Perlicks and Soda

Can Perlick faucets be used to dispense home brew soda or is there a better option to dispense my homemade soda? Does anyone else out there do this?

The reason I ask is I got my kegerator built a couple weeks ago and brewed up a root beer. I am using a new Perlick faucet, but sometimes it leaks after I use it. I tightened down the faucet's bonnet nut and that helped some (on both my faucets these were a little loose when I got them).

But sometimes it still leaks. Could this be the sticky sugar messing up that floating o-ring in the Perlick faucet? Could it be that the soda needs to be around 35PSI? I do have 30 foot of 3/16" vinyl tubing, but when there is no flow the pressure is 35PSI...

Where is it leaking at? Is it leaking behind the faucet, in the faucet mount, or simply out the spout?
(If it's out the spout, then I'd conder floating o ring, or that it's not closing properly, or someone forgot to push the handle back enough)
if it's around the middle perhaps it's the Coupling ferrule that needs to be tightened (the collar that joins the shaft and faucet). I'd expect it to be this, if you haven't tightened it with a faucet wrench.

I also want to run Root Beer thru my Perlicks. I did a search on this and can not find any reason why you can't except that some posts suggest that you should have Stainless steel faucets.

35psi is the static pressure. So when the faucet is closed there is 35 psi at the faucet. When you open the faucet the pressure will drop depending on the resistance of the line.

Take care

Albert

Not that it's inconceivable, but I'd be surprised to see a Perl leak through the spout at 30 psi. In my experience the higher the pressure the better they seal.

When I built my tower I tested each faucet with a keg of water and the CO2 set for ~ 30psi and those faucets would literally "thump" closed. I could feel the water "hammer" right through the tower. Otoh, at my 12 psi serving pressure the faucets close quite gently...

Cheers!

I guess a description of where it is leaking would have been good! There is sometimes a slow leak out of the spout of the faucet after I stop pouring. But only sometimes...

That's a good point at 35PSI it should seal better...

One thing that is worth mentioning is that I made some carbonated water on my other tap while I wait for my beer to finish fermenting. The carbonated water never leaks and it is around 30PSI. So maybe the floating o-ring is sticking in some weird way because of the sugar. After I finish this root beer maybe I'll take a look at it so see if the sugar is gumming it up.

I run soda through one of mine at 25 PSI. I did have a leak from the spout once as well, but it was very small, like one drop every 15 seconds or so. But that was the only time I had an issue. I pushed the handle backward and immediately helped, like it just did not close 100%. I'm not sure if this is what is going on with you though.

I have the same problem with my Perlick creamer leaking soda at 30 PSI. It has a slow leak at the spout. Same spout is fine with beer. Even though it's a slow leak if I leave it alone for a day or two my drip tray is full. I've been doing some searching and it appears this is not normal. To rectify I've just been disconnecting the liquid line after use.