water on tap

ok, I know that water is ONLY an ingredient, NOT a final product, but there are times I would like a cold glass of water in the sunroom where my kergrator resides.
I have built a system that uses water from the hose to the gas in port on the keg, and out thru an open tap. the only problem I see is if something pops, I will have a flooded keggerator before I know anything is wrong. Also I am using 3/8 poly hose from the water outlet and a piece of vinyl hose to make the 3/8 fit on the 1/4 fitting on the quick release. this seems potentially a problem. Any ideas? I just thought about doing away with the entire post, and finding a threaded fitting instead. Anybody got any ideas?
thanks,

Norm

p.s. Boy, it's been a WHILE since I logged on!! as evidenced by my keg contents!!!

Why use a keg at all? Wouldn't a length of copper tubing work just as well, like a jockey box? Copper can be soldered or flared and compression-fit....

944 has a good point. If you have no desire to carbonate the water, skip the keg and leave that pouring position open for a carbonated beverage. They sell water dispensing faucets and you can just run 20' of copper tubing in a coil to keep a glass pouring cold.

One thought this triggered in my head was what would happen if you put CO2 into the keg. If you filled the keg with CO2 to like 40psi, then connected the water to the gas in, it would rush in until it compressed the CO2 to city pressure (50-70psi) and then stop. While it sits like that, it will carb the water big time. As it absorbs CO2, more water will come in as the head pressure drops. In theory the water will stay carbed at the same level until all the CO2 is consumed and the keg is full of water.

Bobby_M said:

One thought this triggered in my head was what would happen if you put CO2 into the keg. If you filled the keg with CO2 to like 40psi, then connected the water to the gas in, it would rush in until it compressed the CO2 to city pressure (50-70psi) and then stop. While it sits like that, it will carb the water big time. As it absorbs CO2, more water will come in as the head pressure drops. In theory the water will stay carbed at the same level until all the CO2 is consumed and the keg is full of water.

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My SWMBO really likes seltzer... I don't have a kegging setup yet but someday I will. This sounds like a really interesting way to always have carbonated water on tap, if you could leave the house water, gas in and water out lines always connected. Wouldn't you need a check valve somewhere though to make sure that you don't end up carbonating your house water?

The kegs will have to be sealed units when carbonating. Otherwise you will be attempting to carbonate your city water system and you run the risk of pushing water through your regulator.

If you don't want it carbonated just by a flare fitting. I think its half inch flare fittings fit inside of the hose and get one with a 3/8" flare on the other side. Hook that right into the line going to your tap.

If you want it carbonated you will need to fill the keg and leave it pressured up for a few days.

Yeah, you definitely don't want your gas system hooked up when the city pressure is hooked in. I was just going through a metal exercise. It's way more practical to fill the keg, apply 20psi and wait. When the keg is empty, open the supply and fill the tank again, apply gas again.

OK, this is the way I had been thinking, till the other day. This one will have NO carb connected. The city water is to the gas in and out goes to the tap. the ambient air in the keg keeps the capacity to 2-3 gallons and pressurizes. I have hooked the parts up, outside the box, but I have to do a better job of connecting the 3/8 poly to the keg. Am heading to Home Depot to find a fitting to do away with the post, one made for poly hose. at our pressure, it pours nicely. as long as you do not open the tap halfway, then it squirts a bit.

I can't quite figure out what your trying to do. The water pressure alone should be all you need. I don't know why you want to use a keg? All a keg will do is store water. As soon as the keg is disconnected you will need to add CO2. If you don't want carbonated beer why bother with the keg at all?

I'd run the water line straight to the tap.

I think he want a large supply of cold water. Having the water attached to the keg ensures that he will always have a semi full keg of water and reasonably. I suspect he could get away with the coiled copper, unless he pouring pitchers of cold water.

You are only going to get a little bit of cold water though, as you will be addign warmer water to the keg. I see what you are trying to do, but if you don't want carbonated water, why waste all the room. Get a gallon jug and fill it with water, you're done. Maybe a few ice cubes.

The hookup you are looking at is asking for problems. If there isn't enough pressure from the city system to keep the keg sealed, the water will leak out, leaving you with one heck of a mess.

If it was me, I'd get a coil of soft copper and put it inside. The city water will get cold running through the coils, unless you want a larger supply, but your keg idea won't keep large amounts of water cold either. I'd go with copper coil, as less change of leaks.

kirscp said:

You are only going to get a little bit of cold water though, as you will be addign warmer water to the keg. I see what you are trying to do, but if you don't want carbonated water, why waste all the room. Get a gallon jug and fill it with water, you're done. Maybe a few ice cubes.

The hookup you are looking at is asking for problems. If there isn't enough pressure from the city system to keep the keg sealed, the water will leak out, leaving you with one heck of a mess.

If it was me, I'd get a coil of soft copper and put it inside. The city water will get cold running through the coils, unless you want a larger supply, but your keg idea won't keep large amounts of water cold either. I'd go with copper coil, as less change of leaks.

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I dont think he'll have an issue with City water pressure, most are 45psi and up. He'd probably want a check valve in there. I also dont think that drawing 1 gallon of cold water, filling it back up with water from the main, is going to warm it up all that much. He'll be drawing from the bottom and filling from top. As for why, well cus it'd be cool having a tap dedicated to water vs having a jug of water.

Onr suggestion might be to put a timer on the faucet supply. You can get them at walmart, they have schedules to turn on twice a day for a few minutes. THat way if a leak does occur, well its not a huge leak. And it wont be warming you water as you draw it.