# Co2 losing pressure



## Ra's al Ghul (Apr 28, 2010)

My regulator was set a 15 psi, and now has dropped to almost zero. The tank was just filled, the regulator and solenoid is Milwauke brand.


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## Kitsune (Jul 17, 2010)

I have a milwakee too.









Looking at the image above, is it the left gauge or the right gauge that is reading 0 psi?
The left gauge is the pressure in the tank, the right gauge is the pressure in the line (since there is next to no pressure in the line, it should be close to 0. mine reads 15 psi).

If you turn the black dial the gauge to the right should change.


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## 2wheelsx2 (Apr 21, 2010)

Seems to be the regulator is not holding pressure, as it should not leak down to zero after being set at 15. But I've not used a Milwaukee regulator.


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## eternity302 (Apr 22, 2010)

I'm not a pro at this, but if it's a leak, how bout turn it on, use soapy/bubble water and brush it around the connections to see if there's a leak?


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## effox (Apr 21, 2010)

You should hear 15 psi if its leaking I'd think.


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## gklaw (May 31, 2010)

The right guage is the tank pressure. I full tank shoud read around 750 psi. You should never see that anywhere close to 15psi I think. Once it drop pass 500psi, the tanks is essentially empty.
I am not surprise to see 0 at the left gauge as the Co2 should be free flowing to your aquarium and at the rate we use there should be little pressure build up.


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## Ra's al Ghul (Apr 28, 2010)

Its the right gage, the low pressure gage. I guess this is okay then ?.


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## Kitsune (Jul 17, 2010)

Ok, here goes my limited understanding of gas regulators!:

The left gauge displays the pressure in the tank. The right gauge is the gauge that shows the pressure in the line, after the regulator. A regulator (as the name implies) maintains the pressure at a set psi. By opening or closing the regulator you can increase the pressure in the line. Obviously the pressure is fed by the tank. Now, if you were doing anything that required a higher pressure (... like...shooting a potato gun) then you would need to increase the pressure in the line to whatever is suitable. However for a CO2 application for a tank, we need next to no pressure (just slightly more pressure than the depth of the water (to push the CO2 out). As an example 24" of water is just under 1 psi ( you need more pressure to account for the losses along the line though, and to prevent water from getting back into the regulator etc). 

Now that you've set the regulator pressure, you can use the needle valve to control the rate of flow. This is visually confirmed by the bubble counter. Obviously the more you open it the more Co2 comes out. 

So you can control the CO2 coming out in 2 ways. Change the pressure in the line, or change the size of the opening of the needle valve. HOWEVER that doesn't mean that you should just do that. On the milwakee box there should be instruction on the order that you turn the valves. This will ensure the longevity of the regulator.

The issue with the regulator gauge going to 0, I'm not surprised. The milwakee brand regulator is SUPER cheap compared to some of the other regulators out there (I mean you get a regulator, a solenoid valve, and a bubble counter for < $200. That's pretty cheap). But if I were you I would increase the regulator pressure a bit (say 10 - 15 psi, since mine is at that. I have no clue what is 'normal'). You don't want water siphoning back into the regulator and flooding it. 

If you are worried about a leak there are ways to check this. Soap and water method is one, but a pressure test would be better. Let me know if you want to know how to do a pressure test... that would be another long post.


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## fish dork (Apr 21, 2010)

Here's a thread with some operating intstructions from another board:

Milwaukee MA 957 CO2 Regulator Instuctions


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## Ra's al Ghul (Apr 28, 2010)

Thanks for your help.


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## fish dork (Apr 21, 2010)

I haven't tried the second method on that link. But I do have this same regulator and found that the pressure on the right gauge has to be around 40 psi before it would stay steady.


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## Ra's al Ghul (Apr 28, 2010)

Mods close


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