Troublesome Ball lock fittings

[Georgedgerton]

Across the board there are brewers (including me) complaining about troublesome ball lock disconnects that are difficult to get on and near impossible to get off. I know in some cases it's because they have wound up with a gas post on the beer out side and other such things. while I haven't brewed for a while I put a batch down a couple of weeks backs and when I put it in the Corny keg same old problem. This time I had made sure I was using CMB couplers and when I sanitised the keg, the fittings were going on and coming off no problem at all. Once the keg was filled and in the fridge and I went to put it on tap, hard to get on and near impossible to get back off. To me that would be suggesting the problem has to do with temperature and maybe some slight shrinkage occurring when the disconnect gets cold.

Darned if i know, what do you guy's think?

 

[TwoCrows]

I lube my posts to help remove and seal. I rotate the gas in from one keg to the other kegs. If I gas a few kegs at the same time, I have a multi post line, two lines after a tee piece.
I have never had stuck posts, only loose /leaky.

 

[Georgedgerton]

I lube my posts to help remove and seal. I rotate the gas in from one keg to the other kegs. If I gas a few kegs at the same time, I have a multi post line, two lines after a tee piece.
I have never had stuck posts, only loose /leaky.

Having other brewers say they never have an issue, I too can't now ever remember having this problem up until maybe 5 years ago (and I been brewing for a long time) when I got rid of my old kegs a bought 4 new ones (KegLand) and that's when the trouble started. I wonder if it an issue with the posts on the kegs, rather than the ball locks. It's not on just one keg, all four are the same, maybe I should buy some new posts and see what happens

 

[Mike-A]

I've had issues with the KL flow control disconnect specifically, to both stainless (from ball lock kegs) & plastic carb caps they use as one of the alternate keg posts. The flow control release on a couple occasions completely stuck for a bit and wouldn't move.
However I've been more vigilant with using the food safe silicone grease & just using it a bit more and I suspect the tolerances are loosening up a touch and getting marginally better over time.
So not sure if that helps but basically saying different post types on a couple kegs caused the same issues for me. So I'm just guessing plastic tolerances just take some lube & work initially to settle in.

 

[AzzA68]

The problem, with all plastic fittings, is the balls can get jammed in their holes. Just from the collar pressing them into the locking position. This makes them hard to get on, and off. The holes are tapered, and it's a design/production trade-off to get enough taper without the plastic being so thin the spring forces the plastic to distort. Obviously, some have a taper that's too narrow or is molded irregularly.

I've got a KL branded fitting that needs to have one of the balls forced back with a pair of pliers regularly, it's on my keg cleaner. I'm going to try lubing the balls, using a toothpick to get the grease right in around the balls.

 

[Grok]

get the grease right in around the balls

Sounds like fun....

 

[Georgedgerton]

Yes, it may not have helped that I have been skimping on the "glow i the dark" personal lube instead of the food grade silicone

 

[AzzA68]

Sounds like fun....

Rings my bell... takes all that so much longer using a toothpick too. ;-)

 

[DJ_L3ThAL]

Check your post orings with a vernier caliper. You may find the black type has swollen and become larger. Thats the only problem I’ve ever had. I changed most of my orings to red silicone years ago and they’re still going strong without issue or need to replace many of them at all. The recent stuck one was an original black type on the liquid (I was using red on gas and black on liquid as an easy identifiers, but now have just changed all to red silicone. My 6kg CO2 has just clocked 3 years on my kegerator (it’s almost empty though) which shows how you can truly have a leak free system if you spend the time to test properly (submerged in water) and use quality bits.

 

[Georgedgerton]

Rings my bell... takes all that so much longer using a toothpick too. ;-)

Sorry about the late reply but I have been away. I change the o rings fairly regularly, but I haven't tried the red silicone ones, well worth a shot. Thanks

 

[Georgedgerton]

Check your post orings with a vernier caliper. You may find the black type has swollen and become larger. Thats the only problem I’ve ever had. I changed most of my orings to red silicone years ago and they’re still going strong without issue or need to replace many of them at all. The recent stuck one was an original black type on the liquid (I was using red on gas and black on liquid as an easy identifiers, but now have just changed all to red silicone. My 6kg CO2 has just clocked 3 years on my kegerator (it’s almost empty though) which shows how you can truly have a leak free system if you spend the time to test properly (submerged in water) and use quality bits.

