Small leaks in system

Kegging
1

So i lost a CO2 tank overnight. Culprit was a leaky PRV, which I removed, cleaned, lubed, and reset and seems to be okay now. However, in the process of testing everything I noticed some small leaks on the gas side of my system, specifically at the QDs. When dunked in a bucket of water, there are bubbles that will pop up randomly- mostly only if i shake the QDs around in the bucket. All of my gas QDs leak to some degree, most from spots on the QD itself, either the connection at the barb or from the lip of the QD.

So I pressurized everything to 15psi last night, creating a closed system from the co2 cylinder to the disconnected QDs, and then turned the gas off. This morning the pressure had dropped to 12psi. So I guess my questions are:

  1. Can anyone quantify this leak for me? If I lose 3psi overnight, what does that actually mean in terms of gas lost/tank life? Will my gas be gone in a week, or is this leak slight enough that I won’t notice a huge decrease in the life of the tank? Can I hold out for a few months like this, when I plan on doing a thorough overhaul of the whole system?

  2. How can I fix these leaky QDs? Everything is screwed on as tight as I can get it. I do have worm clamps rather than Oeticker clamps where the gas line attaches to the QD barb, but this doesnt seem like a major source of the leakage. It’s above that, where the QD screws on and within the QD itself. Would some teflon tape where the QD screws in help? They look like they’re face sealing, with a little plastic washer-like bit built onto the end of the male side, so I don’t whether some tape would be beneficial or not? Are plastic QDs just pieces of S*** that are bound to leak? Any better alternatives?

  3. I’m also a little concerned that they may leak when attached to the keg. Anyone know a good way to test this, as soap water or starsan won’t really detect a leak on this spot very well?

Thanks for the help,

2

First tighten down the screw in the center of the QD second make sure you are using a plastic washer on your gas line coming off the regulator it’s metal to metal and needs that washer.

Also NB has a very good leak detector order a bottle of it.

http://www.northernbrewer.com/shop/gas- ... ector.html
3

There is a rubber gasket in the top of the disconnect. Unscrew it and apply a little lube. You can get a small cup of lube in the plumbing section of the hardware store.