Distributor - barb vs MFL

I'm looking for a 4 way distributor and I'm stuck on deciding between a barb or MFL. It looks like if you go MFL you need barbed swivel nuts for all your hoses. Then if your disconnects are MFL you need more barbed swivel nuts. If your disconnects are barbed then it doesn't matter.

I'm wondering what practical benefit there is to MFL. I'm trying to see when it would come in handy since it seems like more work.

Most of my connections are barb fittings. My portable stuff is MFL. The barbed fittings are easy to work with, but a pain in the ass to get off. The MfL fittings are easy to take the hoses apart. Basically that's why I went the barbed route in my keggerator (I never take them apart) and for my portable one, (which I disassemble because I use it a lot less) I went with the nut fittings.

I must've removed and connected my lines a few times per keg when first getting set up. Now that I am all dialed in, I'll probably only remove the lines for an annual cleaning and just flush them in place. That said, put me down in the MFL camp. I ordered barbed fittings and wound up sending them all back as they were such a pain.

I have both MFL fittings at the distributor and at the disconnect. I would absolutely hate barb fittings at either location. I am always disconnecting them and changing things around. Obviously this is an opinion and your circumstances and preferences may be the complete opposite. I would look at your situation and see what works best for you.

Scut_Monkey said:

I have both MFL fittings at the distributor and at the disconnect. I would absolutely hate barb fittings at either location. I am always disconnecting them and changing things around. Obviously this is an opinion and your circumstances and preferences may be the complete opposite. I would look at your situation and see what works best for you.

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Maybe I should ask the question differently...

Why would I need to switch around the gas lines?

With my limited experience I agree the barb connections are a royal pain but my assumption is that the keg is the only thing that I need to move around. To do that all I need to do is use the disconnects. Plus, I can't see a need to clean or change the gas lines. Sure the beer line needs cleaning and maybe replacement but do gas lines end up being replaced much?

I'm sure there is a good reason that I'm not seeing due to lack of experience. I'd hate to invest in a distributor and find out later I should have paid a bit more for the MFL because I didn't see something in the process.