Diy Co2

[Egmel]

I discovered these taps on fleabay and thought they might make an alternative to trying to seal tubing into lids.

I have 2 glass bottles with metal lids and my theory is that if I screw these taps into the lids, add a bit of silicon sealant for good measure I then have a system where I can turn off the bottles before refilling them. I should probably have used a non return valve but I've got one to go in further up by the bubble counter after I've joined the 2 feeds together with a y connector. I thought that doing it this way should keep the pressure in the system when I disconnect one of the bottles, then when I reconnect I can give the mixture a little time to build up some steam before opening the valve.

Probably all OTT but hey, that's half the fun of DIY

Can any one see gaping flaws... if not I'll let you know how it goes

 

[Egmel]

Can any one see gaping flaws... if not I'll let you know how it goes

Gaping flaw discovered. The taps are not as air tight as they could be and when trying to drive a ceramic diffuser they leak quite substantially Shame because otherwise they do exactly what I want.

 

[donkey]

where are you getting the leak from ?

 

[Egmel]

where are you getting the leak from ?

The taps are the sort which just have a solid cylinder with a hole punched though them, line the hole up with the airflow and it's open, turn them round and it's closed. The leak is around the seal of this tap when it's open or closed. I don't think they were intended for use with the high pressures my ceramic diffuser needs. I would probably get better results with a different diffuser but I wanted the funky spiral one!

I originally had difficulty getting a seal on the join to the lid, I tried silicon but it wouldn't hold satisfactorily so in the end I bought a couple of washers and some rubber tap washers. Now the screw on the tap has a normal washer, followed by the rubber washer followed by the lid, followed by the nut. This seems to be airtight but as I say now the taps themselves have started to leak

 

[donkey]

shame about that. it looked good as well

 

[Egmel]

Kinda what I'm thinking, now I'm not sure where to go... do I get some smaller diffusers and see if that makes a difference, I'm guessing it wont really. I could swap the taps for some plain bulkheads and just have to survive the pressure drop when I do a mixture change. I could have a hunt for some higher pressure rated taps. I could see if I can bodge these taps to get a better seal... I'm actually wondering if a little bit of vaseline might help... I figure it's worth a try, having come so far with this! (Plus it all looks really good with the nice glass bottles and silver taps )

 

[donkey]

yes a bit of vaseline might help. if not i would look for some better taps

 

[Egmel]

I'm glad I'm not the only gadget freak when it comes to DIY CO2 I'll let you know how I get on

 

[donkey]

please do. i would love to know how it works out for ya mate.
Good Luck

 

[three-fingers]

Whatever happened to the special bottle-tops that already have the airline connectors in them? I got some from somewhere, and I can't remember what the website was or find them anywhere! They would easier, more effective and possibly more neat than making the tops your self . I swear they exist!

 

[Rooster]

Top off pop bottle... drill a hole slightly smaller that the inline airline connector, put it on its back, and pour in enough araldite to nearly fill the inner "wall" jobs a good 'en and next to nowt in cost !

 

[Egmel]

I know, I know, and I think that's how I'm going to end up doing it. I just thought the taps would be a nice touch. K.I.S.S is better as usual I suppose. I'll just clamp the tubes before I disconnect a bottle to keep the pressure in.

The vaseline, unsurprisingly, didn't do the job!

 

[overboard]

I'm looking into making one of these. I was wondering how often you have to replace the yeast/sugar/water mixture?

Ty!

 

[overboard]

I'm looking into making one of these. I was wondering how often you have to replace the yeast/sugar/water mixture?

Ty!

From what I read it's once a week.

 

[Egmel]

I'm looking into making one of these. I was wondering how often you have to replace the yeast/sugar/water mixture?

Ty!

From what I read it's once a week.

Yup, about that, though it depends on the quantities you use, more yeast uses the sugar more quickly so it doesn't last as long. There's a maximum concentration of either sugar or alcohol (the by product of yeast making CO2) that yeast can withstand so you can't just add more sugar as your yeast wont cope!

So basically, trial and error but aim to change every 5-7 days.