first time co2 user (please help)

[bayreef]

i am tring to test my selinoid, When the milwaulkie controller switches the seliniod off bubbles still come thru bubble counter on regulator. Any reasons why this would happen, i currently do not have it hooked up to my reactor just to 1/4 co2 tubing and a brass check valve.

[bulldogfish]

Depends on the pressure you are trying to run from your bottle. If the pressure is right how soon do the bubbles stop? If they don't stop after a few minutes then the seal in the solenoid valve is probably the culprit. Check to make sure that you have the solenoid valve plumbed the corect direction as well. If you plumb them in backwards some of them will allow gases to slowly flow by.

[jdieck]

After it shuts off there is pressuurized gas between the solenoid valve and the needle valva and the check valve. That gas will continue bubbling out for several minutes until the pressure is released. That is normal.
You may shorten the time the bubbles continue by lowering the delivery pressure of the regulator but usually single stage regulators do not control very well below 15 psi in the output.

[bayreef]

i turned up to 1 bar opened needle valve to start bubbles slowly then moved dial on ph controller down, the solenoid turned on and bubbles started moving even faster. Is this odd that when the solenoid is supposed to be off i can open needle valve and bubbles start flowing ?

[bayreef]

ok the solenoid has been off for 10-15min and still slowly bubbles.

[jdieck]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10962638#post10962638 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by bayreef
i turned up to 1 bar opened needle valve to start bubbles slowly then moved dial on ph controller down, the solenoid turned on and bubbles started moving even faster. Is this odd that when the solenoid is supposed to be off i can open needle valve and bubbles start flowing ?

If you opened the needle valve when the solenoid was off and there were bubbles then the solenoid might be leaking.

As mentioned by bulldog, try the following:
Without the check valve installed, while the solenoid is open, and the regulator adjusted to 1 bar and the bubble rate adjusted at about 30 to 60 per minute, unplug the solenoid and wait 10 to 20 minutes, if after that time there are bubbles still coming out the solenoid is leaking. If the bubbles stop the solenoid is not leaking and the only thing you need to do is to always adjust the bubble rate while the solenoid is open and wait 10 minutes for the pressure to stabilize.

The reazon that I ask not to use the check valve during the test is because some check valves require a lot of pressure to open, this accumulates a lot of gas in the hose before the check valve and may just extend the bubbling for a long time. Some may even open send the gas in a burst then close again making bubble rate almost imposible to adjust.

[bayreef]

ok i am testing now

[bayreef]

ok i still see bubbles coming out of the solenoid. I guess i will contact the manufacturer.

[jdieck]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10963392#post10963392 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by bayreef
ok i still see bubbles coming out of the solenoid. I guess i will contact the manufacturer.
Yes. Good Luck.

[bayreef]

thank you for all your help i will update on replacement parts. My regulator is from aquariumplants.com