My Victor model SR 450D Oxygen Regulator working pressure gauge needle keeps climbing higher and higher when I set the working pressure. The cylinder pressure gauge works fine. Are do it your self kits available to repair these and how difficult is it to do the repair safely? Naturally, I am tempted to take it apart but I don't want to become a statistic.
I always take them to the welding supply store for professional repair. Call me a sissy but it's not something that I want to experiment with.
You can't buy the repair parts to DIY a regulator. Something about legal liability if done incorrectly. I take mine to a place in Grand Prairie, TX called Torch and Gauge. When you get it back it looks brand new. Repolished and cleared, new gages, new fittings, etc...
The welding store I used to work at sent their repairs to torch and gauge also. When they came back the owner would double the price and add 10 percent, and don't forget the freight. They did look like new though.
I repair high pressure breathing AIR regulators for a living. The workings of a regulator are pretty simple. The testing of a regulator after repair is not. Oxygen is DANGEROUS, it will cause fires in things that normally you wouldn't even consider. Most likely scenario is that if you rebuild your own reg, without proper parts as they are hard to source, it still have the same problem. If you rebuild your own reg and it leaks - high chance of an explosion. If you rebuild your reg with the wrong lubricant VERY high chance of an explosion.
I worked in a factory once where some guy thought he could rebuild a regulater. He was lucky, it only knocked a few holes in the cement block wall when it blew up. It just happened to blow away from him or he wouldn't have been able to tell the war stories. Send it in. Gene
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