[mattschaefer92]

So I bought my regulator probably a year and half ago for like $40 used. It's a JBJ. But at this point, even when the solenoid is off at night, quite a lot of CO2 is going through the diffuser. I've heard of solenoids wearing out eventually but I'm not sure if there's maybe just an easy fix to this. It's not causing a problem right now, all the fish are still doing fine, but it's wasting CO2 and I don't want to wake up one day to see that all the fish got gassed. I am more than willing to replace it but I just wanted a couple of opinions first.

 

[Darkblade48]

While some gas after the solenoid closes is normal, if gas is still flowing all night, there is likely some debris stuck inside the solenoid, which is preventing it from closing all the way (hence the gas you still see flowing all through the night).

 

[mattschaefer92]

What would be the best way to dislodge this debris?

 

[m00se]

Try turning it off and on a bunch of times. That usually works for me.

 

[kevmo911]

Turn off solenoid.
Remove bubble counter and attached tubing.
Open needle valve all the way.
Increase working pressure to 50 psi or so.
Turn solenoid on and off, quickly, several times.
Put everything back to normal and test.

 

[mattschaefer92]

Well I tried everything suggested so we'll see how it goes. Also, what exactly is the working pressure? I have two gauges, one that goes up to 100 psi and the other goes to 10. I guess I've just never bothered figuring out what the two mean.

 

[kevmo911]

You're reading the kg/cm2 ring. You want the other set of numbers, which is PSI.

The one that goes up to 10 kg/cm2 (140 psi) is the working pressure. You want to run somewhere between 10 and 40 psi.

 

[mattschaefer92]

Ah. Alright. Looks like I'm at 25 PSI currently then. I guess I just never actually looked at the labels. The mist looks a lot finer than before so maybe that means something. I'll check it out tonight after the lights go off and see if it worked.

 

[FlyingHellFish]

Same thing happen to me, I had to purge it twice.

 

[mattschaefer92]

It looks like it worked. There was no CO2 leaking a few minutes after the solenoid turned off and the drop checker was dark green this morning instead of lime green like usual. Thanks everyone for the help!