Keg emergency - suddenly keg won't hold presssure

[Cugel]

Folks and folkesses,

A keg that just before it was filled held pressure just fine. I filled it to within 5 inches of the top w/ a fine bitter and all of a sudden the co2 when pumped in comes whistling straight out the pressure relief valve at 10 psi.

I fiddled with the valve to no avail, and had the same thing happen when I swapped in a new keg lid from an unused keg.

In the meantime my bitter is mingling with nasty o2 infected air.

Any bright ideas? A new pressure relief valve? Exorcism?

Thanks!

 

[Yooper]

First, check the "easy" stuff. make sure that the pressure relief valve is screwed in all the way. If it is, then pull the relief valve to see if there is any pressure in the keg. If it seems ok, put it back on the gas at a low psi, and gradually turn it up. See if it's ok at a lower psi.

Don't worry about 02 contamination. It's probably minimal, since you have so little headspace in the keg!

 

[Cugel]

First, check the "easy" stuff. make sure that the pressure relief valve is screwed in all the way. If it is, then pull the relief valve to see if there is any pressure in the keg. If it seems ok, put it back on the gas at a low psi, and gradually turn it up. See if it's ok at a lower psi.

Don't worry about 02 contamination. It's probably minimal, since you have so little headspace in the keg!

Thanks Yooper. Valve has been checked several times and seems to be screwed in ok. It still leaks gas at 4-5 psi. No hint of any gas pressure at all when the valve is pulled.

What really puzzled me is that the problem happens with the second lid I tried. That and the fact that the keg was just fine a few days ago.

Thanks again!

 

[HBHoss]

is that your usual amount of head space? I'd have to check the valve assembly but could it have lost an O-ring?

 

[BierMuncher]

Double check the position of your relief valve ring. If it got turned a quarter turn, it could be locked in the open position.

 

[Arkador]

there might be some gunk in the valve. You may need to replace just the valve , or disassemble it and replace the oring.

missed the 2nd lid was used already in the first post.... sorry

 

[Myrdhyn]

Since you had the problem with a second lid, perhaps take a look at your gas in post or your regulator (maybe try a different regulator if possible?). It seems to me if your regulator was wonky and letting the PSI jump too high it could be causing this issue.

Another thought is to try the same lid(s) on a different keg and see what happens. Basically eliminate one thing at a time.

 

[Denny's Evil Concoctions]

Are you sure it's the release and not the lid seal?

Also, what kind of release is it? the kind you pull or the kind that is a little lever?

 

[Cugel]

is that your usual amount of head space? I'd have to check the valve assembly but could it have lost an O-ring?

No, it's much less than the amount of headspace that I'm used to. I was worried that it may be a problem. I'll check for a missing o-ring, that thought never occurred to me! I guess I';ve never really worried about the pressure relief valves before now

 

[Cugel]

Double check the position of your relief valve ring. If it got turned a quarter turn, it could be locked in the open position.

I'll do that BM. I'm pretty sure that I've played with all the various positions and it's full-on screwed in as tight as possible.

 

[Cugel]

there might be some gunk in the valve. You may need to replace just the valve , or disassemble it and replace the oring.

I'll definately go and have a look inside it and check for the o-ring.

Since you had the problem with a second lid, perhaps take a look at your gas in post or your regulator (maybe try a different regulator if possible?). It seems to me if your regulator was wonky and letting the PSI jump too high it could be causing this issue.

Another thought is to try the same lid(s) on a different keg and see what happens. Basically eliminate one thing at a time.

I'll try a second regulator and the same lids on other kegs. The gas-in post seems fine to me.

Are you sure it's the release and not the lid seal?

Also, what kind of release is it? the kind you pull or the kind that is a little lever?

Yeah it's the release, I can feel the gas whistling out through the valve. It's the type of release with the pull-ring.

Hey - thanks for all your ideas, much appreciated! Off to the basement for a while before the commute from hell!

 

[Cugel]

OK, well I solved the case of the non-pressure holding keg.

Turns out that the pressure relief valve was screwed in incorectly, it went in kinda sideways and didn't catch the threads right and there was a gap of 2-3mm between the lid and valve.

I didn't see this until I started looking for an o-ring. It felt ok when in the fridge, but I couldn't see what was going on. Somehow the same thing managed to happen to a second keg lid which really confuzed me.

Thanks for all your responses, without which I wouldn't have solved this problem!