The Planted Tank Forum banner

Bizarre MA957 behavior!

616 Views 7 Replies 5 Participants Last post by  PlantedRich
I just hooked up a new MA957, and it's acting incredibly bizarre. I've previously had several of these that ran for years with zero issues, then I was away from the hobby for a while... here's what happening:

I completely turn off the cylinder (CW) and connect the reg (yes it has a disc), then I make sure the needle valve is fully off (CW), and the knob on the reg is fully off (CCW)... when I open the valve on the cylinder, the right-side gauge climbs until it is pegged... I cannot set it to a value (e.g. 60)... here's where it get really weird: after I shut the valve on the cylinder off (tightly!) the right-side gauge continues to climb! If I open the needle vale, the gauge starts to drop, but as soon as I close the needle, it starts to climb again like the cylinder vale is cracked open..

If I pull the reg off and spray soapy water on it, there is no leak. If I connect the reg and crack the tank valve open for a second, and close it again, the gauge climbs until it pegs... I'm baffled, any thoughts!?
1 - 8 of 8 Posts
So the high pressure side doesn't peg right away, but the low pressure side does? That is weird.
Sounds like a bad reg to me.

Sent with my Samsung S4 via Tapatalk
Couple thoughts? One is on closing the needle valve. I would suggest not doing that part as it is really easy to get it too tight and deform the needle or even break it. Not needed to do that. Do turn the working pressure adjustment fully countercolock to close flow to the low pressure gauge when first opening the tank. This helps avoid hitting it with too high pressure which can peg it or blow it.
Then to the weird part. Are we sure that the low pressure reading gauge is screwed into the correct hole? Sounds like there may be a little confusion about the high pressure side. Normally there is no way to adjust that part??? It just tells you the tank pressure and should come up when the tank valve is opened. The other gauge should not read until you screw the working pressure adjustment in to open the flow.

I'm confused by the note about soap testing when you pull the reg off and there is no leak. With the reg off the tank and no soap bubbles? That would seem normal with no gas pressure there??? Sorry, I'm confused, there.
See less See more
I'm confused by the note about soap testing when you pull the reg off and there is no leak. With the reg off the tank and no soap bubbles? That would seem normal with no gas pressure there??? Sorry, I'm confused, there.
I was looking for a leak since the gauge would rise even with both valves closed., I thought the cylinder valve was leaking...


tank dump..... needs a refill
The tank was freshly hydro'd and refilled though
That's strange

Sent from my LG-D500 using Tapatalk
I think I see my confusion!
Quote: I was looking for a leak since the gauge would rise even with both valves closed., I thought the cylinder valve was leaking...
I see you were checking the tank with the reg off. I thought you were checking the reg with no gas connected. Sorry.

Still something weird going on like you say. If the reg is letting full tank pressure of 800PSI and up go through to the working pressure side, I would expect the poor little low pressure gauge to be totally destroyed. That's where I came around to wonder if the gauges were in the right places.
1 - 8 of 8 Posts
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top