Plumbers NZ | Plumbing, Gasfitting and Drainage Community

General Plumbing and Gasfitting Talk => Gas Station => Gas regulators / meters => Topic started by: roberto on August 01, 2012, 06:33:31 PM

Plumbers NZ is New Zealand's largest online plumbing, gas and drainage resource. Plumbing exam help, plumbing news, directory and free quotes.

Title: gas regulator problems
Post by: roberto on August 01, 2012, 06:33:31 PM
hi guys,

I went to to a job today and the client had yunca leedz gas fire, the regulator was making a strange hissing burst  sound, like "shhh, shhh, shhh" and the jets on the fire are clear,

the flame in the fire was moving small to big in sync with the noise, it is a old auto changeover regulator outside on the bottles, there is no bottom end on the reg outside, just a pipe heading down below the floor over to the fire,


do I need to change the changeover reg?


cheers.
Title: Re: gas regulator problems
Post by: robbo on August 01, 2012, 07:03:45 PM
hi roberto, yes sounds like a new reg is what you want, probably an old `Rega` reg that had a lot of problems with the diaphrams, put a test on the pipework somewhere to see if you have enough pressure,should have about 3kpa at the reg and 2.7kpa at the fire,if it`s reading .8 or the like it is the reg,good luck, cheers
Title: Re: gas regulator problems
Post by: roberto on August 01, 2012, 07:16:42 PM
it was reading 2.08 with the fire running, i wound it up to just over 2.75kpa , it has a black hexaganal cap and a black flat plastic thingiee inside with a allen key shaped hole in the centre that you would wind the pressure up with,

I dont want to replace the reg if i dont need to, the fire goes well otherwise
Title: Re: gas regulator problems
Post by: robbo on August 01, 2012, 07:50:05 PM
hi roberto, pressure seems fine what about checking to see if the pipe is partialy blocked somewhere along the linemaybe with condense or compressor oil that comes with bottle filling, cheers
Title: Re: gas regulator problems
Post by: Badger on August 01, 2012, 09:08:48 PM
fluid in a low spot on the pipe work, sounds like you'll have to drain out some condensate.
Title: Re: gas regulator problems
Post by: roberto on August 01, 2012, 09:12:34 PM
oh ok, the regulator is sitting about 1200mm above the ground with a 3/8" line dropping below the floor, so is it likely that pipe could have oil/condensate in it at the bottom where it goes dwn below the floor? or could it be in the regulator itself? my workmate told m it could be oil under the diaphram and that i should replace the regulator, maybe even install a bottom end.
Title: Re: gas regulator problems
Post by: Badger on August 01, 2012, 09:25:11 PM
if you change the reg and it is still there then you'll wish you'd checked the line

check that first because it will only cost you time

The pressure is pushing against the fluid then pushing past it, the shhh shhh is the fluid going back and forth
Title: Re: gas regulator problems
Post by: roberto on August 01, 2012, 09:29:55 PM
ok, my boss suggested putting a 9kg pol on one of the pigtails ans see what happens but I dont think that will work, i might go back tomorrow and run the hob on its own and go out to the bottles and see if the reg is still making that sound, if so then i will check the line and drain it if neccessary, then failing that, change the regulator and install a bottom end. hopefully that works
Title: Re: gas regulator problems
Post by: Badger on August 01, 2012, 10:28:07 PM
the noise comes from the reg because that's where the back pressure has its effect, good luck let me know how you go.