# Regulator advice



## andy-mu (31 Jul 2011)

Hi Guys,

Have seen a few posts linking to ebay for regulators for fire extinguishers.

Just me probably, but I find ebay a bit dodgy for some things. To me people don't call it flea bay for nothing.
Also if you look for dual guage regulators, they're all from hong kong usually. Again, not to be too hard on them
but I tend to find asian suppliers can be a bit suspect with regards to quality control standards and quality of
their products. R&D possibly not having had too much money spent.

I'm looking for a good quality regulator for an FE co2 setup I want to implement for cost reasons in terms of running.
I have 3 kids hence why I dont want just any old possibly suspect regulator. I had planned to have a separate solenoid
since various trawlings of the internet seem to indicate this is a better method of controlling automatic gas supply
as opposed to solenoids fitted directly to regulators.

I was looking for some advise. What your thought were on good regulators. Are there for example any tried and trusted workhorses?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

Andrew


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## Alastair (31 Jul 2011)

I thought the same when I trawler the Internet for my first regulator. I eventually thought sod it and took the plunge and purchased a dual guage adjustable working pressure one from hong kong and it's perfect. Worked out at 45.00 and has a solenoid attached to it. 5 months on and it's still working brilliantly. As is everything else from that supplier


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## Alastair (31 Jul 2011)

I thought the same when I trawler the Internet for my first regulator. I eventually thought sod it and took the plunge and purchased a dual guage adjustable working pressure one from hong kong and it's perfect. Worked out at 45.00 and has a solenoid attached to it. 5 months on and it's still working brilliantly. As is everything else from that supplier. Also, even though from eBay, and as most things from over their only come with a small warranty, I contacted the actual manufacturers themselves and they honour a 12 month warranty.


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## andy-mu (31 Jul 2011)

Thanks Alastair,

Call me paranoid, but I would just hate to buy something that was possibly substandard. Purely because of having young kids. Naturally the FE would be wall mounted probably again for safety, so it can't be knocked over.

Safety is my main concern. Also with foreign equipment sometimes fitting sizes can be different. If say you buy from UK, then it fits UK extinguishers presumably. Do foreign ones fit as well?

Cheers


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## Alastair (31 Jul 2011)

Yes mate they do, they'll state whether they fit uk fittings etc. I was a bit skeptic when I'd ordered mine, I have a 7 year old and my co2 cylinder is 3 n half foot high in the living room. Fitted perfectly and touch wood have no problems. It's manufactured by up aqua which make allsorts like the up inline diffusers etc. Plus it's working pressure adjustable. I must admit though I did spend a good few days trawling and thinking before buying it.


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## andy-mu (31 Jul 2011)

Thanks Alastair much appreciated


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## Sentral (1 Aug 2011)

Just out of interest; which seller did you use? I notice aquariumHK and AAS sell very similar units, but unsure which one to go for myself


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## andy-mu (1 Aug 2011)

Hi,

Based on Alastair's recommendation, the seller I seen was this one

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Co2-Working-P ... 27bab88fcf

Seems the cheapest

Cheers


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## Alastair (1 Aug 2011)

andy-mu said:
			
		

> Hi,
> 
> Based on Alastair's recommendation, the seller I seen was this one
> 
> ...



That ones good too I believe, it's the next one up from mine. 

This is the one I bought and the seller I use. http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Up-aqua-CO2-r ... 663wt_1128 
You get co2 tubing and bubble counter too with it now. Bummer lol. Delivery is very fast though from him. 

But both the other eBay sellers are good.


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## tovtm (1 Aug 2011)

don't know if it fits the bill for you but I have a wave co2 dual gauge regulator with solenoid £45 delived if your interested 




tom


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## Alastair (1 Aug 2011)

I'd go for that mate if your worried about buying from abroad.


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## andy-mu (1 Aug 2011)

tovtm said:
			
		

> don't know if it fits the bill for you but I have a wave co2 dual gauge regulator with solenoid £45 delived if your interested
> 
> tom



Thanks for the offer Tom. Having read Alastair's reply I have purchased the one of ebay on the link I provided.

I appreciate the offer however.

Thanks


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## Alastair (1 Aug 2011)

let me know how you get on with that reg andy as im after a second one and thats the next one up from mine


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## Sentral (1 Aug 2011)

Plus you'll have adjustable pressure, so you can use an inline diffuser.
What makes that particular model better than yours? I'm just about to order one


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## Alastair (1 Aug 2011)

not particularly better as such, but that the working pressure is controlled by the black knob rather than using an allan key like on mine


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## m_attt (2 Aug 2011)

what pressure will the two ebay ones linked go too?


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## Alastair (2 Aug 2011)

Hi matt, the one I linked too you can turn the pressure all the way up to 8 bar, which, I'd nor recommend unless you want your bubble counter blowing up in your face as I did ha ha. If your worried as to whether they'd be suitable for online diffusers then both will be mate.


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## m_attt (2 Aug 2011)

awesome more than enough, my up seams to like 2.2 bar, and my curret reg cant quite keep it there.

cheers


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## Alastair (2 Aug 2011)

I used to run the internal super diffuser which needed 2.5 and it worked fine at that pressure. Took a day of slow tweaking but was fine


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## andy-mu (25 Sep 2011)

Just to let you know Alastair, I got the Reg from ebay. First one got lost, so had to send another, hence why it took so long to get here. Fitted it today. Noticed the working pressure seemed to drop after having been adjusted to 1 Bar. Did this a couple of times, had to also adjust the needle valve a bit. Seems to have stabilised the pressure, so will monitor it over the next few days to see that it stays at the bubble rate I've set. I'll gradually up the rate a little once it settles to get rid of the BBA. Used some flourish excel today also. It's certainly got the BBA looking poorly


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## Alastair (25 Sep 2011)

andy-mu said:
			
		

> Just to let you know Alastair, I got the Reg from ebay. First one got lost, so had to send another, hence why it took so long to get here. Fitted it today. Noticed the working pressure seemed to drop after having been adjusted to 1 Bar. Did this a couple of times, had to also adjust the needle valve a bit. Seems to have stabilised the pressure, so will monitor it over the next few days to see that it stays at the bubble rate I've set. I'll gradually up the rate a little once it settles to get rid of the BBA. Used some flourish excel today also. It's certainly got the BBA looking poorly



Nice one mate. Shame the first got lost. I had the same thing when first setting it up in that the working pressure needed adjusting each day for first day or two as it would gradually drop a little. So I just set it slightly higher so it dropped to what I wanted it to be at then after a bit it would stay at that., 
Shame each time my cylinder gets changed I have to do it all again lol.


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