Perlick 525 SS faucet leaks

I bought 4 perlick 525 SS faucets a while back. One of them developed a leak recently. To stop the leak you had to close the faucet real hard and even then it dripped. Night before last I came home to find 5 gallons of beer all over my garage floor as the faucet apparently started leaking while I was gone. Killed a whole keg of amber ale. No big deal beer was not the best beer I have ever brewed. I called Perlick yesterday morning asked for service, told them about my leaky faucet and they said I had to talk to someone else so they transferred me to a voice mail. I left a message got no call back. Called them again this morning went through the same routine and got another voice mail for a guy named Scott. I left a message. Scott returned my call with in an hour. Seems Scott is really busy these days. I told him I had 4 faucets but only one leaks. He said no problem we will replace all four. I said why all four, and he said because the other three will leak eventually. He said they have replaced over 6000 525 SS faucets to date. He said they had a repair kit for the faucet but that leaked as well. He said they would send me four faucets but they would not be 525 SS. That faucet is being redesigned and will be released next year. Said they would provide return postage so I could return my 4 525 SS faucets to them. You can get your 525 SS Perlick faucets replaced by calling 800-558-5592 press 0 and ask for service. Or you can call Scott direct since he is the one doing the replacements at 414-760-5040. This problem apparently only affects the 525 SS faucets.

Hmm, that doesn't sound too good. I wonder why this would only affect the SS models and not the chrome ones?

I have three of the 525SS models and haven't seen any issues, but I think I'll keep an eye on them.

He mentioned 525's were affected but I didnt drill down to stainless as opposed to chrome/brass etc. So it may be all the 525's. While I was on the phone my only concern was that they were replacing my faucets. I am bummed that I will not be getting new 525's. I really love the faucets as they look cool as well as they pour excellent. My guess is if you don't replce them now and they leak down the road that Perlick will replace them at any time.

My three tap tower has 525 SS faucets. Thanks for the info.

Subscribed. I have three of these in my keezer and am interested in hearing some more.

Subscribed as well, i've got a few of these on my keezer... going to be putting my first beer on them soon, i guess i'll just keep a bucket underneath the faucet for insurance, if you find that we should just immediately replace these i would love the input! thank you for the post and the contact information!

Yeah I have three 525 SS faucets as well. One of them is a little bit leaky if I'm not careful with it, but nothing like you described. e.g. it might drip occasionally if I don't close it the whole way.

Do you know what he is sending as replacements?

weirdboy said:

Do you know what he is sending as replacements?

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Well, you know that brass faucet that is on the outside of your house? I'm talking about the one the garden hose is currently attached to...

It seems counterintuitive, but if the nut on top is tightened too much, it can cause the faucet ball to slip open.

Try loosening it ~1/4 turn.

Thanks for the info; very useful.

I've got the 525's but chrome. One of them was leaking a bit more than normal, even when closing it hard. I loosened the nut (or tightened it, i forget which) and now it does the standard 3 drips, and stops.

I'll certainly call Perlick if it ever develops the symptoms yours did.

AZ_IPA said:

It seems counterintuitive, but if the nut on top is tightened too much, it can cause the faucet ball to slip open.

Try loosening it ~1/4 turn.

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This is true, if the bonnet is too tight it will restrict the faucet lever movement and dribbles may result. The 525 totally relies on the hydraulic pressure of the beer behind the closure ball to seal (ie: there's no spring). So when tuning the bonnet you need to find that balance between sealing the faucet lever pivot ball and allowing freedom of movement.

New out of the box two years ago one of my six 525SS faucets was an incipient dribbler, but I was able to bring it up to speed, and I've never had a faucet leak since. A film of keg lube on the two O-rings that sandwich the faucet lever pivot ball makes things way easier...

Cheers!

[edit] I'm definitely curious about this and will be following this thread. But there's no way I'd give up my SS Perls...

thanks for this! One of my two taps was leaky from the spout and then a week later it came up through the part where the handle attaches.

weirdboy said:

Yeah I have three 525 SS faucets as well. One of them is a little bit leaky if I'm not careful with it, but nothing like you described. e.g. it might drip occasionally if I don't close it the whole way.

Do you know what he is sending as replacements?

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Scott actually told me what he was sending as a replcement but I don't remember the name of the faucet. I tried to call him back to get that info but I got his voicemail again. i checked the perlick catalog and nothing in there sounded familiar. So I guess I will wait and see when the package gets here. Hope the replacements are nice like the 525's

I am saving up for a dual tap tower. Guess i should not be in any hurry to buy what i need until the new model is released.

We have 20 of these that leak at our 2 pubs!!!! Contacted perlick!! They said they had a bunch of defective one's they sold to FoXX Equipment, which is where I purchased them. They sent me fix-it kits, with a new lever,bonnet and o-rings!! Seem to be fine now!!

Should I worry about my 575SS', or are those fine? Did he say?

Brewerforlife said:

We have 20 of these that leak at our 2 pubs!!!! Contacted perlick!! They said they had a bunch of defective one's they sold to FoXX Equipment, which is where I purchased them. They sent me fix-it kits, with a new lever,bonnet and o-rings!! Seem to be fine now!!

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Did the defective ones only go to Foxx?

Shooter said:

Did the defective ones only go to Foxx?

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Pretty sure kegconnection.com had some that were bad as well.

I just bought a 2 tap tower with these how long before u had problems??

