No bubbles in bubble counter??

[Brian Murphy]

I have the sodastream set up for my Co2 but a UP inline atomizer. It has been working ok previously (enough to kill fish at xmas!) but my problem now is that when it is on I barely get 1 bubble per 30 seconds, perhaps even a minute! And thats with the needle valve fully open! Something aint right somewhere. I have just changed my sodastream bottle after not using it for about a month but it was doing this back then aswell but the Co2 was certainly getting used up. Any ideas?

 

[G H Nelson]

Needs about 2 bar to run.
Or you may have a leak.
hoggie

 

[John S]

Or the atomiser needs cleaning.

 

[Brian Murphy]

Needs about 2 bar to run.
Or you may have a leak.
hoggie

I have over 2bar and has been working ok up until now

Or the atomiser needs cleaning.

Is it just ordinary bleach that you use to soak it in? And for how long?

 

[G H Nelson]

What bubble counter are you using?

 

[Brian Murphy]

What bubble counter are you using?

One like this

 

[John S]

Is it just ordinary bleach that you use to soak it in? And for how long?

Ordinary bleach is fine (1 part bleach to 10 of water) but give it a good rinse afterwards. As for time it depends how blocked it is. Try half an hour and see if you get any improvement.

 

[G H Nelson]

Only asked about the counter as the JBL has a rubber seal and could have been faulty.

 

[Gary Nelson]

If you have any inline valves (which you should) and if they are the cheaper plastic type, then they can be prone to causing problems - I was using the very cheap clear plastic type last year and they caused my co2 to stop getting through, I looked like the co2 had melted the valve! I swapped them out for a couple of JBL ones and all was working agiain.

 

[Brian Murphy]

If you have any inline valves (which you should) and if they are the cheaper plastic type, then they can be prone to causing problems - I was using the very cheap clear plastic type last year and they caused my co2 to stop getting through, I looked like the co2 had melted the valve! I swapped them out for a couple of JBL ones and all was working agiain.

What do you mean by inline valves? I have changed the return valve as I think it had cracked

 

[Gary Nelson]

What do you mean by inline valves? I have changed the return valve as I think it had cracked

Yes that's what I meant - if you have changed it then, should be ok. Try putting your co2 on and then with it on place your bubble counter in a bowl of water so it is totally covered, it could be the seal gone... If so you will see it leaking.

 

[Brian Murphy]

The bubble counter exploded! I changed it to another one I had and the bubbles started coming after turning the needle valve only slightly. After a while it did start to slow down, so I upped the needle valve bit by bit so I always had around 2-3 BPS, but I did notice it needed adjusting every so often as it slowed its rate down. I then had to go out so I turned it off incase there is a blockage somewhere and the same thing happens. Will try again tomorrow a couple of hours before lights are due on and see if I can achieve a constant bubble flow. I never noticed any mist or bubbles coming out of the spraybar either which is the main reason Im thinking there may be a pressure building up somewhere. I might take the atomizer off and a bit earlier and see if I can see anything wrong before trying the bleach solution.