Cleaning ball lock valves

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fins2rit

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should you dissemble the ball lock valves on the keg and clean them? I just bought two kegs off flea-bay and they hold pressure and seem great but I would hate to keg and find them leaking? I purchased all the o-rings and was wondering if I should replace them anyway?
 
Replace the o-rings for sure. Completely disassemble the kegs and clean them VERY well. Some of the posts have poppets that come out easily and others do not. If they don't pop out with a little pressure - don't force them. Just make sure you clean them really well - you can use one of those hose brushes too.
 
Do you just unscrew the ball lock valves to get them off I don't wanna break anything? Also do you think running warm water with cleaner in good enough to clean out your system?
 
are you talking about the keg posts, or the ball lock connectors themselves? either way, yes you should disassemble and clean them.

every keg i buy gets a new 5-piece set of o-rings, and everything gets disassembled and scrubbed inside and out. then, when you know you are starting from a known-good state, you can kind of judge how often to clean them by what kind of use they get.

if they arent clean to begin with, then you really cant say "oh ill just rinse it out and sanitize, instead of a full teardown, since it only had beer in it for a week".
 

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