MICRO BUBBLES FROM LOOSE FITTINGS, HELPPPP

Dab Strudel said:

I have been battling this for days. Ive let my system sit for a while, broke it back out to do some runs and I cant hold 75 PSI to save myself. Ive narrowed it down to 2 sections. I thought I fixed both issues but I have lost 6 PSI in 2.75 hrs from one section and I cant bare to check the other hose. The section I lost 6 psi was as follows- BV/MNPT-MFlare fitting/fJIC-fJIC hose/mJIC-Fnpt/Gauge. the leak was at the flare to hose fitting but the bubbles from submerging it were MICRO bubbles coming out slower than the second coming of jesus. I tightened it a hair and tested it again. No bubbles for 20 seconds. so I let it rest at 73 PSI and I come back said time later to 67 psi... Ive used this gauge before, just recently changing it out for its inaccuracy but the situation calls for a gauge to ensure sludging doesnt occur. Ive submerged from the bottom of the gauge to the ball valve and cant find any other bubbles, this is my second ball valve because I thought it was the issue. again, it was taken from a trusted place as well. Honestly I dont know what I am looking for from you guys, maybe telling me you had the same issue and how you solved it. I replaced all the parts with new ones, its stupid. NPT hoses and one kind of gauge, JIC hoses and another gauge, it all fails. EVERy OTHER FITTING IS HOLDING PRESSURE, I replace fittings all the time. But now that ive added this IC69 in the freezer I have had nothing but issues. Thanks guys

Click to expand...

Rickys bong said:

Tiny leaks are harder to locate. You can do several things: break the components into smaller groups to see if it's individual valves that are leaking, keep hitting it with windex or you can also do nothing... With small leaks you will only see a tiny bubble of foam forming around the leak rather than big bubbles. If the components are older I'd carefully check the length of hoses as well.

For a leak that small as long as you are in a ventilated area, which you should be anyway the risk is minimal.
Try putting crush washers in place, and double check the valves. The ball valve stems frequently leak.

RB

Click to expand...

Dab Strudel said:

I put it up to 100 psi and sprayed window cleaner, after finding all the itty bitty leaks I still managed to not hold all my pressure over night. I gave up and ran it anyway. 2 days isnt going to leak out any more pressure than I should have taken out in the beginning.

Another crap shoot, one of my ball valves is leaking from the handle when temps get under 0*f, quick swap and im good to go. although that leak is killing me I sat and watched every connection for over an hour. no window cleaner bubbles what so ever. not on the hose, either side of swivel fittings, handle of ball valve, im stuck. Id almost pay one of yehs to find the fkn leak just to show me (not that im doing it wrong). Instead ill go buy another couple rolls of tape and re-tape every fitting to shed some rust and hope for a better ending.

Click to expand...

Chonkski said:

Oh man this thread brings back the stress of my lil mkiii days. I used to be very compulsive about having ABSOTIVELY POSOLUTLEY NO LEAKS!

Like RB said... Frustrating!

One of my biggest problems back then, was a couple of WOG ball valves that would only leak when I had liquid solvent streaming through it. Otherwise they wouldn't leak one bit if it was just compressed air. Like GW said, the packing glands were the problems in my case.

Click to expand...