I'm setting up a new planted tank and I now have my regulator (dual stage). I connected everything for the first time and all seemed well until I turned the solenoid off.

I had everything set at a working pressure of 30 psi and bubbles were going steady at about 1 bubble per second. I then unplugged the solenoid and left everything for an hour or two. When I went back and looked at the working pressure it had gone up to 100 psi! That seems really high.

I disconnected everything in the worry that something may be wrong. I contacted the vendor, here is what I was advised:

"If that is as high as the pressure got then I wouldn't worry. All the fittings on the regulator are tested well above 100 psi.
Also the pressure rising is quite normal and sometimes the pressure will climb to 110-120 psi when the solenoid is closed, as long as the pressure returns to normal when the solenoid is open this is fine."

Now this doesn't really seem right to me, I feel like it shouldn't be rising by that much. It didn't just stop at 100psi either, it was still rising.

Would you guys be concerned? I found an old link on this form (sorry, don't have the link to it right now) where some people were having the same issue with a certain kind of regulator and the advice was to return it and get a refund.

What brand regulator?

It's a Professional Aquarium CO2 Dual Stage Regulator with Advance Swiss Solenoid and SMC Valve from CO2Art.

It's working just fine otherwise and CO2Art's customer service to me has been excellent thus far. I guess I'm just looking for some reassurance and second opinions here before I feel okay about leaving the working pressure so high on something under my tank.

So the basic idea is that you have a regulator to control( regulate?) the pressure to keep it steady.
If the regulator can't regulate the pressure, what does it do? And the person who sells this tells you that is normal?
That makes alarm bells go off in my head!!!!

That definitely isn't right. I have the same regulator and it stays at what I set it at when the solenoid is off.

Try turning the regulator down. What you may be seeing is the difference between working and dead head pressure. Working pressure is the psi that is required at the desired flow to make the system work. Dead head pressure is the max psi available for working pressure. Once your solenoid valve closes, pressure will rise to the dead head pressure that the regulator is set at.

If this doesn't solve the issue, then you probably have a bad seal in the regulator.

Thanks for confirming Entz, that is not good news for me, but it's really good to hear from someone else who has one of these.

Loach Guy, I'm a CO2 rookie so I don't really understand what you mean by turning the regulator down. Could you tell me what steps I need to do to test what you're describing?

Turn the knob counter-clockwise.

Ah, I actually tried that. Even with the regulator turned way down the working pressure kept on rising and rising when the solenoid was off.

It should have stayed the same until the pressure bled off, not risen. It sounds like you have a bad seal. Maybe a bad spring as well. A lot of times the manufacturer sells rebuild kits. This may be your best bet in this case unless someone else has a better idea on how to resolve the issue.

My reg does not move from the PSI that I set it at under any condition. Unless I disconnect the reg lol

Sounds like you might have a bad regulator? Seems like that is prettymuch their only function (to REGULATE pressure - not let it rise...)

[QUOTE=Jendigo;8378145] here is what I was advised:

"If that is as high as the pressure got then I wouldn't worry. All the fittings on the regulator are tested well above 100 psi.
Also the pressure rising is quite normal and sometimes the pressure will climb to 110-120 psi when the solenoid is closed, as long as the pressure returns to normal when the solenoid is open this is fine."

Like others i don`t think it the norm for our purposes, but i have no expertise on regulators, i would suggest you point CO2 Art to this thread so they can make an official statement .
Hope your problem is resolved to your satisfaction.
Regards

[QUOTE=klibs;8381658]My reg does not move from the PSI that I set it at under any condition. Unless I disconnect the reg lol
QUOTE]



Neither does my old Matheson Model 8 that was surplus from a university science lab. Stays exactly @ 15psi. I can't see the needle move at all when the solenoid goes on/off.


Something definitely seems wrong, what if instead of the solenoid stopping flow, it was a clogged diffuser? Would pressure just keep rising until the diffuser shattered or the airline burst?

I have the same setup and had the same problem. I got a replacement and now everything is fine. Get yours replaced.

Jendigo, our support team made a mistake. A new order has been created and we are sending you out a replacement. My apologies.