Kegco KC LH-542 Premium Pro Series Dual Gauge Co2 Draft Beer Regulator, Chrome

I purchased this regulator to make carbonated water at home. We don't drink pop (soda for the non-midwesterners), nor beer. But my kids like H2O type water. So I use this to carbonate 2 liter pop bottles very inexpensively.The first one that I got had a bent faceplate on the low-pressure gauge. This prevented the needle from going any higher than about 30 psi. I carbonate at 40psi. So I took off the cover to that gauge and bent the metal faceplate backwards to clear the needle. It appears that the two little holes for the mounting screws were improperly located, making the faceplate higher than it should be.Then after 2 months, the pressure regulator part started not working correctly. It would keep rising pressure until the relief valve dumped pressure. I knew that this meant that it hit the limit of about 50 psi and then dumped.I emailed the company that sold the product, through the amazon contact seller link, and they apologized and sent out a replacement regulator. I received the replacement regulator within about a week, and this one seems to be working fine.Time will tell if it starts not regulating, but at least this faceplate is not bent and the needle works just fine.But for now, we love having very inexpensive carbonated water around. My estimate is upfront cost of the regulator, the hose, or the ball-lock connector, or the ball-lock 2-liter top, or the purchase of a CO2 tank (i bought a 20lb tank), totals to be about $175. This is compared to a soda stream at about $100.But with a 20-lb CO2 tank, people report they can fill somewhere between 1000 and 1500 2-liter pop bottles of water before having to recharge. Since a recharge is about $20, that brings cost per 2-liter bottle down to about $0.02 per 1.5-liters.Considering that 130-liters of sodastream charge runs about $60, that's about $0.50 per liter! Sure, mine doesn't look as pretty, and can't sit on a countertop, but it sits in our furnace room just fine. I fill about 4 2-liter bottles at a time and store them in the fridge.

I will preface my write up by saying that I am not a beer brewer, so please consider my use is simply carbonating water for use in home bottled soda. I was a soda stream user for a long time and between price hikes and product changes I decided to go another way. Now I purchase either coke bag in box or similar "off brand" Bib syrups from local distributors. I use this with a 5 pound mini tank in my garage and almost exclusively carbonate water. In the last 5 months I've carbonated at least 200 1 liter bottles of water without issue. I have noticed that the emergency release vale can be a little sensitive, i.e. if I bump the tank or tug the line a bit too much while agitating my 1 liter I have a time or two caused the valve to pop. It's a simple quick fix of pushing it back in and I guess realistically I would rather it be too sensitive then fail to function in a failure situation. Other folks have commented about the cheap quality, I honestly don't feel it has a cheap feel but I wonder if folks aren't comparing this to more high end beer brewing equipment... In context that would be like saying a Kia (or even a Honda) is "cheap" because it's not as nice as a Bugatti. As an entry level gauge this thing has performed for me just fine, my unit did not come with any shipping damage and has functioned great for my purpose of carbonating water to be used with soda syrups.

The valves work as expected, but the gauges are light weight which makes me worry about the long term durability of the product. It seem to be doing the job, the out pressure is reduced and controlled by the valve, but varying the pressure does require a wrench and is not as easy as it could be. The adjustment knob seems a little light duty as well, not sure how many times I would want to risk readjusting the pressure. It's an OK unit, I'm not sure if it is fair to expect something more robust at this price?

worked right out of the box, very accurate

I have no practical experience with this kind of equipment but it seems to work just fine and be of a decent quality. When it arrived the barb had pierced the box but there was no damage. It was packaged well enough that I'm not sure why it had poked the box. It came with two washers and,, though it took a minute, i think I like the pressure knob. The build seems sturdy------The regulator stopped working after first use, past return date.------Ok, here it is, I replaced the low pressure gauge and it seems to work fine with one caveat every time you change the bottle and the very first time you install it, you need to start at 0 and dial up slowly. Otherwise the pressure just keeps rising until it releases. The low pressure gauge broke partially from me not realizing what was going on quick enough and the regulator seems to work fine if you know how to baby it...that's why it gets a two and not a one.---------Stopped working completely, gets a one.

My five-star recommendation comes with a caveat. I wish they would have gone more into detail about the locking control for pressure level in the tank. After installing the regulator I attempted to adjust the gas pressure to no avail. I had to look online for other people that were complaining or commenting on it to find out that the unit comes with the locking nut in the lock mode, which disallows you to adjust the gas pressure. Put it in the description so people don't have the same bad experience I had.

It works OK up to about 50psi. Past that the pressure relief valve is very inconsistent and finicky. The knob is difficult to turn but manageable with a wrench.

needed it for a replacement on my kegerator...would definitely recommend for others