Perlic faucet keeps dripping

[RyanSweeney]

When I have enough CO2 pressure on my keg for serving, the Perlic faucet keeps dripping. I cannot get it to quit. It starts off slowly and speeds up to nearly a really slow pour.

Is there another faucet you guys would recommend? Something I can do to fix it? It's wasting beer!!

 

[bob1852]

Had the same issue with one of mine. Does it feel slightly "sticky" when opening?

The other one I fixed by taking it apart, cleaning everything and lubing the o-rings. A tiny bit of beer had worked through a kinked o-ring, got sticky on the stem, and was causing the ball to not seat properly.

After cleaning, I can really feel it forward seal when closing, and haven't had the issue since.

 

[runningweird]

i have one that does that, take the thing apart - the stem pulls out with a bit of effort - and clean it. saok it in starsan and then hit it with a bottle brush.

lube the o rings with keglube and then give it a try. if it doesn't work give perlick a shout, they might be able to help you out.

I have six of them and they all seem to work just fine until they get gummed up.

 

[day_trippr]

The 525 design totally relies on hydraulic pressure to maintain a closed state. There are no springs. The faucet lever must move freely for these things to close reliably. Otoh, they can't be tuned to be too loose, lest beer get past the faucet lever pivot ball lower o-ring (the bottom #2 o-ring in the graphic).

When I bought my half-dozen Perls a few years ago one of them was a bit recalcitrant wrt closing tight. [Somewhat interestingly, the logo looks slightly different from the other five Perls]. I ended up taking it completely apart, and found along the way that the bonnet (#7) had pinched the faucet lever pivot ball upper o-ring (the top #2). The o-ring bulge caused the faucet lever to hang up just enough to resist the beer pressure.

I cleaned all of the faucet bits, applied a very thin coating of keg lube to all of the o-rings, reassembled the faucet, then set the bonnet so the faucet lever moved smoothly with just a hint of resistance. Et voila, it sealed reliably, and has ever since.

Assuming one wasn't fiddling with the bonnet, a Perl that suddenly starts leaking is likely suffering from a sugar build-up around the faucet lever pivot ball and those two o-rings. There's also a potential for the #3 o-ring (that seals the faucet when closed) to get gunked up - it is, after all, being coated with beer on every pour - causing seal issues. Cleaning and lubing will most likely sort those issues right out.

As for the recent spate of leaky Perls, my SWAG would pin that to a change in the #2 o-rings. Maybe they went with a different manufacturer to save a few tenths of a cent, maybe the manufacturer changed their process somehow. Seems more likely to me than some process shift on the metal parts. I wonder if the rebuild kits have a different set of o-rings than those used during the recent builds...

Cheers!