AZ_IPA said:

Pretty sure kegconnection.com had some that were bad as well.

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Well, all mine came from kegconnection, but, so far, no problems with them.

had a leaky 525ss at work, pulled it apart, replaced the top oring with a generic ring, problem solved. The o-ring was pinched, so easy to pinpoint leak.

can u post pics of the new faucets when you get them in?

Interesting thread since I recently ordered 3 525 SS for a Keezer conversion I'm doing for a friends wedding at the end of the month... Fingers crossed...

Shooter said:

Did the defective ones only go to Foxx?

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from what the guy at Perlick told me they have defective 525 all over the country going to many different suppliers.

I just got my replcement faucets they are part number 408X. they look exactly like the cheap faucets that I replaced with the 525's. I like the look of the 525's much better but Scott told me these would not have a problem leaking. Possibly sell these down the road when the new 525's come out redesigned. These are chrome covered brass that appear to be rear sealing. I may be wrong on the rear sealing. If anyone has these and confirm how they seal it would be much appreciated. Below is a link to the 408 X.

http://www.perlick.com/pdf-files/beerfaucets-accessories.pdf

Ok I took the 408x's out to the garage and broke them down along with a 525. 408's are all brass where as the 525 are all stainless. 408's appear to be rear sealing so back to a stuck faucet after a week of not pouring a beer. My suggestion to everyone is if you have 525's and you have no leaks don't replace them. Keep using them until you have a problem f you ever have a problem. Hopefully by then replacement 525's will be on the market. I am not happy with the 408's at all at this point. They are an upgrade of the cheap faucets I replaced with the 525'2. Appears the 408's run between 25 and 30 dollars where as the 525's were $33.00 a piece on amazon. Pretty close on price but the 408's don't look near as cool as the 525's and they are brass rather then stainless. I think the 525 design is a really nice faucet but if they leak they don't serve much of a purpose.

Brew-ta-sauraus said:

I am not happy with the 408's at all at this point. They are an upgrade of the cheap faucets I replaced with the 525'

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bummer! thanks for the update.

Keep in touch with Perlick. Once they have the re-designed front seal units ready, give them a call and ask that they replace the "downgraded" faucets back to your original front sealers...

So a couple of years ago there was the shank fit problem with the 525SS that was supposedly resolved.

This leak problem is either the result of some design and/or production change - or it has been a latent defect since...maybe forever. My own experience aside, I can't get a read from what's been posted so far how far back this goes.

One source says it's 6K units at one distributor, another says there'll all over the country - but doesn't say "All of them are bad". Inconclusive.

I have no reason to believe a working 525SS would suddenly become an unrepairable basket case. Worst case a new o-ring or two should fix any problem that pops up over time - because that's pretty much the only thing that can age-out on these faucets.

So if anyone happens to deal with Perlick, just ask them if the entire production of 525SS faucets has this problem lurking under the bonnet...

Cheers!

I too had a leak in 1 of my 4 525SS faucets that I just ordered. I had a bunch of o-rings for corny kegs and in the kit were some o-rings that fit the faucet handle (part 2 on the perlick list). The replacement o-ring is thicker and doesn't let the handle go as far when opened, but the leak stopped.
Happy I can keep the 525's.

Just ordered a dual tower, with two of these.

Where can I get new o-rings if they leak?

billpaustin said:

Just ordered a dual tower, with two of these.

Where can I get new o-rings if they leak?

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Keg Connection sells all the replacement parts for the 525 faucets. You can also order from Perlick, but they have a minimum order amount, I think it's $25.

Bump.
I'm just about to buy two of these and have them shipped to the UK. Would anyone be able to offer an update on this issue? Cheers guys.

Mine are still working fine.

Any updates? I have one that started leaking, which I thankfully was able to replace as I was about to add a tap anyway. And I have one that has to be pushed hard to stop flow (which was the same symptom the one that started leaking had before it finally gave way). Interestingly, both were purchased from ritebrew.com, while the others I have, including a recent purchase from Adventures in Homebrewing, doesn't seem to exhibit the symptom at all.

I'm going to have to call Scott as mentioned in the OP, but don't want these replaced with 408's. I either need them to be replaced with 525SS or to get the replacement kit and I'll replace the internals myself... Just wondering what luck others have had getting this covered.

Just curious, we're all these that have had leak problems fairly recent purchases?

disney7 said:

Just curious, we're all these that have had leak problems fairly recent purchases?

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My first three (no leaks) were several years ago. My two from ritebrew (1 leak, one showing symptom) were just over a year ago. The 6th (no leak, no symptom) from AiH was about a month ago.

Just called, got shuffled around a bit and learned that the "leaky faucet issue" as they described it is now being handled by a lady named Diane. Unfortunately, she's out of the office today, so I'll try back Monday.

But from being in the industry I'm in, any time someone uses a term like "our leaky faucet issue", I trust that they acknowledge there's a problem and should be willing to help.

I'll report back Monday.

Just wondering, how long after installation did they begin to leak? I just bought two from more beer. My build isn't finished yet. It would really be a bummer if I had issues right from the start.
Good luck and thanks
Kev

Interesting thread, this is the first time I've seen or heard of this. I've got 4 525ss on order to finish my keezer build, I hope they hold up. I got them cause they were supposed to be the best, and they look better than those cheap rear sealing ones. I'll keep my fingers crossed.