CO2 Distributor Check Valves

[Stoutsmith6]

The Story: Last night I hooked up the CO2 to my keg to carbonate. Much to my surprise, the beer immediately shot up in to the CO2 line--->distributor--->C02 line going to tank. I pulled the plug before it reached my regulator luckily. Apparently, I filled the keg too high and the beer was above the In-tube. So I drunk a couple flat beers, de-gassed a couple times, cleaned/sanitized/dried the lines and the distributor...problem solved.

The Question: I purchased the distributor(a typical 6-Way w/ 1/4" MFL shutoffs) from one of our leading online homebrew suppliers. It is supposed to have "integral check valves to prevent backflow of gas or liquid". This apparently did not work. Has anyone else had this problem, or am I missing something?? Thanks for your input.

 

[orion7144]

If the CO2 side was hooked up to the correct port (I know it is hard to install on wrong port but has been done) and the keg was not pressurized previously then this could not have happened even if over filled (unless the pressure was off). However if you pressurized the keg with a higher pressure to remove the O2 then hooked it back up at a lower pressure then it is possible to back stream.

Is the check valve the chrome colored one with the red rubber covered handle or brass? If it is the nice looking one then it has likely failed as they were cheap Chinese ones. There is popular seller that switched to the ugly brass ones after multiple problems with the fancy looking ones. Another problem with the chrome one is that when filling a beer on tap it tends to make noise while the CO2 is filling the head space. This is another indication of a faulty check valve.

 

[JuanMoore]

Lots of those shut off valves with an integrated check valve use a rubber duckbill style for the check valve, which I've found doesn't always work as intended very well. I use standard ball valves for shut offs, and cheap inline ball and spring style check valves. These are the ones I use-
http://www.usplastic.com/catalog/item.aspx?itemid=24234&catid=489

 

[ingchr1]

Some do not come with check valves. However it is a good idea to have them. I installed these: In-line check valve link

 

[Stoutsmith6]

I should probably buy some separate check valves then. Maybe they should edit their "check valve" claim on the product...I just can't see any integrated apparatus on this thing. Its a simple brass manifold with ball valves...nothing in there stops backflow.

 

[day_trippr]

The problem is so many people and companies use the term "check valve" incorrectly to describe a "shut off valve". With that word pollution firmly entrenched in the lexicon, if you don't see both terms in a description you're safest looking elsewhere...

Cheers!