Picnic Faucet Can't Handle Soda Pressures?

[BoWingo]

So I kegged a "La Croix" for my wife last night (five gallons of water and a cut-up orange, about as simple as it gets). It worked pretty well, but now I have a question about carbonating and serving it. I chilled the keg, hit it with 22psi, and shook the crap out of it. That should get me to 3.25 volumes of CO2 which I've read should be a good range for a soda.

I tasted it after getting home from work this afternoon and it tasted pretty good. Carbonation level seemed just right. It has room for improvement on balancing the orange flavor, but that's a different topic. My problem is that I cannot seem to get my cobra/picnic faucet to stop spraying everywhere when it's attached. I've cranked down on the screw cap with little improvement. I tried turning down the pressure to 11psi and it served great, but when I came back to it about an hour later, it was almost flat. It would seem that 22psi is just too far outside the working pressure of this faucet.

What should I do? Do I have to get another faucet? How do you guys serve soda?

 

[day_trippr]

I honestly wouldn't trust the typical cobra tap at higher than 15 psi. When you look at the design it's just a spring-loaded flapper valve, and obviously the spring isn't good for up around your soda pressure.

Not sure what to seek as an alternative, aside from maybe cobbling up some kind of shelf mount for a "real" beer or soda faucet...

Cheers!

 

[MrFoodScientist]

I was about to recommend that you clean your tap thoroughly just to be sure, but it sounds like you've tightened it. It could be the spring inside has weakened. You might try placing a spacer in there to compress if further to get more pressure out of it, or get a new spring entirely, which I know is easier said than done.

I've never had a problem with either of mine over the two years I've owned them, even upwards of 40-50psi. Not that I would recommend those pressures, but they should be able to handle it.

 

[BoWingo]

Thanks for the suggestions. I should mention that it's a brand new tap. Nothing's ever been run through it except some oxiclean, sanitizer, and this soda.

I'll try to play with increasing the spring force a little.

 

[Yooper]

I used picnic taps to dispense soda at 30 psi for years, with no problems. I did need a boatload of line, though- like 25' of 3/16" line.

 

[WVbrewer]

I had the same problem as the OP with a brand new picnic tap. I replaced it and it worked fine. I assume I just got one that was faulty. Try another one and see if that works.

 

[audger]

the way a picnic tap works is there is a rubber plunger that is held by spring pressure against an opening where the fluid comes out. the pressure of the fluid works against the pressure of the spring, meaning that it can overwhelm the spring pressure and escape.

a $3 picnic tap isnt normally held to very strict engineering standards, and the spring pressure and even dimensions of the parts can vary considerably, which is why some will work better than others. however, the overall design is not meant to be used under high pressure in the first place. keep this in mind.