Different flow rates. Why?

Anyone have insight? I have a ball lock and a pin lock connected to a 4 channel manifold in the kegerator. One faucet (ball lock) pours pretty strong, but the other (pin lock) pours a little slowly. They're both run off the same regulator, with the same size ID hoses on both lines. I'm new to kegging, so I'm lost as to what I (may?) have done wrong.

SSGChambers said:

Anyone have insight? I have a ball lock and a pin lock connected to a 4 channel manifold in the kegerator. One faucet (ball lock) pours pretty strong, but the other (pin lock) pours a little slowly. They're both run off the same regulator, with the same size ID hoses on both lines. I'm new to kegging, so I'm lost as to what I (may?) have done wrong.

Click to expand...

You mention the same size ID hoses on each, does that mean they are the same length as well?

geoffm33 said:

You mention the same size ID hoses on each, does that mean they are the same length as well?

Click to expand...

^This^

I see two possibilities being most likely:

1. Your hoses are different lengths. The resistance of a hose/tube is the result of it's diameter x it's length.

2. The out valve on your pin lock keg has issues. If someone rebuilt that keg but didn't put the right poppet in the out post you could easily see restricted flow.

Just to make sure you have the same pressure to each keg you could swap the gas lines and make sure the results don't change.

Setesh said:

^This^

I see two possibilities being most likely:

1. Your hoses are different lengths. The resistance of a hose/tube is the result of it's diameter x it's length.

2. The out valve on your pin lock keg has issues. If someone rebuilt that keg but didn't put the right poppet in the out post you could easily see restricted flow.

Just to make sure you have the same pressure to each keg you could swap the gas lines and make sure the results don't change.

Click to expand...

Similar to your point #2, would a bent vs straight dip tube cause enough/any resistance differences?

geoffm33 said:

Similar to your point #2, would a bent vs straight dip tube cause enough/any resistance differences?

Click to expand...

Any bend does create a restriction to flow, but it won't be noticeable at the flow rates we are talking here. If you were talking about pushing several gallons per minute of beer through you might see a small difference bent vs unbent, but still not very much since it's such a slight bend.

Setesh said:

^This^

I see two possibilities being most likely:

1. Your hoses are different lengths. The resistance of a hose/tube is the result of it's diameter x it's length.

2. The out valve on your pin lock keg has issues. If someone rebuilt that keg but didn't put the right poppet in the out post you could easily see restricted flow.

Just to make sure you have the same pressure to each keg you could swap the gas lines and make sure the results don't change.

Click to expand...

It's the ball lock keg that's slow. When I bought it, I changed out the gaskets, and everything seemed ok (not that I know what I'm looking at). I will check the hose lengths, as well. Any advice on ideal hose lengths?

On a slightly unrelated note, I'm not sure why everyone prefers ball lock to pin locks. You can get a pin lock, and the replacement lid with PRV, for the same $$, and the connections are easier IMO. And, so far, the pin lock pours a better pint - though I concede that's likely due to my lack of knowledge.

SSGChambers said:

It's the ball lock keg that's slow. When I bought it, I changed out the gaskets, and everything seemed ok (not that I know what I'm looking at). I will check the hose lengths, as well. Any advice on ideal hose lengths?

On a slightly unrelated note, I'm not sure why everyone prefers ball lock to pin locks. You can get a pin lock, and the replacement lid with PRV, for the same $$, and the connections are easier IMO. And, so far, the pin lock pours a better pint - though I concede that's likely due to my lack of knowledge.

Click to expand...

Some people prefer pin locks and some prefer ball locks. I would venture to say that most people prefer ball locks because that is what they started with. There isn't anything wrong with the pin lock design, other than the lack of a PRV on the lid, but there are ways around that as you said. You can also use a gas fitting with nothing attached to it to bleed off pressure.

This is what I was talking about when I said poppet:

http://www.northernbrewer.com/shop/universal-poppet-valve.html?gclid=CI2zo8rT6LwCFU5efgodSUMAyA

As you can see by reading the reviews, the wrong poppet can cause issues including flow restriction. I thought that might be your problem if it wasn't hose length. If your hoses were pre cut for you then hose length probably isn't the issue.

Also, I believe many of the mini fridges that are used for kegerator conversions have room for two ball lock but one pin lock due to the width.