Taprite quality issues. Anyone else?

[Grannyknot]

So I got this nice regulator for Christmas.

Hooked it up and it immediately starts blowing CO2 out of the emergency pressure relief valve on the left regulator. Decided to take it apart to see if there was debris or something hanging the valve open. My findings...hmmmm...i'm no machinist or anything, but i'm pretty sure I would have done a better job with this one (problem valve is on the right).

And the best part is that it even has the "passed QC inspection" sticker on the back. This QC guy either needs a drug test or some serious on the job training.

So I called Taprite and spoke to a customer service manager, we'll call her Brenda. I send Brenda some pictures of the issue while we are on the phone. First she jumps me because the fact that I removed these was a no-no. WTF, I'm a homebrewer. Like I'm not going to try and fix it myself. Then she admits that there is an issue and says she will send out a replacement, along with a UPS call tag to return the defective one. Cool. So far Taprite's customer service gets an A with me.

So a week goes by and no replacement has shown up, so I decided to call and make sure it went out. "Brenda" is gone on vacation and there is absolutely no paper trail on the replacement item or the issues behind the original. Noboddy seems to have a clue what I'm talking about. One rep was going to have to go back into the shipping dept to find out if a regulator was shipped to my address and call me back.

Several hours have gone by. Crickets.
Taprite customer service is quickly getting downgraded from their original grade of A.

Anyone else have quality or customer service issues with them?

 

[G-Hog]

I called Taprite last year about an issue I was having with a new regulator and I had replacement parts inside of a week. I'm very happy with them.

 

[Stealthcruiser]

No Taprite issues, but had the same issue with a "Kegco" brand regulator, same exact malfunction as you.......Contacted them and was told to "take it apart and check for debris".........Did so, no debris, but crappy manufacturing within!

Tried contacting them again.....twice........No replies.

I tossed it in my "parts" drawer.........Maybe the gauges will come in handy, and the "Y" splitter looks pretty good........

 

[BigFloyd]

I had a small leak issue with a new Taprite reg earlier this year. One call to my vendor (www.birdmanbrewing.com) and Taprite took care of it very quickly. They sent me a new reg right away and told me to keep the old one in case I ever needed parts.

 

[Grannyknot]

Well, glad to hear my troubles are fairly isolated.
Maybe that means they will get it sorted out soon.

 

[rattle_snake]

I added 2 more Chudnow's a year ago. One was defective out of the box, the other just took a dump. 1st had loose valve, other was over torqued and broken. So i guess it depends on how little the assembler cared that day.

 

[Grannyknot]

Just wanted to let everyone know that Taprite sent me a new regulator yesterday.

 

[BigFloyd]

Just wanted to let everyone know that Taprite sent me a new regulator yesterday.

Good to hear.

 

[BanditBrewCo]

Taprite issue here as well. Had ordered a 3 Reg secondary setup and 3 3-way co2 diverters to allow me to have 9 co2 lines with 3 diff pressures. Took everything apart when I got it to tape all connections, hooked it all up and looked like it help pressure. Next morning new 5lb tank bone dry... Proceeded to disassemble, re-tape, re-torque everything. Swapped out 5lb for 10lb tank filled. 48 hours later no co2... Took regs apart and found same poor manufacturing as everyone else. Called cust service and they were very nice, had a new 3-way shipped that day and said keep the old for parts. A+ and had new regs 4 days later. Hooked up regs only and tank dry yet again next morning. Side note could not hear any leak and supermix starsan produced no bubbles at all while testing for leaks.

Called cust service again and explained what I had found. They asked about my mechanical skills and asked me to try and assemble each 3-way individually and test them (why did I not think of this before, lol). So I did with all 6 regs. 4 out of 6 would not hold pressure (25psi) for more than 10 minutes (typically 3-4psi after 10 minutes). Called yet again and explained my results... Well this time they sent me out a 6-way set of regs and 2 3-way sets that they said were bench tested for 48 hours at 30psi and didn't lose 1psi over that time...

Arrived 5-6 days later and I installed the 6-way on a new 20# tank under 30psi and shut off primary reg to 6-way to see if it would hold pressure. Next morning a perfect 30psi. Repeated this on the 2 3-way reg sets and again perfect. Awesome!!! I now have working reg banks!!!

So now to answer the question on everyone's mind right now... I currently have 18 secondary regs (of which 14 are operational and 4 for parts) lol. What to do with so many when I only planned for 3 you ask?

Keezer has 5 taps but can fit 9 cornys easily. So I tied 10 secondary regs into a bank to feed 9 kegs (5 taps/4 carbing/aging) and one to a co2 line out of the back of the keezer to seal the lids on freshly kegged beer without having to put them in the keezer to age under pressure at room/cellar temp.

Overall A++ service but C-D on the workmanship. By the way still have 4 backup regs for future projects and 4 parts regs. Just over 1 year later and still holding pressure on the same 20# tank. Have carbed 14 kegs and still rocking 1150psi at the primary tank reg.

 

[craigmw]

As I recently posted, I had an issue with a T742 regulator that having trouble keeping a constant pressure. I called them and they immediately offered to send me a replacement, and for me to send them the defective regulator. The new one arrived 5 days later (!). I had to prod them for a label to return the defective one, but that one is now on its way back. The new one works great (much nicer than the one that came with my kegerator), and the customer service person was great.