Sorry posted on Azza68 comment. The red o rings sound like they are well worth a shot. Thanks

 

[Grmblz]

Follow the money, the cheaper a thing becomes the more hassle it's likely to give you. good old syrup kegs (yep that's how home brew kegging all started) and their disconnects were trouble free, but expensive, good engineering (tight tolerances) costs money. Quality stainless, costs money. The golden age came when syrups were switched to tetra packs. hundreds of thousands of good quality cornies and ancillary equipment were suddenly available at second hand prices. Eventually of course they ran out, and no homebrewers were prepared to pay for new ones. Enter cheap, built to a budget, so inferior quality and looser tolerances, and eventually of course "engineering plastics" ya get what ya pay for folks. You can't compare a Micromatic/BOC reg with a cheap chinese one, well I suppose you could, but it's laughable. Reasonable quality fittings with silicon "O" rings taking up the slack might be the sweet spot, but if you've got $5 posts and $3.50 plastic disconnects then be prepared for hassle.

 

[KegLand-com-au]

If you find the disconnects work fine when they are cleaned and lubricated but then get stuck on the most likely issue is that beer has dried up on the disconnect itself.

When beer dries up on the disconnects it tries like glue.

The FC ball lock disconnects have been designed with a larger collet so that the collet can be used to unscrew the ball lock disconnect and you can more easily take it apart for cleaning. This collet for the same reason has more surface area in contact with the disconnect body and thus more tried up beer can glue the parts together even more securely.

If you have a small amount of lubricant in the collet (not just the keg post) then this can greatly assist with this issue. Alternatively if you spray down the disconnect with water after its coupled then this can wash off some of the beer before it has a chance to dry and this can also solve the issue.

 

[bdkelly.nz]

Check your post orings with a vernier caliper. You may find the black type has swollen and become larger. Thats the only problem I’ve ever had. I changed most of my orings to red silicone years ago and they’re still going strong without issue or need to replace many of them at all. The recent stuck one was an original black type on the liquid (I was using red on gas and black on liquid as an easy identifiers, but now have just changed all to red silicone. My 6kg CO2 has just clocked 3 years on my kegerator (it’s almost empty though) which shows how you can truly have a leak free system if you spend the time to test properly (submerged in water) and use quality bits.

Hi
I tried a O ring supplier here in Christchurch and they couldn't supply a silicone O ring that size. Where did you get yours from?
Thanks

 

[KegLand-com-au]

Hi
I tried a O ring supplier here in Christchurch and they couldn't supply a silicone O ring that size. Where did you get yours from?
Thanks

One of the cheapest o-ring materials is NBR. NBR is quite crap to be honest and one of the very common issues with NBR is it's poor resistance to acetic acid. The acetic acid causes the o-ring to swell up. Silicone, EPDM and Low2 o-rings do not have this issue.

You are probably going to say "I did not use acetic acid" but the reality is if you ever get an infection or have sour beers that you brew from time to time then these styles contain acetic acid (vinegar) and I would bet money that is the cause of the swolen o-rings.

Unfortunately the same thing happens to poor quality beer taps or cheap beer taps where they use cheaper NBR sealing rubber components.

 

[bdkelly.nz]

One of the cheapest o-ring materials is NBR. NBR is quite crap to be honest and one of the very common issues with NBR is it's poor resistance to acetic acid. The acetic acid causes the o-ring to swell up. Silicone, EPDM and Low2 o-rings do not have this issue.

You are probably going to say "I did not use acetic acid" but the reality is if you ever get an infection or have sour beers that you brew from time to time then these styles contain acetic acid (vinegar) and I would bet money that is the cause of the swolen o-rings.

Unfortunately the same thing happens to poor quality beer taps or cheap beer taps where they use cheaper NBR sealing rubber components.

Do you guys supply the red silicone ones then?

 

[Ballaratguy]

Hi
I tried a O ring supplier here in Christchurch and they couldn't supply a silicone O ring that size. Where did you get yours from?
Thanks

I got mine from eBay

 

[Georgedgerton]

Sorry I haven't replied to the more recent posts buy got bowled over with the dreaded Covid bug, when in Sydney, but I will definitely be sourcing some silicone seals now I'm just about back on track