CO2 Bottle gone wild

[BrewHaHa]

A buddy of mine went to get his propane tanks filled the other day
and while there asked the fellas if he could store his CO2 tank in
his refrigerator on it's side to save space while carbonating his kegs.

He and I had a discussion about this before and I told him I had always
heard that you were NOT to. Well it seems the propane boys told him
that it was fine to lay it on it's side...which is what he did.

All was well for the first day or so, then he noticed that the regular would
not stay at any setting he put it at but would rise up to about 40 PSI. He thought
maybe it was the beer he was carbonating causing the problem so he
disconnected the keg and the regulator still runs up to 40 PSI. So with all that being
said the question is: "Has he screwed the pooch and ruined the regulator?" and
a topic for discussion: "Can you lay you CO2 on it's side in the frig?

Any help would be appreciated!

Roy

[ajdelange]

A CO2 bottle, except when it approaches emptiness or when the temperature is above 87 °F, contains liquid CO2. When you friend laid the bottle on its side the liquid was able to run out the valve and into the regulator. The regulator is not designed to work with liquid but rather gas. If he stands the bottle back up and lets the liquid drain then the regulator will probably come back to life and work normally. If he wants to store the bottle on its side then he should elevate the end with the valve so the liquid cannot enter the regulator.

[BrewHaHa]

A CO2 bottle, except when it approaches emptiness or when the temperature is above 87 °F, contains liquid CO2. When you friend laid the bottle on its side the liquid was able to run out the valve and into the regulator. The regulator is not designed to work with liquid but rather gas. If he stands the bottle back up and lets the liquid drain then the regulator will probably come back to life and work normally. If he wants to store the bottle on its side then he should elevate the end with the valve so the liquid cannot enter the regulator.

Thanks for the response! Let me ask this question.
Will this affect the keg of beer he was carbonating? Is it ruined?

Thanks again

Roy

[ajdelange]

Wouldn't think so. The worst I can immagine is that the regulator passed liquid with the possibility of over carbonation in which case just bleeding some CO2 would fix things up.

[mordantly]

90 degrees until half empty than you can go to 45. oh and a short time of liquid wont kill it. my mig 20#er fell over but against a chair so i didnt notice until i had the odd shielding condition. stood her up and purged all that out. it was obviously colder than normal operating temp so it did act a tad strange for a while.