Another expensive lesson

[BrianNY]

So after refilling my CO2 cannister, here's what I did....... Opened the cylander valve with the main valve on the regulator fully closed. It sounded like a tea kettle brewing with a puff of cold CO2. Never do this. As the instructions state this can and did destroy the regulator.

 

[Jchillin]

Personally, you do more things right than you could ever do wrong, so it's understandable. Thanks for sharing this important tip.

PS - Knowing you, you probably had a spare regulator handy! (?)

 

[BrianNY]

Unfortunately they are too expensive to have spares. I have to reorder another today.

 

[malkore]

Wait, I'm confused...

The regulator valve was closed (so no CO2 could pass through it) or it was open (where CO2 could pass through it).

My Milwaukee instructions state teh regulator valve should be closed, such that no CO2 is passed through it, when you open the regulator main valve.


I have the feeling we are mincing words..that by 'closed' you mean 'adjustment knob screwed all the way down'...which means the valve was wide open.

Yeah, that and getting liquid CO2 or tank water inside the regulator is a sure way to ruin it forever.

 

[Tiffi]

My husband did that with my regulator. Sounded horrible! I had the valve opened before I handed it to him and he closed it again. I got lucky though, it's still working! And if it wouldn't, he would be the one to buy a new regulator .

 

[crazycat]

fwiw--i had my regulator "break" on me because i allowed tank water to wash back into it and it clogged up. the guys at milwaukee walked me through drilling out the chamber that got clogged and now it works just great again. you have to take a REALLY thin drill bit--i think i used 1/16"--and drill it down through the hole where the bubble counter attaches. this clears the "s" valve that is built into that chamber. then you definitely need a check valve because you REALLY don't want tank water washing back into the solenoid and rest of the regulator!

brian--don't know if that's your prob--but what i saw was the tank was filled, and the pressure was up--but no co2 was coming out--so there was pressure in the regulator--the valve was just clogged.

fyi

 

[malkore]

No, Brian's problem (the way I read it) is that his regulator valve was open, so as soon as he opened the valve on the cylinder, it tried to flood into the regulator/thru it and out the other side.

I don't know why this is bad, but I know that regulator's are designed to take the pressure that way. They need to be 'off' so the mechanism inside can take the full psi of the cylinder. I'm guessing it somehow 'seats' the internal mechanism. Failure to do so destroys some kind of membrane or something inside...hence the whistling tea-kettle sound.

Good to know you can fix a regulator that got wet though

 

[crazycat]

yeah the guy at milwaukee was REALLY nice! saved me 80 bucks on a new regulator.

 

[Simpte]

Are you people using needle valves?

 

[crazycat]

i am.

 

[crazycat]

i am. i have this: http://www.automatedaquariums.com/mw_ma957.htm

plus the milwaukee ph monitor/controller.

 

[BrianNY]

You're correct malkore. The adjustment valve was screwed all the way down. When I opened the cylander valve, I blew out the seal on the regulator.

And it was the Milwaukee MA957. My new one will be delivered tomorrow. I ordered it from Aquatic Store (one of our sponsers), for $76 plus freight.

Thanks for the quick turn around Marcus.

 

[malkore]

Brian,

my paranoia about blowing out the seal has lead me to always un-screw the adjustment valve before I even disconnect from the cylinder. then I re-check that the knob is 'loose' before I put it on the new cylinder.

its a good habit we should all try to follow to avoid spendy mistakes.

also, keep your old regulator, or remove all the good parts from it...the seal may be blown but the adjustment knob is still good (should your new one some how get cracked), as are the solenoid, needlve valve and bubble counter. May as well hang on to those pieces in case you ever have the solenoid go bad (sometimes mine closes even when powered), or decide to build a manifold.