Stuck faucets

I’m mostly new to brewing in general so color me clueless.

I had built a brew cart for a friend who’s been doing brewing for quit some time. He surprised me with a kegorator in return.

Everything seems to work fine except the faucets seem to severely stick. If left alone for much more than 24 hours they become almost unusable. If I manage to get them open I regularly can’t get them closed fast enough and end up wasting the precious cargo. In one case I even snapped off the handle of one while attempting to loosen it up.

This leaves me with only a few options, figure out how to loosen them, replace them…or make sure I have a drink every couple of hours…the later being preferred but likely not my best option.

Is this something I can take apart, clean and have it work or is this a general flaw that happens with some models and I would be better off replacing them? If replacement what is “Preffered”? I saw some recommendations for Perlick while searching on here. Are these generally compatible? Do I have to worry about thread differences, hose size etc matching up?

Any advise would be appreciated.

~Matt

Disassemble, clean, replace any worn/damaged parts. Reassemble and you should be golden.

http://www.kegworks.com/enlargeImage.php?productid=16402&imageid=19038

Is this something happens with even brand new equipment? It’s been happening since day one.

~Matt

[quote=“mjuric”]Is this something happens with even brand new equipment? It’s been happening since day one.

~Matt[/quote]

[attachment=0]Tap Adjustment.JPG[/attachment]

Ok I’ll do both. Will be changing kegs soon anyway so I’ll just pull everything apart, clean it and see what happens.

Thanks again.

~Matt

A bit of proper lube on the rubber parts prevents daily issues between cleanings.

I think my faucets are defective. Took them apart and can’t move the piston that is in the faucet at all. I tried tapping on the end with a hammer first to see if it would break loose and nothing. I then soaked it in water thinking it just might be gummed up. Nothing. I then went at it pretty hard with a hammer covering the end with a piece of wood to protect the piston and it barely budged. It took several pretty solid hits to move it far enough to get the brass lever out. I’d say it moved a whopping 1/16 of an inch with several fairly solid blow.

I’ll take it with me tomorrow and press it out on the press just to see what’s going on. However I suspect that it’s just a bad coating job and or poor material and the piston has been corroding and seizing up.

OK now I’m befuddled.

I had planned on pressing out the piston this AM. I had left the faucet soaking over night. When I picked it up this AM the piston slid right out.

I’m assuming that this means that the Beer must be working it’s way into the mechanism and literally turning into glue…and really good glue at that.

The piston seems to slide pretty well once cleaned up. It’s not been deburred very well from it’s original manufacture but that doesn’t seem to be causing any binding at all. I didn’t see any noticeable corrosions as I expected to either.

Lube was mentioned, will this help seal this up a bit as well as keep it from seizing?

~Matt

[quote=“mjuric”]
Lube was mentioned, will this help seal this up a bit as well as keep it from seizing?
~Matt[/quote]

The lube will ensure that the rubber seals work properly and not stick to the surfaces. Although some lube usually gets on other parts, it is not meant to coat metal surfaces. If your system is cleaned with the proper chemicals and done regularly you will not have this issue. Regularly to many of us means after each keg, or every few weeks. Industry standard says weekly, but I find that a bit excessive unless I’m selling Beer Line Cleaner :slight_smile:

[quote=“Dean Palmer”]
If your system is cleaned with the proper chemicals and done regularly you will not have this issue. Regularly to many of us means after each keg, or every few weeks. [/quote]

Problem is that it started sticking within hours of the original install. Anything much more than 24 hours and it was tough to get open and get shut. Is it was just shipped and not cleaned properly that caused the beer to gum up for some reason?

I’ll clean it all up, put it back together and see if it works on the next keg I guess.

Thanks again,

~Matt

It’s really strange that it happened like that. Unless something was assembled incorrectly or something was stuck in there I can’t see how it would jam. Nothing I know of will cause it to jam just because beer touches it. Might have been mold flashing or some manufacturing debris. Stranger things have happened.

Same thing happens to me. I am on my fourth set of kegs with this used kegerator. I clean the lines and faucet after every keg with BLC. The tap can be very hard to use after about 24 hours of not using it. I haven’t broken anything yet but I switched to longer tap handles to get better leverage. The sort handles that came with the double tap were really difficult to open. I felt like I was going to break the tap a couple of times.

I will try adjusting the the fittings on the tap to see if if it makes a difference.

Do the Perlick faucets not have this problem?

Having to use extra leverage on any faucets is an issue, and something is wrong if that is required.

If over-tight, assembled incorrectly, or poorly maintained there may be issues. Also if the sliding shaft gets bent it may cause friction or binding.

Forward-seal faucets stick less often due to design, but they still have a sliding component and a seal.

If it takes more than a light touch with a finger to open the faucet, something is wrong.

get some forward-seal faucets. much better design.

[quote=“Dean Palmer”]Having to use extra leverage on any faucets is an issue, and something is wrong if that is required.

If it takes more than a light touch with a finger to open the faucet, something is wrong [/quote]

In my case we are talking ALOT of force, to the point of literally snapping off the plastic handles that came with the unit. So yes, something is definitely wrong.

In my case neither a bent shaft nor over tightening the brass shaft nut was the issue. As I said once I soaked the faucet over night the shaft slid out easily and does not bind. The only “Binding” I noticed was a slight drag from a burr left on the slot where he brass shaft goes. Not enough to make it lock up. However since there is a burr there it’s quite possible that there was material built up there from the plating process and that may have broken loose and lodged in a certain area.

[quote=“Dean Palmer”]
Forward-seal faucets stick less often due to design, but they still have a sliding component and a seal.

.[/quote]

I’ll know very shortly after getting the new keg in whether taking apart and cleaning fixed the issue or not. I’ll be putting some food grade lube on it to see if that helps as well. If not, I’ll just buy some knew faucets.

Thanks all again,

~Matt

these taps = sunk cost. get perlicks.