The pressure keeps raising. Lower the dial, nothing. Pull the release value, lower the pressure again. Still raises.
I have it almost off and it will raise to 35psi.
What gives?
Assuming that your tank valve is all the way on, and when you say you are “lowering the dial” you mean you are turning the pressure screw on the regulator in a counter-clockwise direction (out) then you might have a bad regulator. They are simple devices, but if the internal seals are damaged you might be getting an internal leak. You should easily be able to unscrew the pressure screw and have no gas leaving the regulator.
I can even turn the gas off, pull the release value, and it still will show pressure raise.
Even with a internal leak, it should release the pressure and show no pressure. Correct?
This sucks.
When you say “turn the gas off” I’ll assume you mean to release the pressure knob on the regulator. If that is the case, and the pressure still flows, you have an internal issue. The valve inside may be sticking open. This means that no matter how much you release the pressure screw, the parts inside the regulator will not move back and reduce or stop the pressure. If this is a new regulator, return it. If this is a used unit, it might need some maintenance or a new part. I’d suggest taking it to any local gas provider if possible and have someone experienced look at it.
This is the same exact issue i am having with my brand new regulator. Only problem is the tank fell over and dinged the tank pressure gauge. So I know i’m stuck with this one, but i’m pretty sure this issue would have occurred even if it had not got dinged.
What model regulator is this? I had a similar problem when I hooked a ‘secondary’ regulator right to the tank. The internal diaphragm was not designed to handle tank pressures, so it basically gave me the same pressure no matter what I did with the adjustment dial. After hooking it up through a low pressure output of a ‘primary’ regulator, it worked just fine.
It sounds like there may be dirt or something between the orifice and seat in your regulator. Try this, close your cylinder valve, bleed the pressure out of your downstream line, back the pressure adjustment all of the way out, close your downstream valve and then open your cylinder valve SLOWLY! set the pressure to about 10 psi. Then watch your downstream gauge, if you see the pressure rise then you have something not letting the valve seat on the orifice. Junk getting between the orifice and seat is caused most of the time from opening the cylinder valve with the adjustment not being backed off. You should always back your adjustment handle all of the way out and then open your cylinder valve slow and then set your pressure. That will keep anything that may be in your cylinder from being picked up and carried in to your regulator.
Good luck,
jazzman
