regulator problems

[ian of fev]

hi guys just doing a spot of mig welding last night and for some strange reason when id finished welding i went to shut the gas of at the main tap on the bottle and noticed there was gas comeing out of this device on the side of the regulator you couldent here it but if u put your finger over the end and held it for 10 seconds or so it was building presure up iv put a pic up of a regulator just for ilustration mines just a swp single stage 230 bar 2 gage reg but just noticed on the bottle it says 300 bar now when i got the bottle wich is enerrgas migweld 5 (lovely to weld with by the way) i noticed it was showing 200 + something on the reg but not sure if the reg is acurate but its still working fine any coments thanks ian

 

[irondarren]

That little side bit, is like a pressure valve, i believe its ment to open and release pressure if the pressure in the reg gets to high. if the bottle pressure is 300 bar and the reg is a 230bar one that is a dangerous combination. As fars as i am aware any regs bought within the last few years have all been rated at 300 bar. rumours have been around for a while that both AP and BOC are going to upgrade to 300bar bottles, regulator makers seem to have taken note of the rumour and any new regs are now 300bar. I think you need to buy a new regulator, weldequip sells the murex ones at a good price, and of course you can get the parweld cheapo's for less

 

[ian of fev]

thanks irondarren not sure what the fill presure is but its only just started to do it not sure if the 300 bar is the maximum fill presure for the bottle maby like u say get an uprated regulater not gona use it now untill i get a new reg gona pm welequip for some info on a new one thanks ian

 

[weldequip]

The part you have circled is the safety pressure releif valve & if it's leaking from there the main valve assembly inside has, or is in the process of failing... bin it & replace it.
SWP regulators are made in China & it wouldn't surprise me if it's a bit of brass swarf left inside which is causing the problem
Gas regulators are precision instruments & handle a hell of a lot of pressure... stick to the quality brands, they are cheap enough nowadays.
weldequip