Friday, June 19, 2009

Hydor CO2 Troubleshooting

Here I describe several days of Hydor trouble shooting, including working with Hydor customer support. See the links to the right for more related entries. Please know that my comments pertain to the Hydor CO2 Green NRG Exclusive/Advanced system.

I have attached the pressure reducer to a new 74 gr cartridge firmly by hand. When I open the pressure reducer no gas escapes. When I turn the pressure reducer from open to closed I can hear brief puffs of escaping gas but then it stops immediately. No consistent gas is released. When I screwed the cartridge gas on the first time some gas escaped around the threads so I know the cartridge is pressurized. When I unscrew the cartridge slightly some gas escapes around the threads so I know it is still pressurized. Any advice?
---As I unscrewed the valve somewhat some plastic was extruded from what I assume is a pressure relief hole. Now CO2 will flow from this hole when the valve is somewhat unscrewed from the cartridge.---Well, I got the pressure relieved and unscrewed the valve so I see what was going on. It looks like there were two "o-rings" in the valve, two clear disks with a hole in the center. One of them looks shredded. Was the unit supposed to ship with both rings inserted? I screwed the cartridge on with hand strength only and I'm not a strong guy. Any thoughts out there? I'll grab a new cartridge tomorrow. I wonder if operating with one "O-ring" is acceptable. I did attach the valve to the provided air line and dipped the end into water and saw no movement at all, so I'm still concerned. Reading more: Please Comment. I'm waiting to hear from Hydor. I'm tempted to go buy another cartridge and try again with only one disk inserted, but the cartridges are over $20.
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