One issue may be that balloons seem to be semi-porous....how they deflate even
wihthout being popped over a couple days....you may end up lowering co2
production by a lot, by using this.

Jason Judkins wrote:

Dude! What a kick-ass idea! I will try that... That's a good one, did you
find that in an article or did you think it up? I like it... very clever
Thanks again!

-Jason

"Eric Schreiber" wrote in message
...
"Jason" wrote:

So here is my question: Does anyone know of a good or common place to get
a
blow valve? (I.e. a valve that will discharge within a certain PSI range)
I
would like to make my DIY system fault tolerant, but I am just stumped on
where to get the blow valve... any ideas? Thanks!

I've just finished making my DIY CO2 system also, though instead of an
airstone I've just got the end of the airline tube tucked below a
'bell' to capture the CO2. Not as efficient as some methods, I
understand, but it's got a lot going for it in the simplicity and
not-exploding department.

But while tinkering with it, I got to wondering about the same thing
your asking - blow valves. Since I'm using an open air line, I
*shouldn't* have to be concerned with the bottle exploding, but still.

So, I was wondering about simply adding a T in the airline very near
to the bottle, and putting a simple child's balloon on it. I can see
several benefits...

- it serves as a visual warning system, since a big red balloon is
likely to get your attention a lot faster than a lack of a bubble
every five seconds.

- it could also serve as a visual indicator that the CO2 system is
working, depending on the back-pressure in the system. It only takes a
small amount of pressure to fill a balloon to its normal 'unstretched'
shape, after which gas would vent into the tank as intended. When the
balloon fully deflated, you could see at a glance that there was no
longer gas being produced, and the yeast mixture needs replaced.

- a balloon over-full of CO2 should pop much more easily, and with far
less mess, than a 2-liter plastic bottle full of yeasty sugar water.

- when it pops, you not only get the alarm sound of the balloon
popping, you have an open path for any further gas to escape.

- balloons are really cheap

Of course, it would only work in a system where the pressure required
to push gas through the outlet (be it an airstone or just an open
airline) is less than required to fully inflate the balloon. Having
blown air through and airstone and into a balloon, I expect that would
be most systems.

A real DIY enthusiast might rig a pin near the balloon to encourage it
to pop upon reaching a certain size, rather than needing a critical
gas pressure. Even safer as a valve, since it would blow at a lower
pressure.


--
www.ericschreiber.com