Poppet Valves

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discgolfin

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I recently got a bunch of cornys for cheap..all need to be reconditioned..How many of you replace the air side poppets? If they hold pressure and do not come into contact with the beers and are clean..I figure on the beer side they should be replaced for sure. Also I have a mix of all ball lock kegs..how many have mixed up the poppets between different cornelius and firestone..can the work with different types? I have some cornelius and a few firestone..not sure how old. I have been looking at pictures to figure out ....which is which..but its a bit confusing.


Jay
 
Northern Brewer lists:
Type A #K101 as Firestone V, VI & Challenger
Type B #K102 as All Cornelius
Type C #K103 as Challenger & John Woods
 
I have 15 kegs and have never replaced a poppet valve, gas or liquid. Although there is one that probably needs it & I have a replacement. Just have to finish off the cider.
 
abracadabra said:
Northern Brewer lists:
Type A #K101 as Firestone V, VI & Challenger
Type B #K102 as All Cornelius
Type C #K103 as Challenger & John Woods

I know I have some type A amd most type B. It seems they fit in each other I just wasn't sure if they would hold a seal very well that is all. I replaced all o rings but the plastic ring on the poppet has a slight soda smell on a few and that is why I was interested in replacing them..

Jay
 
I replaced all mine for peace of mind, also the first time I ever kegged I had a poppet leak. My cornies may look old on the outside, but there brand new where it counts.
 
wildwest450 said:
I replaced all mine for peace of mind, also the first time I ever kegged I had a poppet leak. My cornies may look old on the outside, but there brand new where it counts.


I think peace of mind is great but 15$ cheap kegs with a few bucks in o rings is better than 6 or 7 $ in poppets replaced..But I guess it would suck to have a beer come out bad or taste of root beer..

what do you guys do about your posts when they start to look bad? Like slight rust ect on the bottom of the post? I know this does not have any contact with the product but looks bad.

Jay
 
discgolfin said:
what do you guys do about your posts when they start to look bad? Like slight rust ect on the bottom of the post? I know this does not have any contact with the product but looks bad.

Jay

Clean it. Oxalic Acid (Bar Keepers Friend).
 
SO I broke down my 6 kegs to clean and I think they are all thrown together parts ..go figure for cheap.

10 corneluis poppets and 2 firestone poppets.
2 gas corneluis plug and 2 beer cornelius plug
4 gas spartenberg plug and 4 beer spartenberg plug.

The confusion is spartenberg and they used cornelius poppets..From looking at the kegs they are all the same 4 have cornelius lids and 2 have firestone lids.

Question: Can spartenberg use cornelius poppets? Does it matter much which plugs I use for which kegs? All are ball lock kegs. Sorry to make some confusing questions but I thought they were all cornelius.

Jay
 
I had the same situation...a mix of 2-3 types of posts.

A year ago when I first got them I just purchased all the same poppets. After "rebuilding" all of them they all work so far.

I'm not saying this is the way to go, but it worked for me. ;)
 
Well 1 keg is challanger V and the other 5 kegs are super champion..From what i read corny type stems are fine for the champion and I have mostly corny type poppet..but I have all those firestone style plugs..they were on the wrong type of keg..is this a problem? I am really all messed up and do not want to invest all the money in new parts. They had the wrong parts and they held air but wasnt sure..

They are all ball lock but other than that I do not know what I can mix..or not mix.

Jay
 
As long as they screw on and hold pressure you should be OK.

Some posts won't fit some corny kegs because of the thread difference.

Also be sure not to mix your gas and beverage posts up they are different.

I noticed on one of my orders one of the kegs came with 2 gas posts instead of 1 gas and 1 beverage post. At the time I thought they were all the same and didn't know to check it.
 
discgolfin said:
I think peace of mind is great but 15$ cheap kegs with a few bucks in o rings is better than 6 or 7 $ in poppets replaced..But I guess it would suck to have a beer come out bad or taste of root beer.

$5 is a lot cheaper than a tank of co2 or a batch of beer if your poppet's leak. If you only paid $15 dollars for a corny, all the more reason to spend five more dollars to seal that puppy up.;)
 
wildwest450 said:
$5 is a lot cheaper than a tank of co2 or a batch of beer if your poppet's leak. If you only paid $15 dollars for a corny, all the more reason to spend five more dollars to seal that puppy up.;)


Well I think Im gonna put them through some good testing..so far they all hold co2 fine..the poppets are ok wiith these posts and the posts fit fine on the kegs..they just arent the correct sytle posts for the kegs..

Any how im gonna test each to see how they hold co2 for a week and than use them.

Jay
 
One cautionary tale just because a keg will hold pressure at say 30 psi doesn't mean it'll hold at 5 PSI. So don't just assume you are fine, always test. Test with every change in pressure and configuation.

Sometimes a poppet will leak and a quick press and release will be all that's needed to seal it up.
 
abracadabra said:
One cautionary tale just because a keg will hold pressure at say 30 psi doesn't mean it'll hold at 5 PSI. So don't just assume you are fine, always test. Test with every change in pressure and configuation.

Sometimes a poppet will leak and a quick press and release will be all that's needed to seal it up.


It seems good at 20 and 10psi..I will leave it at 10 for a few days and see how it goes. I have all the correct poppets for the posts..they just had challanger posts on champion kegs..wierd but they go on just fine, so I figure what the heck if it works with co2..I have some cider I can do a real test with..I would rather do that than one of my beers,

Jay
 
I had a challenger type poppet on the gas stem of one of my cornelius brand kegs out of 4 that I got in one order. It would hold pressure fine, but the poppet would not travel far enough to get the quick disconnect to latch on. Im not sure, but it may have been a longer type poppet crammed into the shorter post.

I kegged my first 2 beers with out replacing the poppets last Friday, but I have ordered poppets for all 12 kegs that I now have and will clean & rebuild when the poppets get here.

I thought that because there was a good seal there would be no issues, but because of the diffferent poppet, I couldn't use the keg...even though it would hold pressure.
 
RobertHSmith said:
I had a challenger type poppet on the gas stem of one of my cornelius brand kegs out of 4 that I got in one order. It would hold pressure fine, but the poppet would not travel far enough to get the quick disconnect to latch on. Im not sure, but it may have been a longer type poppet crammed into the shorter post.

I kegged my first 2 beers with out replacing the poppets last Friday, but I have ordered poppets for all 12 kegs that I now have and will clean & rebuild when the poppets get here.

I thought that because there was a good seal there would be no issues, but because of the diffferent poppet, I couldn't use the keg...even though it would hold pressure.[/Q

I see the problem..I may have to replace a few of the poppets than with type A to get best seal..I have several of each so I can work it for now until I have to use more than 3 kegs.

Jay
 
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