Subject: Re: check valve for CO2 neccessary?

["Tom Wood" <tomwood2 at flash_net>]

>>Maybe not necessary, but a wise investment when you
can use a $1 plastic airline check valve to protect a
$65 tank, $65 regulator and $20 needle valve. <<

>I have understood that the cheap check valves will
only work for a month or two, and after that the
rubber gives way and it is useless. <

Mine have been in service for three years or more. They work fine for a long
time.

>>Another thing to consider is the pressure needed to
overcome the check valve, i.e. keep the valve open.
Please correct me if I am wrong, but the speculation
on this list is that this increased pressure leads to
the catastrophic end-of-tank co2 dumps. <<

A $1 check valve is a rubber bladder in a plastic housing that closes
against a reverse flow of a liquid, like water. The check valve is placed
after the needle valve, in the low pressure part of the tubing. It opens
very easily to the low pressure side (the CO2 cylinder side in this
application) when there is no liquid on the high pressure side (the aquarium
side in this application). The protection against the imaginary dreaded end
of tank dump is the needle valve. All the misinformation about high pressure
versus low pressure CO2 systems is merely marketing garbage designed to
confuse the neophyte, imo.

Tom

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