# Damged CO2 regulator?!



## john.shephard26 (Mar 8, 2011)

Hi couple of days now my regulator which is originally for O2 with DIY needle valve is showing very high pressure (at the red dot) which I guess its not good.Last week it was all the way up.
I will explain how I use my regulator:
Main regulator on the CO2 tank is open all the way also is the valve with purple arrow.
The blue arrow valve I use to regulate CO2 flow by watching on the manometer and not overstep 5 (usually is 3).Then I correct and fine adjust with the DIY needle valve with the green arrow.
Am I doing something wrong?
Should I be worried?
Please note that this happens during the night when CO2 flow is stoped.


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## john.shephard26 (Mar 8, 2011)

Hi any comment please?


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## neilshieh (Jun 24, 2010)

Any reason why you chose to use a rig without any proper equipment to try to regulator co2 as needed for our hobby? i wouldn't be able to sleep if i was sleeping in the same house LOL. 1 you're not using a proper needle valve, 2 that doesn't look like a regulator appropriate for our application, 3 you can't just adjust bubble rates with those kinds of valves
I can't tell if the gauges are reading psi or bar or w/e please clarify. if it's psi... i'd be VERY concerned. co2 tanks are supposed to read 800 psi but yours is not even close... in fact your gauge doesn't even go that high. 
assuming the low pressure gauge is psi... 10 psi seems about right. 
so in short.... i'd be worried of using such a rig on a COMPRESSED gas application. Cutting corners like this for the sake of money could be VERY dangerous.... you don't want that thing blowing up or depressurizing in the house, it's a health hazard. Pressurized co2 is not something to be taken lightly.
But as to thoughts on why it's doing that... i think you may be experiencing EOTD which is end of tank dump where the pressure in the cylinder starts to drop because it's almost empty and then pressure will fluctuate wildly and liquid co2 might be ejected in one push.


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## neilshieh (Jun 24, 2010)

i'd look into buying a proper regulator if i were you, the money you save buy using that kind of rig is simply not worth the risk it poses. 
it doesn't even have to be a fancy regulator! even a cheap aquatek regulator is better. spend the 80 dollars and save yourself $$$ in damage and possible deaths.


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## john.shephard26 (Mar 8, 2011)

Hi, first, thank you for answering...to answer your questions:since I live in a godforsaken country, I don't have the privileges of working pay pall services so I can't order a proper regulator from country's that have them.I didn't try to save money by buying THIS regulator, I just didn't have a choice, this is an oxygen regulator and before I bought it I've consulted with lots of people, including in this forum(I think, I'm not sure!).
I've added a DIY needle valve cause this regulator simply wasn't capable of maintaining same rate of bubbles for more then an hour, with this added valve-no problem.
This regulator uses BAR not PSI I hope you'll be able to convert...usually CO2 tank pressure, when full, is never more than 70 BARs and regulator pressure in flow 3 BARs...I filled it 2 weeks ago so its one third empty, I don't think its EOTD.
Lets presume this is a adequate regulator-how would you set it up?


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## neilshieh (Jun 24, 2010)

my apologies for not understanding your circumstances. Well I guess that regulator will work! 
As to your problem, I'd hazard a guess that it's your needle valve that's causing the issues or it's because you're turning off the co2 every day manually. How are you turning it off?


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## john.shephard26 (Mar 8, 2011)

I will, again, use my "arrows' as pointers, since I don't really know each name of regulator parts(I apologies for that)... so, usually I turn off CO2 on my needle valve (yellow arrow), then I get pressure off scale, couple of days now I turn it off on the blue marked valve and I have no problems except when I have to turn it on (CO2), then I have to fine-tune all over again which is time consuming.
What would you recommend?


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## neilshieh (Jun 24, 2010)

well your pressure goes hay wire because you CANNOT turn off co2 via a needle valve. the needle valves are not built for that kind of pressure buildup. when you close the flow like that the regulator has a build up of 55 bars! and to think that only closing one little valve to stop all that pressure???
if youre going to manually close co2 then close the knob on the gas tank, that way you dont have to adjust the other valves and you dont break anything if you havent done so already. 
getting a solenoid valve would be highly reccomended though!


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## neilshieh (Jun 24, 2010)

most regulators come with a needle valve that allows you to open and close the flow. you could use one of those to turn off your rig every day.


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## john.shephard26 (Mar 8, 2011)

I've been closing CO2 on the blue arrow valve and so far I don't have any problems except that the manometer stays on to 1Bars of pressure which makes me think that the manometer is broken.I will stop CO2 on the main nob as you suggested.


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## rjordan393 (Nov 23, 2012)

Many years ago, I was told that anytime you shutdown the supply of any gas at the main shutoff, that you should also bleed the regulator by opening it up all the way. If there is a solenoid installed, then that must be activated for the regulator to bleed off via the needle valve. 
Then its just a matter of re-setting the regulator after the recharge.


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## Woody0229 (Oct 29, 2012)

Getting a new one would never hurt the Milwaukee brand ones are nice have had mine for about a year with no issues.


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