Yes I know that so far I've done not much else besides post questions here, and offered very little insight (although I'm pretty sure you wouldn't *want* mine yet ) but here I am again, as part of my grand learning process, asking yet another question. Hang in there with me! Anyways...
I've begun to wonder if my kegging woes are simply attributed to the type of keg I currently am using (pin locks). I've reconditioned 3 out of the 4 that I own, and after this didn't solve most of my issues (mostly gas leaks), I've gone to the LHBS and after some initial confusion, he was able to recondition 2 of them after about 45 minutes of trying different poppet valves since the ones that were currently in the posts supposedly weren't the correct ones and they were just cruddy enough to make it difficult to see what type they were (yes, yell at me for lack of cleanliness later ).
He also made me aware of the fact that I have ball lock lids on my kegs, which because of this he suggests would be the first place to check in the event of a leak. I will say however that I do have one keg that leaks on the same spot on the lid every time while <10psi, but since it's in the same spot no matter what position I put the lid on, I would assume this is more of a problem with the lip on the keg, than the wrong lid? (there isn't any debris where the o-ring seats either)
Anyways, my main question is this; since pin locks seem to come in so many varieties, and I seem to have at least 3 of these varieties (Hoover Universal, Firestone, and Cornelius Co.), would pursuing ball lock kegs be a more straightforward option? I haven't much looked into how many different types of ball lock kegs there are, or how many varieties of replacement parts there are for them (poppet valves and such), but are these any less of a pain to look up new parts for? Getting pin lock lids cost $20 apiece, which means I may as well look into investing into buying 4 more used kegs, which in this case would most certainly be ball locks.
I've begun to wonder if my kegging woes are simply attributed to the type of keg I currently am using (pin locks). I've reconditioned 3 out of the 4 that I own, and after this didn't solve most of my issues (mostly gas leaks), I've gone to the LHBS and after some initial confusion, he was able to recondition 2 of them after about 45 minutes of trying different poppet valves since the ones that were currently in the posts supposedly weren't the correct ones and they were just cruddy enough to make it difficult to see what type they were (yes, yell at me for lack of cleanliness later ).
He also made me aware of the fact that I have ball lock lids on my kegs, which because of this he suggests would be the first place to check in the event of a leak. I will say however that I do have one keg that leaks on the same spot on the lid every time while <10psi, but since it's in the same spot no matter what position I put the lid on, I would assume this is more of a problem with the lip on the keg, than the wrong lid? (there isn't any debris where the o-ring seats either)
Anyways, my main question is this; since pin locks seem to come in so many varieties, and I seem to have at least 3 of these varieties (Hoover Universal, Firestone, and Cornelius Co.), would pursuing ball lock kegs be a more straightforward option? I haven't much looked into how many different types of ball lock kegs there are, or how many varieties of replacement parts there are for them (poppet valves and such), but are these any less of a pain to look up new parts for? Getting pin lock lids cost $20 apiece, which means I may as well look into investing into buying 4 more used kegs, which in this case would most certainly be ball locks.