My regulators leak is there a way to fix this?

by Jim
(Minneaoplis,MN United States)

We have lots of regulaters and air sources in the building and some of them are just fine. But there are others that are leaking out of the regulators. I am pretty sure there are no other leaks in that area. Is it the regulators or is it something else we are doing and if it is the regulators can you fix them or do they have to be replaced.
Thanks Jim
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Bill says...

Hi Jim.

General purpose regulators are designed to leak. That is, they are "relieving", allowing them to bleed air to atmosphere.

The purpose of this is to allow overpressure downstream from the regulator to blow off, keeping the downstream pressure within the set point of the regulator.

Ask yourself if there is anything downstream from the leaking regulators that might be causing a back-pressure situation, and if that is the case, that back-pressure will bleed out of the regulator.

The other, and more obvious thing, is to make sure that the leaking regulators are installed in the correct orientation. Air is supposed to flow through regulators in one direction only. If they are installed against the compressed air flow, they will leak.

Both of these issues are OK, then change one of the leaking regulators with one that's not leaking, and see if the replacement solves the problem. If it does, replace the leaking one with a new one.

Cheers,

Bill