CO2 Check Valve
 

I will soon be setting up a Ca reactor. The instruction manual highly recommends installing a check valve for the CO2 line. Any old air check valve is not recommended. The reactor did not come with a CO2 check valve.

I'm not having much luck finding this available in Canada. I'm looking to get one of these...
http://www.marinedepot.com/ps_ViewIt...ry~FICOCV.html

I've never ordered anything online from the States before and am reluctant to do so based on horror stories I've heard on massive shipping and/or duty charges.

Does anyone know where I can get a CO2 check valve in Canada?

Has anyone (from Canada) ordered from "Marine Depot" before? (I'm thinking someone must have). How did it go?

BTW, I hope this is an appropriate post as it appears to me that no sponsors of this site carry what I'm looking for. Therefore, I do not consider this stepping on anyones toes?

Thanx much,

I don't think there is a special check valve. The reason for the check valve is to stop water from wrecking your soleniod. Mine looks like a simple diaphram...actually looks like an aquarium pump check valve. If you really want to get fancy you can buy a spring loaded check valve for 20 bucks or so. If you do, make sure it can lift off with a couple pounds of pressure( even 1 psi )

Would this work?

http://oceanaquatics.com/store/produ...lve---Airline/

Mine looks very similiar

Brass check valves are a lot more reliable. That's the type recommended for CO2 applications. You can get them at Princess Auto, welding supply stores and hydraulic suppliers.

This is the one I am using and I have never had a problem.

Tom R

I wouldn't use a brass check valve in a saltwater application.

Dennerle makes a CO2 check valve made of plastic. It doesn't seem to be listed on the Ocean Aquatics website but that's where I got mine. Call Wendell and ask for one.

It looks like this:
http://www.aquacave.com/dennerle-hig...alve-1581.html

I am not sure why that( the Dennerle) should be called a CO2 check valve. In other words how is it different.

Don't ask me how it works but it only works for CO2. It's the weirdest thing.

The above shown check valves are OK but I've used them in the past and have had to replace them after 6 to 12 months because they stopped working. The Dennerle I've used now for 4 years continuously and is still working, and appears to be all plastic so no worries about corrosion.

And yeah seriously it only seems to work for CO2, although maybe it's just a question of needing to build up enough pressure in the line (I run my CO2 regulator around 20psi).

I think it is a pressure thing. The ones designed for co2 are industrial grade too which would be more reliable than the hobby grade plastic ones you usually find at the LFS. Reeeeeeeeeaaaaaaallly bad things can happen if check valves fail in an industrial setting.

A check valve for a 20 psi application should not have more than 2 psi lift value. You want to open the valve easily but you want it slam shut easily too. and seat properly. Maybe the Dennerle is all teflon(including the spring). But really any type of check valve should work

Definitely getting into details over my head now. :lol: All I know if I blowed as bloody hard as I possibly could into it and could not get it to, er, pun-not-intended, pass air. But put it on the CO2 line and the CO2 would pass no problem (even at really low psi settings, although I still have to run mine at 18-20psi just to produce a consistent bubble rate). So, that, and the fact that it's still working four years later. I was going through those clear plastic check valves like crazy. Not that they're expensive but it's just annoying when they stop working and you have to replace them.

The reason for the difference in the lift value is because most lift check applications involve pumps. Sometimes pumps need some large backpressure to operate efficently. In passive applications a 1 or 2 psi lift is it. The most important point in check valves is how well it seats back to prevent backflow. Tony i suspect yours spring loaded poppet and the cheaper ones are a flappper type.

Thanx. I saw that one on Marine Depot as well and was considering it also. I'll get in touch with OA. Thanx for all the replies.

Cheers,

Thanx for that link, Tony. OA doesn't carry it (or any other Canadian outfit, it seems, for that matter). I placed an order with Aqua Cave. We'll see how it goes.

Cheers,

mark; let us know how it does go!
thanks