Injection going crazy when co2 comes on

[ChrisMachell]

Hi all,

Bit of a weird one - wondering if anyone else has had a similar issue. I've been running co2 since January, having problems for weeks now with it being used up far too fast. Assumed it was a leak (no), have reduced co2 injection period (still going down fast), dropped bubble counter rate (minimal difference). However, just this minute I think I've discovered the culprit: the solenoid has just clicked on and the injection went crazy - far too many bubbles to count going through the bubble counter. I dropped it back down to 2bps. I don't know if this has been happening on other days and then sorting itself out over the course of the morning (I check the counter pretty regularly and it seems fine in the afternoons). It would account for the use of gas but what could be causing it and is there a solution?

Could it be a faulty needle valve? A build up of pressure overnight? I'm using a dual stage regulator, standard co2 canister, inline bubble counter and in-tank atomic diffuser on a 240l set up (I know inline diffusion is best but that's a future consideration). Has anyone else encountered similar issues?

 

[Zeus.]

The bubble counter will always go a be crazy when the Solenoid opens until the working pressure of the diffusor is reached then the BPS settles down, so is completely normal, you just happened to notice it

 

[foxfish]

You are going to use up C02 , that is a positive thing!
As a completely ballpark figure you can expect a 2kg fire extinguisher to last around one month on a 240l tank.
How much have you used since January?

 

[Andy Pierce]

My 40 L (fourty, not two hundred and fourty) setup uses 170 g CO2 per month - consistent with @foxfish's ballpark. Bubbles per second is obviously not a well-calibrated measure between different set-ups, but I typically run at 2 bps with my much smaller tank so unless your bubble counter has really enormous bubbles, I'd think your 240 L tank would need a lot more than 2 bps.

 

[Valerio]

Hi,
despite is absolutly normal what you see when solenoid turns on, do you have it screwed on the regulator or connected in the tubing line?