Condor tank leaking very slowly
I have a .25 Condor that was tuned by TT 2.5yrs ago. It has a full tune, 90gram hammer, O-ring mod, OEM spring, vented frame, bushings, etc.
I shot as usual down to 1600psi and went to refill it. After filling to the usual 2300psi (trying to keep the JSB King velocities subsonic, I went to bleed the hose, and it just kept on bleeding air without stopping, but it wasn’t a lot of air. Finally the pressure got really low and I was able to disconnect the hose.
One thing I noticed as the gauge needle was going up when initially turning the valve on the 4500 tank, it went up to 1,200psi, then back down to 400 or so, and then back up to 1,600psi and paused, which was the pressure in the tank. That never happened before where the gauge went up, down and back up again, or maybe I never noticed it.
The leak is very slow and quiet. You ‘d have to put your ear up to it (which makes me nervous with HPA stuff). The air seems to be coming from the top of the valve, ie: under the tophat or inside the bottom of the top hat. What do you think could be wrong? Why won’t the valve close? I checked the screws on the tophat and they are tight.
I put the tank back on the gun and dry fired it a couple of times. It discharged normally but the slow leak is still there. The tank is on the gun right now with the breach slide closed/locked. I can still hear and feel the air on my cheeck when I bring it near my ear to listen for it. I have never opened the valve before, but if you can give me an idea why I have this slow leak, or if it’s just a top hat adjustment (I doubt it), I may be able to fix it (doubt that too since I do not want to take the valve apart).
Thanks for your help!
PS.
Is it safe to leave the tank in the gun, or should I remove it and look for a steel box to put it in, in case it “blows a gasket?” 🙂
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Viewing 11 replies - 1 through 11 (of 11 total)
Wow that was fast. All you probably had to do give the tophat a tap. That usually fixes it with new AF guns that have a small leak. Too bad they don’t test them well before boxing them up.
Maw fixed mine and had it back to me before Christmas 🙂 This post was from 2011 🙂
Like Maw said he replaced all the parts inside the valve except for the obvious 3: tophat/stem/spring, for $35 plus some labor. Maw also adjusted the spring seat (turned it down quite a bit IRCC) which resulted in 30 very consistent shots between 1.000fps and 1,010fps with JSB Kings on PW 0. I can shoot another 12-15 shots and it’s still in the very high 900’s (~980 usually) starting at 1,010fps – like it has a regulator. So I get a total of about 45 usable shots with 30fps ES before any significant POI changes. I told him I did not want tons of power or more power than it already had, because this Condor is most accurate with the light JSB Kings, and wanted to keep the velocity well below subsonic and around 1K fps, or lower. I also asked Maw for good consistency which is very important to me, and he delivered. He did not know how good he made it though 🙂 It is very consistent starting at 2500-2600psi and lowest PW setting. If I go to PW 4, 6, or 8 though, it is not as consistent, and the SD increases, but I am very happy shooting the Kings at PW 0, and the shroud works very well at 1k fps. That ‘s exactly what I wanted.
I never had a critter walk away from 57fpe ME and I ‘ve shot some pretty big ones 😉
Rachel at airforce called me back and said that something inside the valve was broken they fixed it and it will ship out tomorrow with my new condor frame
If it does turn out to be the the delrin seat, simply let the pressure out of the tank, take the entire valve out, (May take some heat if never removed before. They use some kind of sticky cement on them.)
If you have a drill press, or even a hand drill for that matter, Gently place it in the chuck with the seat faceing out. Turn it slowley and with a piece of fresh 500, or 600 sand paper, reface it. Just takes a very little in the way of material removal.
I like to place an old valve stem, or piece of drill rod in the seat, and use it to put in the chuck. Prevents damage.
Just a very tiny bit of debree in the air supply can cause a tiny cut on the seat face, and the derlin face. Just reface, and all will be good! 😉
Mike
Pandemic, your leak is due to the delrin seal. A LOT of new seals leak until they properly seat. Usually dry firing will do it, or take a rubber mallet and LIGHTLY tap the end of the tophat letting small bursts of air out. This will usually seal up a new valve, Ive had to do this twice with new valves.
Harry, I think there is a larger o-ring under that brass stem guide. If your leak is coming from around this guide, you need to drain the air and remove it.
You may be lucky, and the guide is slowly turning out on its own. Maybe you only need to tighten it back down. I would check to see if its loose first.
Its not hard to fashion a little wrench to turn it with. You can actually make one with an old fork, if you find the right fork. LOL
It is like 35.00 for the parts, took the valve apart, got new parts except the spring and stem and tophat.
so what was it my tank is doing the same thing the day i order another condor frame it starts i think im going to ship it to airforce to fix it and send it back out with my frame that should ship next week my leak is coming out of the tophat if i put my finger over the tophat the sound stops this sucks
Thanks Maw! That’s what I was afraid of. I am trying not to get upset over this. Up until now it was my favorite gun to shoot along with my tuned Diana 36. It’s only a toy and it’s only $, right? I am calming down.. 😆
I just got done with rebuilding my valve it kept leaking even after I put a new delrin stopper in then I finally found out the brass spring seat on the inside had cracked threads. I’m sorry to say if air leaks out the top of the valve the stopper has to be replaced which means the valve has to come out.
Thanks Maw. I found the leak after I posted but had to get some dinner. It’s coming from one small spot under the brass o-ring on top of the valve body. I put my finger on different areas around the brass until I could not hear the leak any longer. It seems to be coming from one of the horse-shoe notches on that brass “plate” – I believe. I guess I need to look at a valve schematic to see what the part is under there. It’s been a long time since I looked at one.
I also noticed lately the gun is louder than usual when discharging it, and thought maybe it was a baffle in the shroud. I replaced the breached o-rings with 90 duro ones and it didn’t make a difference. Would this “issue” make it sound louder? I can’t tell if there is air coming out of that spot when firing the gun. I put a tissue on top of the breach slide where ti goes over the tophat, but it didn’t move much.
And lastly, the leak has STOPPED. It looks like there is about 1800-1900psi in the tank. So that tells me there is an o-ring or seal that cannot handle the higher pressures. This all makes sense now because I filled the tank about a week ago and shot a 31gr Kodiak through the Chrony – 1,025fps. Then yesterday I shot 2 more Kodiaks at paper and the POI was slightly different, like when the pressure is lower. So I put it through the Chrony again and it read 950fps! I was scraching my head, so today I shot a JSB King through it and read 999fps so I knew I had not lost any air from yesterday (there is a 50fps difference between Kings and Kodies). So now that the leak has stopped, guess what the Chrony is reading with a JSB King? 996fps! So this leak started almost a week ago. Not before, because I chrony my PCP’s every time I start a target session, and before hunting or pesting, and again when I am done doing any kind of shooting and putting it away.
Stick it in a glass of water to see where it is leaking, if it is a brass insert oring it is an easy fix, if it is coming out around the stem or the end of the top hat, then the valve will need to come out. And no it isn’t going to blow up.
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yeah it cost $10 for shipping to airforce they are sending the tank back with the new condor frame i got so no return shipping was charged they did the work for free so im happy