Pressure pot help please

[Swarfy]

Hi all
I cannot for the life of me stop my resin pot losing pressure over an hour or two it drops to 0 from 3 bar its a metal clay or (house of resin ) brand 10ltr pot brand new ive checked all fittings no leaks at all so i presume its the lid how tight should i do it ive followed all the advice doing opposites up etc
ive put silicon grease on the seal but no difference i cant hear where its coming from i dont want to over tighten it but its begining to get me down

 

[darrin1200]

Finding the leak is relatively easy. Make a mixture of water and small squirt of dish soap. Don't mix it to vigorously, or it will foam up crazy.
Fill up the pot with air. Working systematically from the bottom up, put a little of the mixture on every joint and fitting. If there is an air leak, it will cause the mixture to bubble up, showing you where the leak is.

 

[Lucky2]

There you go Mick, Darrin has given you the best info you can get, on how to find the leak if there is one. And with what you're experiencing, there's a leak somewhere in your system.

Len

 

[skiprat]

Darrin's soapy water trick should find the leakage point(s). I also don't see any PTFE tape on any of the threads of the fittings. That might help too.
If it leaks down to a similar value each time, then I would perhaps suspect the pressure release valve isn't calibrated correctly.
But the soapy water will at least find it.

 

[FGarbrecht]

I had multiple leaky points when I set mine up; basically when I used the soapy water I had bubbles at EVERY threaded fixture). I used threadlocker on all the fittings to stop the leaks (PFTE tape did not stop them). I also had to make a gasket seal for the top (RTV gasket seal) to get the top to seal without leaks.

 

[Dieseldoc]

Just to add to the fix for a leaker. On my pot plus three other's I found the threading in the steel top was jagged and even with PTFE tape it would not past the water test. So I pulled all fitting and run a pipe tap through threads to clean threads holes up , re installed with Permatex 98H sealer, cycled the pressure relief valve to insure there was sealing. Removed top seal ring and cleaned up the grove removing uneven spots.
Soapy water test, turned pot up side down to ensure the sealing ring was good and not leaking. All top pot fittings were tested, No leaks.
All pots passed the test and would hold pressure over night at 60 PSI.

Also remember the pressure will drop a little four to five pounds over night due to the temp change. When it gets cooler pressure drops. Just like your tire pressure on vehicles.

 

[johnjohnson42]

As mentioned above... soap mixture to find the leaks and either teflon tape or loctite to seal all fittings. Also, and it's hard to tell from the pics, but if you've bolted the pot down to that board... don't over tighten the bolts as I've heard that it's possible to warp the pot slightly... just enough for the lid not seal properly

 

[JohnU]

I know the instructions say to hand tighten, but I would suggest you give them another 1/2 or full turn with a pair of pliers. That will compress the gasket a little more and hopefully take care of your problem. I do this with all of mine and have no issues. Just remember when you reopen it... do so like lug nuts on a car. I make one or two turns on each one opposite each other and then the last two. This way you don't put extra pressure on your threads as the lid come off the seal evenly around the clamps . Good luck!

 

[jttheclockman]

One last thing, when you do get the pot tuned in, mark the lockdowns and the top of the lid so that you replace it in the same position every time. The pot may have a warp to it and once you get the lid to conform to it you do not want to be spinning it around and trying to zone in again. My pot has to be over 12 years old and does not leak a bit and have used it many many times. I pressure up to 55lbs.

 

[Swarfy]

Spent ages looking for bubbles and listening for the hiss no joy so I ask the wife as she has better hearing than me apparently and yes she says is that bubble ok ? It's leaking in two or three places round the pre fitted gauge my stuff is fine ! I tried ptfe tape no difference so I've ordered some Loctite 542 will let you know

 

[Swarfy]

Finding the leak is relatively easy. Make a mixture of water and small squirt of dish soap. Don't mix it to vigorously, or it will foam up crazy.
Fill up the pot with air. Working systematically from the bottom up, put a little of the mixture on every joint and fitting. If there is an air leak, it will cause the mixture to bubble up, showing you where the leak is.

Have done this and yep showing leaks

 

[darrin1200]

I hope the loctite fixes your problem.

 

[leehljp]

A good wife can be very helpful! Take her out to a steak or lobster dinner Sunday!

 

[robutacion]

One last thing, when you do get the pot tuned in, mark the lockdowns and the top of the lid so that you replace it in the same position every time. The pot may have a warp to it and once you get the lid to conform to it you do not want to be spinning it around and trying to zone in again. My pot has to be over 12 years old and does not leak a bit and have used it many many times. I pressure up to 55lbs.

What John said is very important, you may find that by rotating the lid to a different position it will get a better seal, after trying all positions mark the one that gave you the best results.
Like others have said, most pots will leak from the fittings so that would be the first thing to check, if all are good the only culprit left will be the lid gasket.

Again, not all gaskets are the same nor or manufacturers use quality gaskets, some rubbers are harder so they will require more pressure to seal, the other aspect of this is, the higher the pressure inside the pot the tighter those nuts have to be, hand tightening for me never worked, I have used a combination of tools to help me make those nuts tighter, I get about 2 to 3 years out of each rubber seal but I use about 100psi pressure so those rubbers have to work hard and I use my pots a lot so, don't be afraid to go over a full turn after you can't tighten more with you hand.

Looking to small leaks with soapy water can be difficult, I find a lot easier to use a container that allows me to insert the full PRESSURIZED pot into in clean water you won't miss any leaks that way...!

Let us know...!

Cheers
George