Duotight fittings disintegrated

[lulubrewer]

Had the same problem happen to me. I bought eva barrier and duotight fittings in January following all the praises. I installed them between my regulator and gas QD. I sanitized them with starsan. I may have assembled them wet from starsan as I typically do. I put the little lock rings on both connectors. After that I did a leak check with starsan and let the assembly sit in my basement for 1 month. I didn't even used this setup, it as not even in my kegerator but after one month the lips of the flange have broken on both connectors due to the light pressure of the locking ring. They also show the same brown mark as all the previous pictures.
I'm glad I wasn't using this setup at the which prevented the waste of a co2 tank.

 

[Summa_Brewologica]

Had the same problem happen to me. I bought eva barrier and duotight fittings in January following all the praises. I installed them between my regulator and gas QD. I sanitized them with starsan. I may have assembled them wet from starsan as I typically do. I put the little lock rings on both connectors. After that I did a leak check with starsan and let the assembly sit in my basement for 1 month. I didn't even used this setup, it as not even in my kegerator but after one month the lips of the flange have broken on both connectors due to the light pressure of the locking ring. They also show the same brown mark as all the previous pictures.
I'm glad I wasn't using this setup at the which prevented the waste of a co2 tank.

I’m 95% sure it’s due to starsan. Idk what your ratio was but I attributed my issues to a heavier ratio. I got new fittings, sprayed them with a very light mixture just initially and haven’t had an issue. I didn’t do a leak test on the gas. I just shut my house down as quiet as possible and put my ear to the tank to try and hear a trickle.

No issues so far and it’s been almost 6 months.

I think these fittings are great and I love them but I do advise people to go very light on the Star San.

 

[lulubrewer]

I’m 95% sure it’s due to starsan.

I agree.
And yes, I too probably had a concentration that was higher than normal since it was in my spray bottle. I would be concerned about the long term though: a normal starsan concentration must be deteriorating the plastic over time considering what a high concentration did in only 4 weeks.

I guess Duotights just don't work with my process since I like doing leak tests with starsan (at least on the gas side) and wet assembly (at least on the beer side).

 

[DuncB]

I guess Duotights just don't work with my process since I like doing leak tests with starsan (at least on the gas side) and wet assembly (at least on the beer side).

Can just put washing up liquid and water in a spray bottle for this purpose.

 

[boilermaker]

Throwing in my experience here. Very interesting to see how everyone uses these fittings, especially cleaning/sanitizing. Starsan is a surface sanitizer so I use it that way. To me, soaking is for cleaning. I’ve been using Duotight exclusively in my kegerator for the last 18 months, gas and liquid sides. No issues at all. BUT - I’ve never soaked or sprayed my fittings with Starsan and don’t bother leak checking them with Starsan either. I use the blue collar clips as well. When a keg kicks, I clean the line with either BLC or PBW (per Five Star’s guidance on line cleaning) and then run Starsan through them to rinse the cleaner out (rinse, not soak), then tap a new keg, final flush line with beer and I’m done. If I don’t have a keg ready for that tap, I flush cleaner with water. I don’t leave Starsan sitting in the line for an extended time. I keep everything connected for this (QD+fittings+line) and don’t disassemble anything. Maybe cleaning my lines after every keg helps.

Silicon tubing gets the same treatment. Rinse or short soak in Starsan only. If I need to leave a tube in Starsan for an extended time (like for a fermenter blowoff tube into a pint of Starsan) I add a piece of vinyl tubing for the bit that goes into Starsan. As others have mentioned, the vinyl does turn white after a while but then cleans up ok.

These processes work for me at least.

 

[RenaudP]

Just had the same exact issue only two months in the life of my 8 kegs kegerator.
All the fittings and regulator became brittle and failed.

They were never soaked in Starsan, but were sprayed with it to leak test them.

I'll probably be switching to secondary regulators and barb fittings for now on. My trust in the product has been quite affected.

 

[Summa_Brewologica]

Just had the same exact issue only two months in the life of my 8 kegs kegerator.
All the fittings and regulator became brittle and failed.

They were never soaked in Starsan, but were sprayed with it to leak test them.

I'll probably be switching to secondary regulators and barb fittings for now on. My trust in the product has been quite affected.

View attachment 825367

I understand but I would encourage you to not let this discourage you. Ever since I figured out it was star san related I have had no issues. I have actually been on a beer break for a while and still have kegs hooked up to gas from last year with zero drop in pressure or any failures or even signs of failures. You could just use a light soapy mix to leak check but I also found that I can put my ear to the gas tank and hear if there is even a slightest leak so long as all other ambient sounds are low enough (unplug the kegerator temporarily).

I think they are great products and I ultimately determined my issue to be user error (too heavy a ratio of starsan to water). I should also mention that even though they deteriorated, they held pressure until I broke the system down to replace them and they disintegrated. Not to say that they wouldn't have failed, eventually, in that condition.

I get it though. It was scary until I figured out the issue. It looks like you have invested in a lot of those products already so my .02 would be to just not use star san for leak testing, replace those deteriorated fittings, and you should be fine. That is just my opinion though.

Whatever you decide, may it be prosperous for many brews to come and happy brewing!

EDIT: I should also add the regulators seemed to handle the starsan just fine. It was just those grey fittings that took a hit.

 

[Broken Crow]

Just had the same exact issue only two months in the life of my 8 kegs kegerator.
All the fittings and regulator became brittle and failed.

They were never soaked in Starsan, but were sprayed with it to leak test them.

I'll probably be switching to secondary regulators and barb fittings for now on. My trust in the product has been quite affected.

View attachment 825367

Whoah!!! I was gonna post back in your 5 pound CO2 tank thread and ask if you used EVAbarrier and if it had the little blue retainer clips, but it looks like you found your CO2 issue.. Personally, I'm only using CM Becker MFL disconnects, but planning to switch out my gas lines to the 1/4" EVAbarrier with good old-fasioned SS swivel nuts! In my own use of duotight, I'd read about the starsan issue, so starsan only touches the inside of mine and then, only right before it's about to rinsed out with beer.
EDIT: Sorry!... I can barely read this morning!

 

[Bobby_M]

They were never soaked in Starsan, but were sprayed with it to leak test them.

Was the spray mixed at the correct 1oz to 5 gallons of water or just eyeballed into the pray bottle? People tend to make it WAY stronger without realizing it. Then as the water evaporates on the surface, it goes back to full strength. Test gas leaks with soapy water, not acidic.

 

[Yesfan]

I've only had one issue with a Duotight connector (the fitting between the EVA line and CMBecker disconnect). It was because I went Starsan heavy on my spray bottle.

There's PTC fittings in stainless steel that someone posted a year back from Amazon. Fair warning, I've had an issue with a swivel nut getting discolored and turning black from having in a bottle of Starsan solution because it was on the end of a blow off line during fermentation. At least it didn't disintegrate.