'Nuther Firestone Question - washers/o-rings

[ChrisS68]

I have a Firestone (or is it a Spartenburg) Challenger VI. It has the nylon gas tube and flat rubber washers as opposed to o-rings.

I was looking to replace the washers. I know that Williams has the correct washers, but I've got a batch I wanted to get kegged, so I headed to the local hardware store. Unfortunately, they didn't have anything quite right in the flat washer department. For o-rings they had some that looked about right, and even though they were 3/32" (the spec on the Williams washers) I was worried about thickness. They look like the standard Corny o-ring, and I had read on here that the standard o-ring was too thin, but doubling them up could work. They had another o-ring that was 1/8" thick. I figured too thick would be better than too thin. Its ID was a little smaller, but with the help of some water they slipped on the tubes no problem.

When I got the keg put back together, the liquid-out disconnect went on just fine, but the gas side simply would not lock into place. After messing around a while, I decided to use the thinner o-ring. After reassembly the disconnect locked on with no problem. It seems the thicker o-ring was forcing the legs of the poppet too high into the post. Does this sound right? It seems to go against what I've read on here. I would think the post would hold the shoulder of the tube at the correct height. I'm going to hold off on kegging and do a pressure check to make sure it holds pressure.

Thanks!

Chris

 

[bottle-o-jeff]

If you've got the plastic washers, you don't need an o-ring on the gas side. The plastic washers make a seal on the metal face around the plastic gas tubes (sort of like the plastic washer that you use on your regulator/tank connection). The tube itself isn't really meant to touch anything but the metal hole around it. I doubt it would hurt anything to have a small o-ring in there, but it isn't necessary.

I'm not completely sure that I'm answering your question here. Post again if I haven't.

-Jeff

Edit: The o-rings are required on the liquid side, and the ones I ended up with from Williams are a lot smaller than the one it came with. They still seem to be working fine though.

 

[ChrisS68]

Not sure if they're plastic. They seem like rubber to me. BTW, this keg doesn't have that nylon insert on the gas side. Interesting that the o-ring isn't necessary. It came with washers on both sides, but that might be why the gas tube was so difficult to remove.
So I've got the thicker o-ring on the liquid side, and the thin ring on the gas side. I put 15 pounds in it, and as of this morning it looks like the keg is holding pressure ok, so I figure I should be safe to keg the brew.

Thanks for the input!

Chris

 

[gruversm]

I order my o-ring sets from McMaster-Carr. I actually prefer the silicone material better.

Here are the part numbers:

9396K74
9396K24
9396K926

The smaller dip and post o-rings come in packs of 100 and the Large lid gaskets come in packs of 5-6 (i forget).

 

[bottle-o-jeff]

Not sure if they're plastic. They seem like rubber to me. BTW, this keg doesn't have that nylon insert on the gas side. Interesting that the o-ring isn't necessary. It came with washers on both sides, but that might be why the gas tube was so difficult to remove.
So I've got the thicker o-ring on the liquid side, and the thin ring on the gas side. I put 15 pounds in it, and as of this morning it looks like the keg is holding pressure ok, so I figure I should be safe to keg the brew.

Thanks for the input!

Chris

We may be talking about two different types of kegs then. The one that I've got has a nylon insert on the gas side (that's what I meant by plastic washer). I guess if it works, then you're good to go.