Stuck co2 bottle

[Braufather]

I am new to kegging and had 1.3 kg co2 bottle arrive a couple of weeks ago. Set it up with a quality Italian regulator to purge and carbonate a krolsch in a 19 litre corny.

Went well and the krolsch carbonated well, but I have two issues.

1) after dispensing a few pints the gas appears to have run out with the regulator showing co2 empty and the other dial showing zero psi. It was a full bottle so should be enough to carb and dispense 6 kegs at least.

I also checked fully for leaks at the begging before carbonating with special spray and found none. Also as the keg carbonated well and quickly i imagine that makes a leak unlikely. I think there may be gas still in bottle and the problem could be with regulator.


2) to check above I wanted to remove the co2 bottle but first when trying to close it to switch co2 off, I found it was completely stuck, it won’t turn either way.

I left it out in the hall to warm up overnight and tried again today but it’s stuck solid still. Has anyone experienced this issue? How was it resolved?

Cheers.

 

[steveshep8676]

It sounds like you opened the cylinder needle valve all the way to the stop and left it in that position. The best way to open any gas cylinder is to open it fully to the stop and then close it half a turn, that way anyone can tell if it’s open or closed as there’s always a little movement on the valve. If your sure it’s open then try a wrench on the handle but don’t put too much pressure on it as you could damage the valve. If you look under the valve handle you might be able to tell if it’s open with the amount of spindle showing under the valve handle. Either way be careful with any gas cylinder, if in doubt vent it all off remove the regulator and get a new one [emoji106]

 

[Braufather]

Cheers. Thanks for the tip. Will definately do that going forward. I tried with wrench and it wouldn't move. Didn't want to overforce it. As it's stuck open and there may be partly full I don't want to remove regulator either! Will try again in a couple of days.

 

[Bernie]

Cheers. Thanks for the tip. Will definately do that going forward. I tried with wrench and it wouldn't move. Didn't want to overforce it. As it's stuck open and there may be partly full I don't want to remove regulator either! Will try again in a couple of days.

I'd discourage using the wrench. You could easily do yourself serious harm.

Did you just check leaks on the high pressure side?

 

[terrym]

The best way to open any gas cylinder is to open it fully to the stop and then close it half a turn, that way anyone can tell if it’s open or closed as there’s always a little movement on the valve.

I learned that lesson over 45 years ago when I started in the chemical process industry and its a 'lesson for life' as far as I am concerned. It helps prevents a valve from sticking if there is a bit of free play left, especially since the last bit of movement before you come up to the stop contributes very little extra to the passage of fluid through the valve body. And I still apply it to all valves in the home, especially valves that you rarely have need to operate, like the mains water isolating valve.

 

[Braufather]

i am glad i have got that advice as that means that this is not a wasted thread.

Prize Plum that i am, it was actually switched off!

In my desperation i twisted hard the other way and it opened ( it my defence it did take some effort though!) . i cant for the life of me remember switching it off, as i was doing a low and slow carbonation, aiming for a week!

so i have set it to open again, fully then back half a turn! at least i've learned that!

 

[steveshep8676]

Result [emoji2]


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[sdt7618]

When I learned to dive,and when I now teach its always fully open back half turn like all have said it's then easy to check if you have your gas/air on. Another tip we use is to check for leaks, turn the system on, the when at full pressure turn it back off and note the reading, with it off if there are leaks the pressure would drop. No good with kegs etc but would let you check the gas values and regs connection prior to hooking them up.

Glad it worked out for you, compressed gas can be very dangerous.