Pressure relief valve leaking

[peleg38]

I came home yesterday and the pressure relief valve on my CO2 regulator was iced up and leaking CO2. I have since tightened it and found that it still leaks whether I am supplying CO2 to the tank or not. My tank pressure is a little under 1000 PSI and this was a brand new tank. Any thoughts?
Thank you

 

[Gbark]

I have since tightened it

tightened what?

The pressure relief valve is a spring valve set to lift at a given pressure. you should not tighten it

Any way to your question - the bottle pressure is normally 50 bar so 1000psi is about 63 bar. is it in a hot place? or maybe its been overfilled?

Of course the relief valve may have failed, depending on the type of your reg you have, this may be fixed at your local weld centre

 

[peleg38]

Sorry I should have been more clear. I didn't know what the valve was at first so I unscrewed the assembly and put it back. I'm confident it is not leaking from the connections and that it is the actual valve. The tank is at about 79F. I thought I read somewhere that around 1000 psig was normal for a new tank. It would be nice if the relief valve had failed as I'm afraid it might be the regulator itself. The regulator is a used Victor VTS450.

 

[Gbark]

I don't know if 63bar (1000psi) is normal over in the US, but here in the UK our bottles are around 50bar when new. Anyway i believe your reg is rated for 3000psi max. So if the relief is passing i would say it needs rebuilding and testing at your local weld centre.

 

[peleg38]

Thank you. That was what I was thinking. I just wanted to get some confirmation before I went to all the trouble.

 

[gsjmia]

My tanks are between 1,000 and 900 psi depending on the room temperature. Your valve shouldn't pop at 1,000 psi.

You can easily buy a replacement pressure relief valve for about $13 and replace it yourself (you are sure its the pressure relief valve and not gassing out of the vent holes in the back-which would be a bad rear nose diaphragm).

Some people remove the pressure relieve valves and replace it with a brass plug, but it seems to me they are there for a reason.

You need to determine what series the VTS 450 is, A, B, D or E (it appears the VTS 450 doesn't come in a C duty). The series designations are for the range of pressure the regulator can deliver. I don't know why they have different part numbers for different series as the high side is all the same, but they do.

Its probably a series B, which has a range of 2-40 psig.

Here is the parts list for VTS 450, see page 4:

http://victortechnologies.com/IM_Up...654 VGT 450 and VGS 450 Series Regulators.pdf

If its a Series B, then its a 0600-0016 and here is lowest price I found (its on Amazon!):

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B004VS10II/?tag=barrreport-21

Easiest way to remove the old one is to leave it on the tank, close the tank valve, make sure all the pressure is gone-both gauges will be at zero. Then put a wrench on it-using the tank to hold the regulator.

Or you can send it out to be rebuilt for about $80, but ask if they charge extra for the relief valve.

 

[Gbark]

Some people remove the pressure relieve valves and replace it with a brass plug, but it seems to me they are there for a reason.

Please dont do this, the PRV is there to protect the reg and your self.

I would take gsjmia's sound advice on getting it rebuilt, it will then come with a test cert.

 

[Matt F.]

You can safely plug the pressure relief valve on Victors. There are holes drilled into the body of the regulator in case of diaphram failure. Check it out. Some pressure relief valves are adjustable (HPT and SGT500s), so it depends on the model you're talking about. Relief valves and configurations are optional depending on what you're hooking the regulator up to and what equipment you're running.

Please dont do this, the PRV is there to protect the reg and your self.

I would take gsjmia's sound advice on getting it rebuilt, it will then come with a test cert.

 

[hbosman]

Your Diaphragm is broken. I'm not sure where Vacaville (really?) is, if its in the US you might check the link below for a rebuild. I had them rebuild two VTS250s for me. One broke a diaghragm so, I just sent both for a rebuild.

http://regulatortorchrepair.com/repairservices.php

 

[Biollante]

I May Not Know Much, But I Know My Geography

Hi,

Vacaville, California.

