Loss of pressure in cornie

[shedman]

I have a cornie which I got off norm and have noticed that it doesnt hold pressure. As I am to use this with a CO2 cylinder I need to sort the leak before connecting it up and wasting all my gas and I want to get at the beer!! I secondary condition in the cornies and put the beer in 5 weeks ago, as I was going away for a while I asked my wife to vent it a couple of times but when she did there was no release of gas. On returning I checked and there was no pressure at all. I have another cornie that was filled a week before and have no issue with that one.

I obtained a new seal kit, post seals and lid seal but it still doesnt hold pressure. What I have noticed, is that when closing the clamp on the lid, the feet tend to splay outwards rather than forcing a real tight seal. This is the only thing I can see that could be causing the problem Has anyone had a similar issue and if so how did you resolve it? I am going to get the fairy liquid out later and check the posts and lid but it seems to be a very slow and subtle leak.

Also any pointers as to where I could obtain a new lid if the clamps are causing the problem?

Ta

[mac]

If you put some gas in the keg then mix some washing up liquid and water, you can finger paint the liquid over the in, out and lid then look for bubbles.

[igmac]

I've got five cornies and the only problem i've had is one of them would not seal at low presure, tried everything new seals....to no avail! The leak was comming from the lid and if I put the gas in fast enough it would seal at about 10 psi. So, on closer inspection looking through the handle I could see the opening was slightly deformed (these kegs get abused now and again) armed with a very blunt cold chisel I preceeded to knock it into shape, two or three hefty taps on the high point did the trick. They are made with maliable Stainless Steel which is what makes them so practicle. Good luck.

[kevron]

if you put some hot water and washing up liquid in the keg, pressurize the keg then give it a good shake you should be able to see bubbles coming out of the place that is leaking

[Parva]

If you were attempting to secondary in the keg and didn't add an initial blast of CO2 to seal it then this is likely where the problem lies. I always hit mine with a blast at 30PSI to seal it then it can be dropped to between 5-10PSI. Without the initial blast there's not enough pressure to 'snap' the lid into place. Secondary fermentation would never produce enough CO2 fast enough to get that tight seal.

[shedman]

Got it guys, sourced it down to the small o ring in the poppet valve having split. It works fine if the gas is connected just need to get a new o ring!!!

[Parva]

Hop and Grape sell poppets complete with the seal for £2.50 if you fail to source any seals. I got a couple of type 'A's for my Challenger kegs and they've been fine.