Defective needle valve ?

[magnosis]

I just setup my pressurized co2 system today   I'm using a [new] Milwaukee regulator, needle valve, solenoid & bubble counter.

What I don't understand is why/how the co2 flow keeps slowing down.
- I turn the regulator knob just enough to get ~3-5 bubble per sec.
- Wait 5 minutes
- Look at bubble counter: it's down to 1 bubble every 5-10 second. 

I've been playing with it for the last 2h, and this happens every time, it keeps slowing down gradually.


Is this normal for a new setup, or should I return it and get a replacement ? Or is the Milwaukee just a bad piece of hardware (the one thing I already dislike about it is the knob is super touchy.  I need to turn it like 1/10000th of a degree to go from 1 to 10 bps)

[fischkopp]

The needle valve on the Milwaukee is a bit finicky to adjust. It helps to run them with high pressure. I used to set mine to 30 psi.

[magnosis]

ahaha I'm such an retard     The whole time, I was trying to set my bpm with the wrong knob, i.e. adjusting the pressure somewhere between 0 and 1 psi.

Then I realized there's another knob by the bubble counter    Just what I needed.  (at first I though this was just a screw-cap to seal a bypass line, which would have been handy btw).

Awesome tip, fischkopp.  It's a lot easier to adjust at 30 psi. I had no idea what it was supposed to be set to in the first place.
Thanks.

[dan2x38]

I even had mine at 40 PSI. A few others suggested it to me and it worked quite well.