Ball Lock Disconnects

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Peterpasha
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Ball Lock Disconnects

Post by Peterpasha » Sat May 05, 2018 6:17 pm

My corny ball lock disconnects are always difficult to remove from my gas in and beer out posts. I have the basic plastic disconnects and was wondering if there is anything I can do to help. Would switching to metal disconnects solve the problem or make it worse? What about 'keg lube'?
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Beert
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Re: Ball Lock Disconnects

Post by Beert » Sat May 05, 2018 8:49 pm

Keg lub would probably help, but personally I don’t like that stuff. I have a keg that I had a heck of a time getting the liquid disconnect off and ended up changing the o-ring and it fixed the problem. Dont know what the deal was with the original o-ring, but for the price I’d give it a try.

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GAM
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Re: Ball Lock Disconnects

Post by GAM » Sun May 06, 2018 9:21 am

I have a food grade silicone spray I use when one gets stubborn.

S

elreplica
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Re: Ball Lock Disconnects

Post by elreplica » Sun May 06, 2018 9:54 am

I use keg lube (or KY gel)...anything food grade...I have Everwood Ave metal connects on one of my kegerators and they work well.
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Re: Ball Lock Disconnects

Post by Peterpasha » Mon May 07, 2018 8:54 am

Thanks for the replies!
On Tap:
Irreplaceable Pale Ale
On Deck:

Fermenting
Black IPA
Planning
Irish Red Ale

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Re: Ball Lock Disconnects

Post by OntarioBeerkegs » Wed May 09, 2018 11:08 pm

Make sure you have the right o-ring on the keg post. You want a dash 111 if picking up at the hardware store.

Also make sure you are using a good disconnect. CMBecker is the disconnect of choice for coke/pepsi and all distributors for a reason. They are NSF approved. German engineered and made in the USA. And they work. If can not see a brand name on the part when buy it pass, keg systems are not something should go to the cheapest parts.

If have universal poppets they may need a coil cut off with pliers to reduce tension. This is done on the largest diameter of the coil (bottom). The connect will be really hard to push the lock collar down if this is the issue.

The diameters of the posts are different for beverage and gas. They do not play nice if have them reversed. The gas post always has a notch cut out in two or more places on the nut. Or uses a 22mm 12point star shaped (box end of a wrench) nut as a visual reference.

If stuck in place and the keg is empty. You can carefully unscrew the top with a nickel, and jam some sort of higher viscosity lubricant in it. Keg lube, ky jelly. Even a nice glob of margarine. That will assist getting the connect off. Clean up when done of course.

Hope that helps.
Patrick

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