ball lock keg failure

[Briz34]

Guys, nothing is more disappointing then finally hooking up your beer lines after carbing them to find one of them leaking. After trying to manipulate it to relieve hose pressure on the fitting (fitting wouldn't be flush) to adding more keg lube to the current washer and then replacing it attempts failed....

I attached my second kegs beer line and that one leaked as well (doesn't leak on the other keg) so looks like its the kegs out connection.....I can't believe this fitting could fail (didn't leak on my last batch).

I think I'm going to try to work the connection some more.....ugh

 

[Yooper]

Guys, nothing is more disappointing then finally hooking up your beer lines after carbing them to find one of them leaking. After trying to manipulate it to relieve hose pressure on the fitting (fitting wouldn't be flush) to adding more keg lube to the current washer and then replacing it attempts failed....

I attached my second kegs beer line and that one leaked as well (doesn't leak on the other keg) so looks like its the kegs out connection.....I can't believe this fitting could fail (didn't leak on my last batch).

I think I'm going to try to work the connection some more.....ugh

Since it didn't leak before, it sounds like something is stuck in the poppit or the post. When you take it off, pull the poppit out and inspect it. It sounds like that is the problem- maybe something stuck in there or a torn o-ring around the poppit.

 

[Briz34]

It only leaks when the beer line connector is connected, the poppet is seated fine when I pull it off.

 

[aryoung1980]

It only leaks when the beer line connector is connected, the poppet is seated fine when I pull it off.

Could it be the o-ring on the post?

 

[Briz34]

its coming from above the keg connector to the keg itself so it cant be that. I was very surprised changing the keg connections o-ring and lubed it didn't work.

 

[Yooper]

It only leaks when the beer line connector is connected, the poppet is seated fine when I pull it off.

Yes, but if it has a piece of debris stuck in it, or the o-ring is cracked, it would stay sealed anyway until it was depressed. And it's depressed when the connector is pressed on it.

How many times have you cleaned out the post? I do it with every keg, but others don't. If you didn't clean the keg by taking it apart (taking off the posts), it likely has debris in it.

 

[Briz34]

Here's some pics. After working with it more I realized the beer line connector isn't fully seated even though the balls have locked into place so I could still push slightly down on it. My other kegs connection was stiff with no give. For now I placed 2 chop sticks (knew the drawer full would come in handy some day! ) to keep force on top of the connection. No leaks. After I polish this keg I'll take the keg connection off and remove and reinstall the pieces. Also I do clean the kegs after each batch (remove all fittings etc and sanitize), doing this I have realized the poppets do have to be positioned correctly to correctly seat. Perhaps there is something lodged in the spring to where it won't compress any more which would lead to a lot of back pressure on the pin of the beer connector.

 

[Briz34]

ok so i checked the connection today and noticed some beer around the bottom. so nows the time to check it properly. removed the keg from the fridge, blew off the co2 and removed the out connection, didn't notice anything stuck in the spring like we thought so i re-sanitized everything and re-lubed the o-rings and connected the gas connection to make sure no leaks then re-attached the beer line. still it wouldn't stay all the way down and would come back up a little even though the balls have locked into place. at first beer did come out like it originally did and I manipulated it again until it stopped. This was a couple minutes ago and still no leak (which is odd, possibly the lube is just holding it back but won't last long).

I'll check it again in 10 minutes. if it continues to leak ill have to look into my options for other fittings.

 

[Briz34]

no leaks so far. ill keep my eye on it for now and see if it leaks once i pull beer from it (Im tempted to now but i cant!)