Corny ball lock quick disconnect question

[njohnsoncs]

I'm only seeing Corny ball lock quick disconnects with 1/4" barb connections however, it seems like many people use 5/16" for gas line and 3/16" for liquid line. Is there 5/16" and 3/16" quick disconnects? I cannot find any. Or do people just use the 1/4" disconnects and the lines fit...?

 

[LLBeanJ]

Do yourself a favor and go with MFL disconnects. You will have more options and they will be well worth the nominal higher cost when you need to take them apart for cleaning. You can get swivel barbs in several different sizes that thread onto the 1/4" MFL disconnects.

With PVC tubing, I always used 1/4" barbs for 3/16" liquid tubing and 5/16" barbs for 1/4" gas tubing. Soak the end of the tubing in boiling hot water for a few seconds and it'll slide right on.

For the liquid side I'd suggest avoiding PVC tubing (and possible plastic flavors in your beer) and going with Accuflex Bevseal rigid tubing and John Guest fittings to attach the tubing to your MFL disconnects. A bit more expensive in both tubing cost and the JG fittings, but there is no danger of unwanted flavors leaching into your beer from the tubing.

 

[day_trippr]

fwiw, there's no real reason to go with gas line greater than 3/16" ID or certainly 1/4". I don't know why the classic kegerator setups used 5/16" ID gas line, perhaps it was cheaper "back in the day".

And I agree, go with 1/4" flare threaded terminations where possible, they're easier to deal with in the long run...

Cheers!

 

[njohnsoncs]

I was going to go with 3/16" liquid and 5/16" gas since I've read these are standard sizes. That's why I was confused about the mismatch disconnect sizes.

I plan to use barbs for the gas side since I don't see why I would need to clean those in all likelihood. I plan to use MFL for liquid side since I will clean those regularly.

So will both sizes work with 1/4" MFL and barb disconnects?

 

[day_trippr]

You can get 1/4" flare threaded swivel/barb connectors for 5/16" ID gas line if you want to go that route. They probably would work for 1/4" ID line with some strategically applied heat to the tubing ends...

Cheers!