[Excuse the ramble below. Mods feel free to move it to nonsense and rambles though I did just solve one keg problem that has been baffling me for years!]
For those who have experienced a CO2 leak, one of the most amazing things is how easily a full gas bottle can disappear overnight with even a small leak. I'm now trying to find a tiny leak that has drained my gas bottle in a bit over a week.
So, I've just put on my second gas bottle, have a brew day on Saturday, and want to make sure I don't lose what I have left in the meantime. I have 41 connections in my gas lines and these just go to the disconnects . I have 9 disconnects which can leak from say three places. And then there's the keg seals and poppets. So, there's probably around 85 possible sources of this tiny leak.
Soapy water hasn't found it nor has swearing.
All the kegs have new poppets and these have caused some problems but I thought I'd fixed them. Just found one though that when I disconnect it, I lose all gas from the keg . (This shouldn't mean I lose gas though when I have the disconnect attached.)
Anyway, I'm trying to work out a strategy for narrowing down the leak/s as quickly as possible. I'm also thinking this strategy could possibly work out as a preventative strategy as well. I'm thinking...
Day 1
1. Pressurise everything.
2. Remove all gas disconnects.
3. Re-pressurize.
4. Turn off main cylinder valve.
Next Day
1. Stick a spoon up one of the gas disconnects. If there is a release, you know the problem is almost certainly with the kegs.
2. Pull release valve on each keg. If no hiss, then that's your keg.
Sounds simple but, there's always one problem...
Many kegs don't leak when you have the gas line attached to it but as soon as you remove the gas line, they do leak...
Hold on!!!! Think I just answered a question I've had for years!!!! "Why do some kegs leak when no gas line is attached but lose pressure in a few days as soon as you remove it?"
Answer: Dodgy poppet!!!
Wow. I never would have thought of that unless I had been forced to investigate dodgy poppets in the last few weeks. Solution is to use a thicker O-ring on your dip tube as stretching the spring is pretty difficult. (Thought I'd done that though on all the kegs .)
Anyway, this does not solve my tiny leak problem so I'll go and remove all my disconnects and see what tomorrow holds.
PP
A Ramble on Finding/Preventing CO2 Leaks.
Post #1 made 12 years ago
Last edited by PistolPatch on 06 Jun 2012, 22:09, edited 3 times in total.
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