After just going through a full 5lb tank of CO2 on only 2 kegs, I am thinking it's time to replace my regulator but hoping for some advice here. I have had this dual kegco for at least 6 years now but it seems to be failing me past the point of usefulness. I had a couple kegs on holding fine at 10 PSI then one day inexplicably pressure seemed to have risen to 20 PSI without changing a thing. I removed the couplers and vented the kegs, released the air pressure and made the connections back one at a time. Even after that, pressure seemed to be slowly rising up by 1-2 PSI every hour - At this point perhaps it's just that the kegs are in bad shape, I dunno, that said for now I've disassembled the thing and kept air off the kegs until I can get a new cylinder exchange tomorrow. In the meantime, is this normal? In the photo seen here, I removed one side and blocked the release with a finger, on the other side I have the valve closed. If I blow air into the top, even with the valve closed, is it normal for a little bit of air to leak through? I can feel it coming out. When I open the valve it's even more air, but I expected ZERO air with the valves shut. It's already going to be tough to get this back together but hoping my vice and vice grips can get it done. That said, anything else I can check at this point? Just trying to make sure I exhausted all my options before I have to burn $100 on a new piece of equipment. https://ibb.co/4NrcSqc Thanks all.
Little update to share today. Took the empty 1/4 off and put just 1/6 on one side. Vented the 1/6 and turned pressure all the way down. Turned on gas and opened valve. Gradually added pressure until gauge showed 10psi and locked. Tapped a few beers and within a few minutes pressure was up to 20psi. What is going on? Bad regulator? I dislike this thing. for now I have left the gas tank totally turned off at both the valve and tank, and the pressure only now is holding at 10psi (no longer rising) and the beer is running fine with absolutely no co2 going to it. What might be going on here?
Thanks did not know they existed. Certainly sounds like I have regulator creep which is why I am wasting co2 and over-carbing my kegs.
As mentioned in the other forum, this is consistent with the beer off-gassing into the headspace. When you vent the keg you only release the headspace gas. The gas in the beer remains and gas always moves to equilibrium, i.e. from the overcarbonated liquid into the zero-pressure headspace. A 1 to 2 psi rise in an hour sounds normal. Because you reapplied 10psi, the CO2 escaping the beer adds to this number. This is exactly what happens when you open a bottle of beer...with zero headspace pressure (opened cap) the gas in the beer will gradually escape out of the bottle. To reduce the over-carbonation you need to vent the keg and leave the gas off...come back in an hour or two and release pressure again. You must have the liquid off-gas enough to get it below the 10psi level before adding your pressure. It could take more than two vents, depending on quantity of beer. Nothing going on here that would indicate a defective keg. Your beer is pouring normally with no gas connected because the gas escaping the over-carbonated beer is still pressurizing the headspace. Because the beer was carb'ed to 20psi there's a lot of extra bubbles to get rid of. If you leave the gas disconnected it will gradually pour slower and at some point will go completely flat (unless you drink it rapidly). Not sure I understand your leak problem. I wouldn't rely on holding a finger over the opening. Instead, with the gas off the beer, close your shutoff valves and pressurize to 40'ish. Then squirt some soapy water around each fitting and look for bubbles. If no bubbles, shut off the tank master valve and come back in the morning and see if the pressure holds. You should really do this every thing you connect a new tank or change a fitting. Re-assembly is easy. Just use 4 wraps of plumbers tape and channel-locks to get moderately tight (not killer tight)...no vice needed. Then leak check as described above.
As long as I have been drafting beer, you think I'd know better -- I can't help but think it's the regulator (and I just realized I have a terrible typo in my subject line, ugh - mods?) . That said this is more than I ever knew about how the beer can re-pressurize even with no CO2 applied but it makes a lot of sense. For now I just have the gas totally off and I'll continue to watch the pressure and purge the keg every 6 hours give or take until it no longer produces air. At that point I assume I'm fine to slowly re-apply CO2 pressure to the keg. At that point I think if I get a pressure problem again where it creeps up I have a regulator issue. Re-assembling it was very easy, thanks for that advice. Pretty sure I don't have leaks but I'll check, I figure if it was a leak it would not be a "too high pressure" problem but too low of pressure with a loss of gas quickly.
