regulator ????

[Jack Clay]

I just finished putting air lines up in my shop. I had no leeks except in the regulator I bought for the end by my work bench. I also had the regulator on my air compressor go bad and the one I bought at Menards also leaked. I took the one apart on the compressor and got it fix for now. Is there a good place to buy a regulator that will not leek. Call me crazy but that hissing sound in the shop all day would drive me nuts.

[Carroll Courtney]

Grainger has all kinds of regulators,w/or without filters.

[Leland Berry]

:) I agree re; Grainger, but they may be a little pricey. A good quality
and inexpensive is AM-FlO. They were once owned by Parker, and their
hose, quick-connects etc. were quality products also. They even have
a "Parker-Yellow" label. I hate saying this part HOWEVER--you may
find those at--a hmmm--Harbor Freight.----I hate it when I say that !

[Josiah Bartlett]

I assume you are smart enough not to plumb the regulator backwards, as they all hiss if that happens.

I've actually had good luck with Harbor Freight regulators, for some reason.

[Leland Berry]

Opps-Forgot to mention---Certain regulators vent EXTERNALLY--I'm
a little rusty on this--But the regulator "at the end of the bench ", if
its set lower than supply air-or you ajust it below, you should hear air
venting briefly, and the gauge follows- If not, connect something
calling for air-blow gun etc-downstream of that reg. Fire the blow gun
once, then OFF, while watching the gauge to see if it reads your set press. It may stop venting at that point -in which case your reg. is O.K.
and it is the more common std. reg. If not, then you are correct it is
in need of repair or replacement---Hope that helps
gauge to see if it returns to you original set po

[Matt Meiser]

Its been a few years, but I found a good deal on a couple brand new name-brand (though the name escapes me right now) regulators on Ebay. Make sure you look at pressure ranges and connection sizes if you go that route. I want to say I spent < $50 on two very good regulators this way. At the time this wasn't an unusual price but I don't know if things have changed.

Unfortunately it is/was probably a by-product of a lot of manufacturing going oversees and leaving a surplus of pneumatic equipment.