I have a dual low pressure reg setup with a v barn on each to two kegs each reg. I generally set both to 8-10 psi depending on style and my serving fridge is set to 38. That’s always given me good pours at a reasonable speed.
A month or so ago I started getting foamy pours. I’d check the regs and they’d be high. 12-15psi. I’d lower them, burp the kegs, reset them 6-8 and the next day same thing all over. This has gone on intermittently for about a month.
Today I opened the fridge and the first of the two inline low pressure gauges was frozen up. So I turned off the gas and started to remove the high pressure line and the reg thawed out immediately.
These regs are probably 6-7 years old now. May be time for a new set?
Hmmm that’s strange. Frozen? At 38°?
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Cold… then a reg delivering too much…
Gas in or out the serving vessel? Time to to find a good set up…
Sneezles61
Frosted over may be a better description but it was pretty white with ice crystals until I turned the grass on. I’ve never seen that before with a leak.
It’s not frosted over now that I removed the keg with the suspect lid but the pressure is still creeping up higher than I set it.
They’re taprite regs so decent quality. I guess I expected they’d last longer.
Edit: according to a review by keg outlet of taprite vs Chudnow regs.
“ The Taprite regulators maintain better pressure, even when your tank gets low. Some regulators have a hard time keeping accurate pressure when the co2 tank begins to get low, but the Taprite regulator is the best at this! Your kegs will always be under the exact pressure that you want, even when your CO2 tank is low.”
Tank may be getting low but I’ve never seen this as a symptom of a low tank before. Maybe mine are just old?
Although the reg in my kegorator is not, they work better outside at room temp. That said I had a reg that did not freeze but did the same creeping up thing. I fiddled with it for a while then tried to get a rebuild kit but it was so old I couldn’t find one and ended up just buying a new one.
I agree with @sneezles61 that if it is freezing it might be pushing out too much gas. The LP regulator for my brew setup freezes due to the tremendous draw from 3 burners so I put the tank in water to equalize the temp.
Yea I’m guessing a seal or something in there is worn out. Nothing has changed about my setup so the reg has to have degraded to cause this issue. Seems to me they should last longer than 5-6 years.
I may not go with the double low pressure setup again. I’ve seldom taken advantage of it. I’ll just put a 4 way distributor on the one reg and let her rip I think. That would make it simpler to keep the reg out of the fridge too. I could run one low pressure line through the hole that’s already there for the high pressure line and put the distributor in the fridge to split the four lines out.
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Thats how mine is… easier to watch/monitor from outside the keezer… The four way in the keezer has a valve for each branch… Need one less carbed? open the valve a bit then turn off… My rig has got be about 5 years old…
Sneezles61
I agree. I’ve got several double gauge regs. I rarely change the pressure unless I’m intentionally trying a lower CO2 volume, like in a stout or something.
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We had CO2 fire protection on equipment in my previous life and we’d find leaks at the spots where the ice crystals were forming. My guess is the diaphragm on the reg has a pinhole fooling it into thinking the keg pressures are low. That would also explain the frost.
Since we’re sharing, I’ve got a double outside the keezer and use one leg for serving and the other for kegging. I have a single that sits in the cold part of the shop for force carbing.
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Replaced the regs last week with a single low pressure. Resolved the freezing issue obviously but also shows me the old one was definitely no longer accurate.
My pours are much much slower now which is fine but I may shorten the beer lines a bit. Must’ve been this slow when I first put it together as well.
And yes I need to organize my lines better inside the fridge. When I get the liquid line length sorted I’ll fasten them up to keep it neater and organize the gas lines too. Maybe…haha
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Another of the handy man’s secret weapon… ZIP TIES!
Sneezles61
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Handy they are. I’m glad a few followed me home when I retired. My wife rolls her eyes at me because I horde bread twist ties. Hey, they are handy to tie up electric cords and stuff. @dannyboy58 you can use bread ties to identify your lines. Put the same color on each end.
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