Paging ball lock disconnect experts.. Is leaking normal?

[GearDaddys]

Hey all..

Question for the leak experts out there.. I'm in the process of changing over connection systems.. Swapping over from pin lock to ball lock for a few reasons.. In any event, I"ve dealt with my fair share of leaks and emptied CO2 cylinders in the past and I"m going through everything VERY methodically to make sure I have no leaks.. Regulator (Taprite dual regulator) is holding pressure for days with outflow valves closed.. Today I swapped the gas connectors from my old pin lock to flair type ball locks.. set 30 PSI on each side and shut gas off with outflow valves open.. One side is holding pressure perfectly however, the other side seems to have a very slow gas leak coming from inside the ball lock connector either where the actual pin is inside the connector, or one of the 4 little balls.. This is occuring with the ball lock disconnected from a keg.. Wondering if this is normal and the post/ O Ring on the post will seal that, or if I have a bum ball lock? Tired of dumping CO2!

Thanks for any input!
Cheers all..
John

 

[day_trippr]

fwiw, connectors are best tested submerged.

You can unscrew the cap at the "back" of the leaky connector. You should find a very thin plastic gasket for that cap, a spring, and a plunger.
Make sure everything is clean/no debris caught up around the plunger before re-assembling the connector (the plunger goes long stem up) and make sure the cap is tight as that's a common "first use" leak point.

If it still leaks you could try swapping plungers with the "good" connector to see if the problem follows the plunger or stays with the connector body. Might help to figure out what's going on.

What brand of connectors are you using? I've literally never had a CMB ball lock connector fail, though I have had loose caps...

Cheers!

 

[Dave Sarber]

Ditto. The only leak I've ever had with ball locks was from the o ring on the post.

 

[day_trippr]

[...]This is occuring with the ball lock disconnected from a keg.. Wondering if this is normal and the post/ O Ring on the post will seal that, or if I have a bum ball lock?[...]

I missed part of that question - whether the connector would still leak when installed on a keg post.
The answer depends on where the leak is coming from - if it's a loose cap, then no, but if it's a dinged plunger or a molding defect in the plunger seat, then yes, it'll likely not leak...

Cheers!

 

[GearDaddys]

Hi All..

Thanks for the suggestions/responses.. The QD's are CMB brand.. Both seem of them seem to have an ever so slight bubbling coming (water poured into the fitting) right where the plunger comes through the top of the disconnect.. However, last night I connected one of them to an empty keg pressurized to 30PSI and it held overnight without any drop in pressure.. I think I"m just going to have to be aware that the gas line needs to be shut off on the side that's not connected to a keg.. Have not yet tried taking them apart and verifying that there is no debris near the plunger.. I'll hit that project up later today!

Thanks very much!
John

 

[Vale71]

I always diconnect the gas line and turn the main valve shut. Sometimes the system will hold pressure for a long time, sometimes it will not. Since the only moving part that is affected by connecting/disconnecting the QD is the pin one has to infer that its operation is inherently unreliable and there will always be the possibility of a random leak.

 

[bracconiere]

i've had to tighten my flare QDs once or twice....moving them around for hooking up kegs, sometimes they get loose....but i've never had to replace the poppet in my QDs....


i'd be checking how the tubing is connected.....what kind of clamps are you using?

to find leaks i started keeping my co2 tank on a digital postal scale that stays on, accurate to the ounce, works great!

 

[bkboiler]

Sorry if it was already stated but the one thing that really messed me up was I didn't know the gas post and liquid post are not interchangeable. It's a small marking on one (google it), and if you swap them on accident, they will leak. Seems not very Murphy proof...

 

[Dave Sarber]

Sorry if it was already stated but the one thing that really messed me up was I didn't know the gas post and liquid post are not interchangeable. It's a small marking on one (google it), and if you swap them on accident, they will leak. Seems not very Murphy proof...

Most of my kegs are marked for in and out, but not all. As a visual, I use different colored o-rings on the in and out posts.

 

[bracconiere]

my ball lock kegs have a dimple on the gas side of the rubber handle....but the OP said one of his two regs is leaking, while disconnected from the kegs...(could be the reg itself now that i think about it, how old is the regulator?)

 

[GearDaddys]

my ball lock kegs have a dimple on the gas side of the rubber handle....but the OP said one of his two regs is leaking, while disconnected from the kegs...(could be the reg itself now that i think about it, how old is the regulator?)

It's not the regulator.. if I shut the outflow valves to off, the regulator will hold a desired pressure on both regulated lines indefinitely.. I see the leak, it's coming from one of the QD's, at the pin, and only when it's disconnected from the keg.. I think I can live with that!

 

[bracconiere]

i don't keep my kegs hooked up all the time so i'd just get this for it....

http://homebrewinparadise.com/product/poppet-replacement-for-qd/

but probably off ebay.....

 

[day_trippr]

Until the OP swaps plungers between connector bodies there's no sense in ordering any parts yet as the problem could be a bad connector body, not the plunger therein...

Cheers!

 

[bracconiere]

i'd do it for a buck? hell, i'd drop the ~$10 on a new QD.....lol

 

[GearDaddys]

Hey all..

Wanted to circle back with where I am now! lol.. Hoping I have this issue sorted out.. I took both of my QD's apart and cleaned them both really well.. When I put them back together, I noticed that when I screwed in the back cover, I have a 1/4ish turn tighter than they were from the factory.. So part of the little bit of bubbling that was coming from the actual pin area in the QD was (I believe) caused from the back cover not being tight enough.. I also noticed that I had a tiny bubble forming at the union of the flare stem and the fitting that they screwed into.. VERY slow, but def a bubble forming on each one! Hmm.. I had used plumbers tape (Silicone ptfe) stuff on the QD threads, and when I removed the tape and reconnected, no bubbling.. Interesting! I take it you are not supposed to use plumber tape on that fitting (Original homebrew shop that set this keg system for me used it).. In any event.. Fingers crossed I"m in business..

 

[GearDaddys]

i'd do it for a buck? hell, i'd drop the ~$10 on a new QD.....lol

No problem dropping a 10 on a fitting, but these ball locks are fresh from the HBS.. Never used.. See post below, I think I found the reason.. The backs were not tight enough to seat the pin properly.

 

[day_trippr]

As I wrote in the first response, QD cap leaks are common.
And, yes, do not wrap tape around flare fittings. Not only won't that do any good, it can impede a gas-tight seal where it matters...

Cheers!

 

[bracconiere]

You can unscrew the cap at the "back" of the leaky connector. You should find a very thin plastic gasket for that cap, a spring, and a plunger.
Make sure everything is clean/no debris caught up around the plunger before re-assembling the connector (the plunger goes long stem up) and make sure the cap is tight as that's a common "first use" leak point.

Wanted to circle back with where I am now! lol..

LOL day_trippr proves his kegging genius again!

 

[day_trippr]

Well, let's face it, that's a lay up, and so easily addressed it should be at the top of anyone's list.

There's only a couple of store-bought issues one will find with CMB connectors, and that's the most frequently encountered for evident reason. The other is a missing cap gasket, so same neck of the woods. I have almost forty CMB connectors in use and that's the sum total of issues I've ever had...

Cheers!

 

[bracconiere]

Well, let's face it, that's a lay up, and so easily addressed it should be at the top of anyone's list.

i'll remember it & file it along with refractometers don't do FG.....(even though i've never owned a refractometer, or had a loose disconnect top)