Regulator And Solenoid Help

[Norvu]

Been looking around for a good regulator and solenoid that doesn't cost an arm and a leg. I've come across a few options whilst browsing various online stores and need help deciding. The first (and most expensive) options I found is this:

Sold on ebay for £84.94 (inc. shipping)

This is really expensive and I'm not sure if I'm willing to fork out the money for it. But it seems like a solid build and high quality (from what I can tell), so is the quality worth the £££?

Then there is the second option I found...

Also sold on ebay for £59.98 (inc. shipping), but with a cheap bubble counter it goes up to £65.94 (I include the cost of a bubble counter because one is included in the first option). This seems pretty much like the one above, just without a brass bubble counter (which I'm fine with no having and could probably even attach, separately, afterwards).

Third option was getting the items separately!

Found the above regulator over here for just £20.89 (inc. shipping without insurance) and a recommended solenoid on ebay for £25.18, which brings the third option to £46.07 (including the cheap bubble counter from option 2).



So am I better off going with the cheaper option 3 or spending a little bit more? Your advice is appreciated, as I am a complete newbie when it comes to all of this.

 

[Mikaila31]

Personally I wouldn't use a single guage regulator.

Buying item seperatly will be more challenging. There are a few different threads/ attachments out there for regulators. You may find that you need to buy specific attachments to get everything to go together correctly.

You will also need a needle valve, drop checker, and diffuser of some sort. Then of course the canister. Pressurized is expensive stuff. I'm happy I don't have to mess with DIY anymore though.

 

[Norvu]

I understand the other stuff I'll need and I'm fine with spending the money for it, the only reason I included the bubble counter with the seconds and third option was to offset the cost from the first. My bro works on a building site and got me a couple of CO2 FE's for me to use, and as far as I can tell this entire endeavor should cost me much less than £100, which is fine.

Also, why would you not use a single gauge regulator? I presume one gauge measures the flow rate coming out and the other measures the content left in the canister, but why are two essential?

 

[theshadowinc]

Also, why would you not use a single gauge regulator? I presume one gauge measures the flow rate coming out and the other measures the content left in the canister, but why are two essential?

Because you can't adjust the pressure going to the needle valve, 800psi up against a needle valve is alot of pressure IMO would wear it out in a hurry. I don't trust single gauge eaither all it tells you is what is in the bottle, you also need to know how much pressure is leaving the bottle and be able to adjust it. I would recommend going with a good name right from the beggining and I am not sure about the ebay ones at all to be honest, I use this one. I know this one is affordable, it was more money back when i set my tank up but now has come down in price. What would $90.00 us be in Euro? The Malwakee seems to work well for me the only thing is instead of water in my chamber for the bubble counter I now you mineral oil (Glycerin). That way I am not refilling it every waterchange from teh water evaporating. I would go with the first 1 if it was me and money wasn't an issue, eaitherway I think the first one would be cheaper in the long run, because you still have bubble counter to worry about on the others and a diffuser or reactor for the all of them.

I even went to a welding shop to make my own because I was being cheap and the person at the welding shop I know personally and I showed him a picture of what the regulator looks like and he said to me its cheaper to just buy the proper regulator and was also cheaper for me to buy it from milwakee instead of building my own, he told me go with the dual gauge because not only do I need to know the pressure in the tank, and also need to know what the flow is so I know when end of tank dump will happen (I would be able to assume better when end of tank dump happens).

Edit you think much less than 100 hmm.... not sure how euros work
but I spend 45 on tank I think and its used
130.00 roughly on the gauge
12-15 on the special hose for co2
10-15 for the glass diffusers
Plus 60 on a Koralia for moving the bubbles around the tank

so I spent roughly 265 on a co2 canister setup and thats canadian funds