Spunding valve: pressure relief valve not accurate? Slow leak too

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fun4stuff

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So pressure relief valve of my spunding valve does not seem to be accurate. It has a range of 0-100 psi. When i open it, gas will start coming out at around 15-30 psi when pressure on gauge reads 10 psi. Is this typical?

Also i have a slow leak. If i pressurize spunding valve by connecting to co2 (eg 10 psi) and then disconnecting, it will slowly drop in pressure (eg to 9 psi) over a few hours. I used sealant tape on all connections, tightened everything, have a hose clamp on barb. I’m not sure where the leak is coming from, other than perhaps the gauge. It seems cheap and i think there is a very small crack in clear plastic face of it; sprayed soapy water on everything and see no soap bubbles though.



I built the spunding valve with following parts:

Control Devices CR Series Brass Pressure Relief Valve, 0-100 psi Adjustable Pressure Range, 1/4" Male NPT https://www.amazon.com/dp/B007GDY3CU/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_WNxqEb4HJRK8G

Anderson Metals 57001-0404 Brass Hose Fitting, Adapter, 1/4" Barb x 1/4" NPT Male Pipe https://www.amazon.com/dp/B002SAO7XQ/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_5QxqEbEMS6A10

HFS (R) TEE Fitting - Female FNPT 3-Way Tee Stainless (1/4" Female NPT) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01L2Y4LAW/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_ARxqEbRVHEJTS
 
Those spring poppet type PRVs are notorious. Ignore the markings on the stem, only pay attention to your pressure gauge. The markings are practically meaningless. As for the slow leak, that's another notorious failing of these types of valves. I've built and discarded a number of spunding valves like this, before I stopped wasting money and effort and started using the Kegland Blow Tie valves, assembled with Duotight fittings, all available from William's Brewing. These are diaphragm valves that are much more precise and reliable. You may also look to other sources, but in general, what you want is a precision diaphragm valve.
 
Robert65 said:
Those spring poppet type PRVs are notorious. Ignore the markings on the stem, only pay attention to your pressure gauge. The markings are practically meaningless. As for the slow leak, that's another notorious failing of these types of valves. I've built and discarded a number of spunding valves like this, before I stopped wasting money and effort and started using the Kegland Blow Tie valves, assembled with Duotight fittings, all available from William's Brewing. These are diaphragm valves that are much more precise and reliable. You may also look to other sources, but in general, what you want is a precision diaphragm valve.
Click to expand...

cool, will do. Thanks
 
Just for another data point, I've had 2 of these setups for about 6 months and one has already developed a slow leak. Time to move on
 
Robert65 said:
Those spring poppet type PRVs are notorious. Ignore the markings on the stem, only pay attention to your pressure gauge. The markings are practically meaningless. As for the slow leak, that's another notorious failing of these types of valves. I've built and discarded a number of spunding valves like this, before I stopped wasting money and effort and started using the Kegland Blow Tie valves, assembled with Duotight fittings, all available from William's Brewing. These are diaphragm valves that are much more precise and reliable. You may also look to other sources, but in general, what you want is a precision diaphragm valve.
Click to expand...


I've experienced the same thing with the two I built a few months ago. I can't return any of the items to Amazon, so could I just replace the valve portion of my assembly with the Blow Tie?
 
Got my Kegland spunding valve today. At first it was not working- could not get it to release its pressure. Then i noticed they had the T connected to the wrong side of the red BlowTie valve. In case anyone else has the problem, there is an an arrow on the blowtie valve that should point away from the T.
 
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Well i must have bad luck with these spunding valves. This new one from Kegland also has a very slow leak.

i hooked it up to one of my kegs last night and pressure read 12 psi. I unhooked it and it still read 12 psi (valve completely closed). Overnight gauge dropped to 5 psi.

Edit:
I replaced the connecting beer line of the spunding valve with longer pieces. Tightened QD. Will see if that fixes it.
 
