Universal poppet valves for corney kegs

Has anyone used these? Are they reliable? How easy are they to use?

I have used them in both ball and pin-lock kegs. Better than the originals. Wish I had a bag of them years ago as it would have saved me many headaches. Well worth it.

^awesome, thanx for the pic too. Does the poppet actually protrude through the center hole a bit when the post is installed on the keg?

naga77777 said:

^awesome, thanx for the pic too. Does the poppet actually protrude through the center hole a bit when the post is installed on the keg?

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Not in my experience, but I do find they have more resistance than the regular springs, so provide a tighter seal.

I switched all my kegs to these. Best thing I did. I was having trouble with leaks before and I haven't had a leak since. I'm a big believer in these.

There are about three different designs of these universal poppets. Not all of them work on all kegs. With some, the poppet will protrude a bit.

I replaced all of my poppets with universals on my pin locks -- they do in fact protrude ever so slightly, but everything works perfectly. They're SO much easier to work with, I'm a sworn convert!

The universal poppets that I ordered from Northern brewer aren't quite right. In some cases, I've had to cut the spring down 1 coil to get a disconnect to lock in place. Not ideal, but it works.

Anyone have a line on the differences between the three different styles mentioned above?

DRog00 said:

The universal poppets that I ordered from Northern brewer aren't quite right. In some cases, I've had to cut the spring down 1 coil to get a disconnect to lock in place. Not ideal, but it works.

Anyone have a line on the differences between the three different styles mentioned above?

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The springs have different lengths and strengths. There are also a couple of different poppet heads if I recall correctly, but my memory might be misleading me. If you Google image search Universal Poppet, you can see the major differences right away.

DRog00 said:

The universal poppets that I ordered from Northern brewer aren't quite right. In some cases, I've had to cut the spring down 1 coil to get a disconnect to lock in place. Not ideal, but it works.

Anyone have a line on the differences between the three different styles mentioned above?

Click to expand...

I have seen some that the bottom of the poppet is narrower (and the spring also), so that not all the poppet heads will fit in the spring. A little non-universal, IMO, but as long as you check it when you purchase (my HBS just has them in a little bin) to make sure the poppets and springs fit together, not a big deal.

I have never cut one of mine, but there is a little resistance on some of my disconnects. They don't pop into place like on the old springs, but it's just a matter of pushing the release down manually.