The CO2 Leak Mystery

[lil' league]

Ok, so I have a 6 keg setup in my keezer with a 20lb co2 cylinder. When I first hooked everything up it worked great.. no leaks, consistent pressure. About 2 weeks later I check the reg.. and I have 0 psi in my tank! So I figured something went majorly wrong during that timeframe, so I get it refilled, pressure everything back up, spray down all of my fittings, seals, rings, etc.. with soapy water and cranked the psi up to about 25 or so and couldn't find the slightest leak anywhere? About a week later.. 0 psi! This is about the most frustrating thing ever. Does anyone out there have any clue to a potential solution.

 

[scinerd3000]

could your kegs be leaking. I had some issues with the seals on my kegs because i didint have the psi high enough and was getting leackage around the tops of the seals. ALso check your disconnects.

 

[billtzk]

What PSI prevents leakage?

 

[scinerd3000]

someone told me to preasurize at 40 or so to compress the o-rings just to seal it and then vent and drop down to serving preasure. I tried it with the kegs i had sitting around to see if they would hold preasure and so far its been a few days and there still holding.

 

[WBC]

If you have Starsan (it foams) it can be used to check for leaks around all the fittings and keg lid seals. Make sure that your regulator and connection are not leaking there? Any leak no matter how small is a huge loss of CO2 over time. I leak check every time I put a new keg in the fridge and when I fill them I purge out the air with CO2 and leak check the posts and lid.

 

[Bopper]

+1 on 40 psi to close the lid. Remember these soda kegs were designed for much higher pressure than we use for dispensing.

 

[Jester369]

I had a mystery leak a while back - turned out to be the safety valve on the primary. It would just suddenly vent. Another leak source in the manifold I found was that at room temp it would be fine, but when placed in the keezer, the temp drop was enough to shrink parts and allow the tiniest of leaks. An extra wrap or two of teflon and making sure the joint is well torqued seemed to resolve it.

 

[Csuho]

i feel ur pain i went thru 35# of co2 in 5 months and i have 3 kegs and i think i found the leak in one of the caps on my manifold. i thought it might be popet valves but i sprayed it all down in soapy water and thats were it is but i need to check again after its been cold for a while.