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Did you use plumbers tape around the gauge? I vaguely recall having a leak when it was initially assembled. Once I used plumbers tape and really tightened the gauge, it was fine.
 
Carolina_Matt said:
Did you use plumbers tape around the gauge? I vaguely recall having a leak when it was initially assembled. Once I used plumbers tape and really tightened the gauge, it was fine.
Click to expand...

it’s pushes into the duo
tight fitting without any thread. Still use plumber’s tape?

On my other spunding valve that has threads, i used that white plumbers tape on all threads and still had leaks there too :(
 
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fun4stuff said:
it’s pushes into the duo
tight fitting without any thread. Still use plumber’s tape?

On my other sounding valve that has threads, i used that white plumbers tape on all threads and still had leaks there too :(
Click to expand...
No. No tape on any PTC fittings. Tape or other measures will just interfere with the designed function of the fittings.
 
I wonder how others are testing these for leaks. If i left it connected to a keg, the leak is so slow that i may not have noticed it.
 
fun4stuff said:
I wonder how others are testing these for leaks. If i left it connected to a keg, the leak is so slow that i may not have noticed it.
Click to expand...
Build your spunding valve, pressurize it, and put it in a bucket of water. you will see a slow bubble form from the PRV - you have the same PRV i have, i just returned a new one to amazon due to it leaking. slow tiny bubble every second or so.
 
Spikybits said:
Build your spunding valve, pressurize it, and put it in a bucket of water. you will see a slow bubble form from the PRV - you have the same PRV i have, i just returned a new one to amazon due to it leaking. slow tiny bubble every second or so.
Click to expand...

yeah, i lucked out for that PRV. When i went to return amazon said they would send me a new one and didn’t have to return the old one. I’m still waiting on the new one to arrive.
 
fun4stuff said:
yeah, i lucked out for that PRV. When i went to return amazon said they would send me a new one and didn’t have to return the old one. I’m still waiting on the new one to arrive.
Click to expand...
same deal with me - tried to return but they just sent me a new one without asking for a return. i was unable to fix the leaking one
 
Spikybits said:
same deal with me - tried to return but they just sent me a new one without asking for a return. i was unable to fix the leaking one
Click to expand...

Well my new PRV came in the mail today. Something is still leaking. I’m dipping both my spunding valves in water to see where the leaks are coming from. Very slow leak. Can’t tell yet.

i went a message to lions brewing. They said to initiate a return through eBay, which i did. Here’s hoping..:
 
fun4stuff said:
Got my Kegland spunding valve today. At first it was not working- could not get it to release its pressure. Then i noticed they had the T connected to the wrong side of the red BlowTie valve. In case anyone else has the problem, there is an an arrow on the blowtie valve that should point away from the T.
Click to expand...

LOL, both of mine were like this too. I'm sorry to say that it took me a few minutes of head scratching to sort it out
 
Having plenty of EVA barrier tubing and various Duotight fittings on hand must of the time, I put together spunding valves just by ordering the individual parts needed -- Blow Tie, gauge, tee, adapter, whatever. It works out to about half the price of buying the pre assembled ones off Ebay or elsewhere, and if some idiot got the arrow backwards, I know exactly who it was. [emoji6]
 
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Dustin_J said:
LOL, both of mine were like this too. I'm sorry to say that it took me a few minutes of head scratching to sort it out
Click to expand...

Are yours leaking? Like if you connect to gas then disconnect, do they hold pressure?

The one i got has a slow leak. Loses like 0.5 psi per hour. So I’m exchanging it.

But i have the evabarrier tubing on and a couple extra gas QDs. I’m thinking i should just order the gauge and T and put one together myself if the next one leaks.
 
