Micromatic have discontinued the premium regulator

[duncan.brown]

I just discovered that Micromatic have discontinued their premium regulator series for both the primary and secondary regulators. This was my favorite type of regulator as the construction is rock solid and it has a nice twist knob with a locking ring that you can use to prevent accidental adjustment of the pressure.

They have replaced the premium with the premium plus series. This is just is a nicer looking version of the economy regulator. It requires a screwdriver to adjust the pressure and it doesn't have the knob or locking ring. I'm not sure how this is a "plus." There's a company in Australia that still has some of the old premium regulators in stock, but I can't find anywhere in the US that still has them.

The images below show a primary single with the old premium regulator compared to the new premium plus in a double regulator secondary configuration.

 

[day_trippr]

I have one of the "classic" premium models identical to the left picture, used on my beer gas system. It's quite nice looking but just an "ok" regulator. The dings are the pressure knob metal-on-metal action sounds and feels like metal-on-metal; and that ridiculous 3/8" barb (they did not offer a flare version at the time afaik). I rank my Taprites higher because of those.

As for the new line, I can only guess they decided they needed to take cost out of the original premium line product. It does look expensive to make, I'll give it that much...

Cheers!

 

[duncan.brown]

My other primary regulator is a Taprite and it's definitely a nice regulator. I'm not a huge fan of the Taprite's plastic knob, but I have to admit my preference for the Micromatic premium is marginal. When you say metal-on-metal noise, do you mean part 4 turning against the spring (part 5) in the diagram below?

I swap out all the barb connectors for John Guest fittings to use BevSeal Ultra for my gas lines, so barb size doesn't bother me that much.

No such noise from the new premium plus, though. Maybe that's the plus?

 

[day_trippr]

It's the knob portion of item 3 which is actually two pieces - the knob which turns, and the bonnet that doesn't.
Whenever I turn the metal knob it grinds on the metal bonnet threads...

Cheers!

 

[duncan.brown]

It's the knob portion of item 3 which is actually two pieces - the knob which turns, and the bonnet that doesn't.
Whenever I turn the metal knob it grinds on the metal bonnet threads...

Strange, that's completely smooth for me.

 

[day_trippr]

I may have caught the manufacturing tolerances working against each other
Practically speaking it's a non-issue in my application, driving my stout faucet for the last...decade? It's more of a quality concern to me.
In an application requiring more frequent adjustment it might be more of a problem over time...

Cheers!

 

[duncan.brown]

@day_trippr I just got the metal-on-metal grinding... I think I didn't see it before because I use the regulator to push beer around, so I never go more than 9 psi. Cranking the regulator all the way gives a nasty sound.

 

[day_trippr]

Well there we are. Thanks for posting that though.
Now I'm part of a cohort instead of being an outlier

Cheers!