it. I can survive without that for now as it's pretty easy to tell when the CO2 is running low.

There it is boys and girls. Learn from me, I don't mind helping others from my mistakes! :fro:

 

[day_trippr]

[...]

The high pressure regulator still isn't functioning properly but I may have toasted it. I can survive without that for now as it's pretty easy to tell when the CO2 is running low.[...]

Well....maybe not that easy...

Cheers!

 

[burton178]

Well played