Robert65 said:
Having plenty of EVA barrier tubing and various Duotight fittings on hand must of the time, I put together spunding valves just by ordering the individual parts needed -- Blow Tie, gauge, tee, adapter, whatever. It works out to about half the price of buying the pre assembled ones off Ebay or elsewhere, and if some idiot got the arrow backwards, I know exactly who it was. [emoji6]
Click to expand...

where do you buy those parts individually?
 
fun4stuff said:
Are yours leaking? Like if you connect to gas then disconnect, do they hold pressure?

The one i got has a slow leak. Loses like 0.5 psi per hour. So I’m exchanging it.

But i have the evabarrier tubing on and a couple extra gas QDs. I’m thinking i should just order the gauge and T and put one together myself if the next one leaks.
Click to expand...

Only tested one - just put some pressure on it and set it aside for a few hours. It didn't drop. I did note, though, that if I moved them around a little and put a little side/lateral pressure on the connections, they would start leaking immediately.
 
Dustin_J said:
Only tested one - just put some pressure on it and set it aside for a few hours. It didn't drop. I did note, though, that if I moved them around a little and put a little side/lateral pressure on the connections, they would start leaking immediately.
Click to expand...
That's odd. A whole lot of people are using the EVA/ Duotight system now, and I've never heard of any leaking in the connections. I haven't experienced any. The only criticism I have of related products is that, like all the knockoffs, the Kegland QDs are inferior to CMB and sometimes have loose tolerances in the inner diameter; they may require a thicker post o-ring to seal. Or just use CMB.
 
Robert65 said:
That's odd. A whole lot of people are using the EVA/ Duotight system now, and I've never heard of any leaking in the connections. I haven't experienced any. The only criticism I have of related products is that, like all the knockoffs, the Kegland QDs are inferior to CMB and sometimes have loose tolerances in the inner diameter; they may require a thicker post o-ring to seal. Or just use CMB.
Click to expand...

Hmm, I'll check into that a little more when I have some time. I should probably clarify that when I said "a little" pressure, it was pushing by hand not just what you'd get by letting things hang naturally, for example. I have really tight lid clearance in my ferm chamber which means that the lid pushes down slightly on anything that sticks up, like a spunding apparatus - was trying to see there would be any potential issues.
 
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Dustin_J said:
Hmm, I'll check into that a little more when I have some time. I should probably clarify that when I said "a little" pressure, it was pushing by hand not just what you'd get by letting things hang naturally, for example. I have really tight lid clearance in my ferm chamber which means that the lid pushes down slightly on anything that sticks up, like a spunding apparatus - was trying to see there would be any potential issues.
Click to expand...
I, and those with towers on their kegerators, have found that you can force these EVA/ Duotight connections to a 90° on just about a 1" radius with no problems. This seems to be about the closest system to perfect around. If these leaking spunding valves were all purchased pre assembled off Ebay, I wonder if someone got a lot of factory second parts, or somehow compromised them?
 
I’ll report back when i get the replacement in the mail. Funny how they were all but together backwards.

the one i got was also put together with really short Eva tubing- like connections are bubbles together and could hardly see the tubing. At first i thought that may be the issue so i reached the Eva tubing with longer lengths. Tightened QD. It still had a slow leak.

Submerged it in water and couldn’t see air bubbles. It was a real slow length so maybe i could have watched a little longer.
 
Well, I was nowhere near 90 degrees - something seems amiss. I'll check with water in a few days. FWIW, mine were pre-assembled just like fun4stuff's - I think something is a bit fishy.

Just a thought, I wonder if the tubing used is slightly too small/narrow? I don't know much about the different sizes available, but if whoever assembled them used something that wasn't sized right, that might explain both of our issues.

I've been strongly considering converting my two serving systems/kegerators to the DuoTight fittings/hoses due to the potential benefits regarding oxygen permeability - maybe now is the time (with the correct tubing). That'd provide some spare/slack tubing to check these out.
 
