Poppet and Plug Tutorial?

[Gofastr1]

Just a few months into brewing and kegging. Bought a bunch of used equiment from a guy getting out of it, including five ball lock corny kegs that I now realize probably have a mix of posts/poppet types. Got four of them to seal (mostly, see below), but one clearly has an issue.

This one has a poppet that looks very much like the one described as POP-C here for cornelius kegs: http://www.alternativebeverage.com/cornelius_kegging_parts/poppet_valves.htm
except the yellow portion is steel, and the diameter of the three "feet" is bigger. It looks like none of the other three types I've found. When I put this into the liquid side (where it was when tool the Firestone Challenger IV keg apart), it wouldn't seal - in fact the feet sat on the surface of the post where I think the flange on the dip tube is supposed to rest, and it bent the flange in three places. Are the feet supposed to drop just inside of this surface? What kind of poppet is this (sorry can't post a pic)?
Is it possibly a poppet for a pin lock type post?

On those I did get to seal, the vent/relief valves seem really touchy; I've got to jiggle and twist them just right to get them to seat airtight. Any pointers?

Lastly, has anyone got a good reference to all the types of ball lock post parts and how they're supposed fit together?

Whew.

 

[Minky]

I once bought 3 used kegs (all Cornelius). Unbeknownst to me they all had the Firestone style posts with Corny style poppets. They would seal most of the time, but every once in awhile I would get a leak.

You would think that a set of Firestone poppets would solve the problem, huh? No way. For some reason they are a little too long for use on the Corny keg, and will not allow the disconnects to fully seat. I ended up having to get Corny style posts for all 3 kegs!!

You might be able to get away with Corny posts on a Firestone keg, but I would say that you oughta have the proper posts and matching poppets for your keg. And then there's pin locks which are another animal entirely. Look on the side of the keg for the brand and style, and then match up the right posts by looking at the pictures on one of the beer supply websites such as Northern Bewer.

Just remember that the gas inlet and beer outlet posts are slightly different diameters, and may normally be told apart by the V grooves machined into the points of the wrench flats on the gas posts.

As far as the relief valves go, you may need to replace them if they don't seem to want to seal.