Kegs With Pin Holes

[Jye]

I can get a couple of kegs that may have pin holes and read here that they can possible be fixed. Has anyone actually fixed a pin hole successfully?

Cheers

 

[Justin]

Can you get them soldered? It will give you a nicer finish that welding them (I'm thinking of the internal surface of the keg) that way you wouldn't have to grind/polish the interior.

I don't know if you can get it in Australia but there is a low temp silver solder in the US with no cadmium available from a company called Harris. I think it;s called Staybrite. Apparently you only need a propane torch, not MAPP or acetylene to solder it.

FWIW though I have a keg that has been fixed as there are a few messy grinding marks inside and it's been fine. Never had a contamination issue with it.

 

[Batz]

I've silver soldered a couple of pin holes in kegs,easy and you can't hardly see it

Batz

 

[MHB]

I have TIG welded a few, you have to purge the tank with Argon, then you do you dont need to grind the inside.

Some kegs arent worth the effort, if its just 1 pin hole, it's worth it, but some kegs end up looking like Swiss cheese, salvage the parts and write it off.

Solder, both Hard and Soft can work, for best results with soft solder, use as mentioned the Lead and Cadmium free food grade solders.
If I were soft soldering I would clean the surface with Phosphoric Acid, then flux, a small SS plate soldered over the hole would be a good idea, for added strength.

MHB

 

[ausdb]

I've silver soldered a couple of pin holes in kegs,easy and you can't hardly see it

Batz

Try Strata 22F silver brazing alloy, cadmium free and prefluxed and works a treat!
The only downside is $15 a stick but you would not need much

 

[Jye]

I've silver soldered a couple of pin holes in kegs,easy and you can't hardly see it

Batz

Hey Batz,

I have zero experience in welding so could you give me some details on how and what you used. I have some friends with welding gear and will get them to help once I have details on what I need.

Try Strata 22F silver brazing alloy, cadmium free and prefluxed and works a treat!
The only downside is $15 a stick ohmy.gif but you would not need much

ausdb, is this easy to find at any welding supply store?

 

[Beerpig]

Jye

You would probably want a good Boilermaker or Welder to do it for you & will need oxy welding equipment

All of the gear mentioned above is available at welding supply stores

Cheers

PS - Can't believe I typed "good Boilermaker" ................. does such a thing exist?

 

[Batz]

BOC will sell the silver solder and anyone with an oxy set and small tips could weld it,really is not hard to do.

Batz

 

[KillerRx4]

Try Strata 22F silver brazing alloy, cadmium free and prefluxed and works a treat!
The only downside is $15 a stick but you would not need much

We sell (well havnt actually sold any 22F) that stuff at my work. We are the sole distributor of Strata welding products.

Your not wrong about it being $$$$ but apparently its the goods.

 

[Steve]

How do they get pin holes? Just old age? Is it common?
Cheers
Steve

 

[Jye]

How do they get pin holes? Just old age? Is it common?
Cheers
Steve

I dont know how these kegs got pinholes but a known cause is using bleach to clean stainless steel.

 

[mchitiea]

IMHO...Throw them away, you will most likely have problems in the future.
Stainless is VERY hard to corrode. Bleach and certain acids will destroy stainless and then they are very difficult to re-anneal the metal.

 

[yardy]

PS - Can't believe I typed "good Boilermaker" ................. does such a thing exist?

i'm building a new DL not far from you BP if you'd like to come and see a good one at work.

what do you do for a crust btw ?

Jye,

get it tigged imo, the purging will give a better finish on the opposite side of the repair but not essential if you can get to it with some emery cloth.

cheers

 

[Batz]

PS - Can't believe I typed "good Boilermaker" ................. does such a thing exist?

i'm building a new DL not far from you BP if you'd like to come and see a good one at work.

what do you do for a crust btw ?


cheers

Sounds like a fitter to me,we are always making boilermaker jokes,and boilers normally give it right back

Q. What's a boilermaker anyway?
A. A fitter with his brains bashed out !

Batz

 

[yardy]

i've got him down as a fitter, sparky or at a push, a vege operator...

either way it'll be the shallow end of the trade gene pool

where would you be without us boilies to build you **** so you can come along and sit on ya bums and machine stuff for 12 hours ? :beer:

yard

 

[Beerpig]

Yardy / Batz

An operator? .................. those are fighting words!

Nah, Batz had it right. I'm the guy who cleans up the shoddy work of the fly by night shutdown types & the damage done by our operating friends

Actually, others do if I ask nicely

Cheers

 

[ausdb]

ausdb, is this easy to find at any welding supply store?

I bought it from a welding supply place in Osborne park in Perth WA, best thing to do is pick up the yellow pages or get in touch with Killer4x4 below.

BOC will sell the silver solder and anyone with an oxy set and small tips could weld it,really is not hard to do.

The cad free stuff from BOC only comes in a pack that was over $100 (pack) last time I enquired and could not find anyone in WA willing to sell it to me by the stick. The strata stuff may be dearer on weight for weight basis but it was available individually and is prefluxed.

We sell (well havnt actually sold any 22F) that stuff at my work. We are the sole distributor of Strata welding products.
Your not wrong about it being $$$$ but apparently its the goods.

Yes it is $$$$$$ but I brazed a spigot into a kettle with it and used it as a filler as well and only use aboout 2" from a 20" stick (normally with silver brazing you want a tight joint and rely on capillary action) so a little goes a long way.

Its pretty easy to use, make sure the place you are going to braze is clean and grease free. Use a little bit of fine emery paper or wet and dry if that's what you have to clean the area to be brazed. Degrease with acetone or similar. Google "silver brazing" for lots of info on how to actually do the brazing bit, I was a fridge mechanic originally and its just one of those things you learn how to do and develop a touch and feel for, but hard to put into words!!! You basically have to heat but not overheat the metal to be joined then apply the brazing rod. Don't aim the torch at the rod and melt a big dollop of brazing material onto the metal and try and then heat the metal to get it to stick, it doesn't work very well or at all. If you have the metal hot enough you should be able to just gently place the rod at the joint just in the flame, then it will melt and flow by capillary action. You can also use the heat of the torch to move the brazing material around. Its pretty common in refrigeration to do "upside down" joints where you use the heat of the torch to make the brazing alloy flow up hill into a joint instead of downwards. Practice is the key so before attacking the keg find some scraps of stainless similar in thickness to the keg material and practice on those.

On the base of a corny (not big keg) you could get away with one of those little pinpoint blowtorches. I silver brazed a keg dip tube into something today (similar thickness stainless) using my little handy torch as I couldn't be arsed getting out the oxy set for 1 little joint.

PS when working with stainless never use a normal steel wire brush to clean the stainless and if you are using a grinding/ cutting disc dont use one that has been used on normal steel or you will contaminate the stainless (and promote further pitting/corrosion.

HTH

 

[simonab]

I had a pin hole in one of my 17L kegs. Cost $5 to fix at a local welding shop in Sth Melb (he was a SS specialist) and did the job in 5 mins. Works fine and you can hardly see the fix.