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That's how I got started! I had heard lots of recommendations of the Blow Tie, and was frustrated with the leaky conventional valves I'd built, but hadn't acted. Then I redid my keezer (gas and beer) with all EVA barrier and Duotight for low oxygen purposes, which meant buying 39' of tubing. Now I had most of that left. So build a spunding valve, I figure. Then all my gear for pulling samples and transferring to kegs (jumpers, spare CO2 bottle, etc.,) and eventually a couple more spunding valves... kinda went crazy finding things to do with all the tubing. But I'm so happy I did. There's nothing that can top this stuff.
 
fun4stuff said:
the one i got was also put together with really short Eva tubing- like connections.
Click to expand...

This could be the problem. One of the retailers sells 1 1/4 inch pieces as connectors. But cutting my own, I've found you need a good 1 1/2 or, better, 1 3/4 inch piece or it won't push all the way into each fitting before you pull back to lock it in. This could result in the tubing not being fully retained inside the o-rings. Perhaps just getting some EVA barrier tubing and cutting your own connectors could be the answer. If you don't want 39 feet, I believe Bobby at Brew Hardware is now buying rolls and selling 5 or 6 foot lengths.
 
Robert65 said:
This could be the problem. One of the retailers sells 1 1/4 inch pieces as connectors. But cutting my own, I've found you need a good 1 1/2 or, better, 1 3/4 inch piece or it won't push all the way into each fitting before you pull back to lock it in. This could result in the tubing not being fully retained inside the o-rings. Perhaps just getting some EVA barrier tubing and cutting your own connectors could be the answer. If you don't want 39 feet, I believe Bobby at Brew Hardware is now buying rolls and selling 5 or 6 foot lengths.
Click to expand...

I feel the same way about my gas/beer lines. Switching over has been a real eye opener for me. I love not having to clear the lines of oxidized beer like I did before when pulling a pint.

I think Bobby sells the line in 5.5ft increments.
 
Robert65 said:
This could be the problem. One of the retailers sells 1 1/4 inch pieces as connectors. But cutting my own, I've found you need a good 1 1/2 or, better, 1 3/4 inch piece or it won't push all the way into each fitting before you pull back to lock it in. This could result in the tubing not being fully retained inside the o-rings. Perhaps just getting some EVA barrier tubing and cutting your own connectors could be the answer. If you don't want 39 feet, I believe Bobby at Brew Hardware is now buying rolls and selling 5 or 6 foot lengths.
Click to expand...
I had an autocorrect error from above. I meant to say that i replaced the Eva tubing in the spunding valve with longer lengths from what i had left over from doing my lines, but it still leaked. I made sure to push them all the way in- the lengths that were used on mine were way too short. I definitely should have just made my own!

i used the 3/16” tubing though. Is this the correct diameter? I know they also make 5/16”. Maybe that’s the problem?

As a side note- i do really like the tubing. I never knew there was tubing that would prevent the beer in the lines from going bad. Next up i have to replace my gas lines with it.
 
They give the measurements in mm, but the OD is what matters. It should be 8mm OD, which is just about 5/16. Inside diameter varies, there are at least 4mm (~5/32) and 5mm (~3/16) sizes with the 8mm OD. Confused yet? They also have some sizes with 9mm outside diameter. I think I got all that right.
 
That's the one, 4mm ID x 8mm OD. But isn't that what you already have? I mean, same OD? The ID doesn't affect how it fits in the fittings.
 
Robert65 said:
That's the one, 4mm ID x 8mm OD. But isn't that what you already have? I mean, same OD? The ID doesn't affect how it fits in the fittings.
Click to expand...
Yes, that’s the same one. It still leaked. So must have been another part that was causing the leak.
 
I got my second spunding valve from lion brewing. It was again put together backwards with tubing that was too short (despite mentioning in my initial message to the seller about these issues). I also asked them to check and make sure it didn’t leak; they obviously didn’t check given it was put together backwards and QD was not tightened.

Well, this one leaks too. Must be a bad batch and that’s why they are so cheap. I’ll be returning it and doing what i should have done in the first place- make my own.
 

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