Biollante

 

[peleg38]

Thank you for the replies. I sure appreciate all the knowledge on this forum. Is there any way to determine if my issue is the regulator or the safety valve? Below is a pic if it helps.
Thanks Biollante. Vacaville is an OK town with a great location. It's 1-2 hours from San Francisco, Napa, and Tahoe.

 

[oldpunk]

Was that a bettatail unit?(edit - Never mind, I didn't see the solder) Anyway, yes you can figure out if it is the safety valve buy simply plugging it up and doing a pressure test. If it fails the pressure test, you'll probably need a new diaphragm in the first stage. (like $25 to fix at most regulator repair places)

On a side note, which Hoke valve is that and how do you like it?

 

[peleg38]

Quick update.
I spoke with the regulator repair shop that was mentioned. My understanding was that I could plug the port and it would probably work but this would be masking a problem that would come up again later. I decided to get a rebuild. Took it to airgas to send out and should be $80. I wanted to send it out to the east coast because the customer service I got over the phone was great, I just couldn't justify the shipping.

 

[Matt F.]

Yes, if the diaphram is blown, then it will be blown regardless of whether or not you plug the relief valve port. My SGT500 came with an adjustable relief valve, which ended up off-gassing when I tested the unit for the first time. I tightened the adjustemnt screw in the relief valve, and it worked as it was intended to. Later I removed the relief valve and plugged it with a a stainless swagelok hex plug. The regulator is in perfect shape, so it goes to show that relief valves can off-gas for a number or reasons. The safe bet would be to have the thing rebuilt, but worst case--even if you plugged the relief valve port and you had a diaphram failure-- you'll be okay. There are off-gassing holes drilled into the body of the regulator ro release pressure. No worries.

Quick update.
I spoke with the regulator repair shop that was mentioned. My understanding was that I could plug the port and it would probably work but this would be masking a problem that would come up again later. I decided to get a rebuild. Took it to airgas to send out and should be $80. I wanted to send it out to the east coast because the customer service I got over the phone was great, I just couldn't justify the shipping.

 

[peleg38]

Yes, if the diaphram is blown, then it will be blown regardless of whether or not you plug the relief valve port. My SGT500 came with an adjustable relief valve, which ended up off-gassing when I tested the unit for the first time. I tightened the adjustemnt screw in the relief valve, and it worked as it was intended to. Later I removed the relief valve and plugged it with a a stainless swagelok hex plug. The regulator is in perfect shape, so it goes to show that relief valves can off-gas for a number or reasons. The safe bet would be to have the thing rebuilt, but worst case--even if you plugged the relief valve port and you had a diaphram failure-- you'll be okay. There are off-gassing holes drilled into the body of the regulator ro release pressure. No worries.

Agreed. Hopefully I get it back this week. My plants are sad and my algae is happy.

 

[hbosman]

Mooo. Sorry, couldn't resist.

Hi,

Vacaville, California.

Biollante

 

[Matt F.]

Mooo. Sorry, couldn't resist.

It's hot there during the summer.

 

[peleg38]

Mooo. Ha Ha. Yeah, it's hot here. We finally got under 100. We had a week or two where 105 was not abnormal. I'm told it is OK because it is a "dry" heat but I am not necessarily buying it. It's hard to complain too much about California weather though.

 

[Gbark]

Quick update.
I spoke with the regulator repair shop that was mentioned. My understanding was that I could plug the port and it would probably work but this would be masking a problem that would come up again later. I decided to get a rebuild. Took it to airgas to send out and should be $80. I wanted to send it out to the east coast because the customer service I got over the phone was great, I just couldn't justify the shipping.

Sound advice

I'm glad you opted for the rebuild

 

[Matt F.]

Mooo. Ha Ha. Yeah, it's hot here. We finally got under 100. We had a week or two where 105 was not abnormal. I'm told it is OK because it is a "dry" heat but I am not necessarily buying it. It's hard to complain too much about California weather though.

That's what I hear all the time...it's hot, but dry heat...
heat is heat! LoL