Pin Lock to Ball Lock Conversion

[DC-Brewer]

I've been running nine taps with pin lock kegs for awhile now. Sometimes its great, sometimes its exasperating. When there's a problem, it has universally been the gas QD / post interface. I've got the correct size washers on the post. I use keg lube like religion. Kegs don't leak when QDs aren't on.

I've replaced all pin lock QDs previously. I've added washers to the base of the gas post to increase the tightness of the QD. In the end, I'm fed up with pin locks. Considering moving to ball locks. Questions:

1. Is it true I won't have these problems with ball lock kegs? I've got some ball lock equipment for the fermenters and these seem to have a very positive seal.

2. Is it as simple as buying the right posts?
I have 8 Cornelius brand Coke kegs
2 Firestone
1 "Spartanburg"
1 amalgamated beverages universal
1 Hoover universal Coke keg

I imagine the coke and Spartanburg will take the 19/32 and the firestones will take 9/16 conversion kits. No idea about the wild card ones.

3. Is this worth the time and expense?
I tend to brew in batches a few times a year. I burn a a few bottles of CO2 with leaks nearly every time. I'm estimating a cost of $250 to do this which is a lot but worth it if I'm not making multiple runs for CO2 tanks. Will this fix the problem?

 

[day_trippr]

Honestly, there really isn't any significant difference between a properly set up pin lock system vs ball lock system. All the critical elements are shared.

fwiw, if you cannot wiggle a pin lock gas QD without hearing a gas leak the odds are you have ball lock O-rings around your keg posts instead of the slightly thicker pin lock O-rings. This is pretty common- most stores only carry ball lock O-rings but sell them for both styles.

And use keg lube. It helps...

Cheers!

 

[DC-Brewer]

They leak with pin lock o rings sometimes as well. I bought completely new ones based on previous posts and use the hell out of lube.

Sounds like the vote though is not worth the conversion?

This is year 7 of the kegerator and it’s been a significant problem with QDs becoming loose. Was hoping that pin locks were a more common problem than Ball locks.

 

[day_trippr]

I have not seen any trend favoring ball locks from a reliability perspective over the last ~15 years. Tbh the apparent favor of ball locks is you can often fit one more keg in a space verses pin locks, otherwise there's no advantage. If anything pin locks are more user friendly as you can't mix up QDs on a pin lock keg and get one stuck on the wrong post.

I couldn't recommend dropping $250 on the conversion...

Cheers!

 

[DC-Brewer]

Thanks as always for the advice. I’m hoping this cycle is leak free and this is nothing to worry about further.

I have not seen any trend favoring ball locks from a reliability perspective over the last ~15 years. Tbh the apparent favor of ball locks is you can often fit one more keg in a space verses pin locks, otherwise there's no advantage. If anything pin locks are more user friendly as you can't mix up QDs on a pin lock keg and get one stuck on the wrong post.

I couldn't recommend dropping $250 on the conversion...

Cheers!