Buying new 'Becker' style poppets

[Kev888]

I'm refurbishing all my corny seals but some of my poppets don't take standard O-rings, and I can't find spare rubbers for them so I want to replace the poppets instead.

My aim is to refurbish them to being (functionally) 'as new', so I've decided to bite the bullet and get standard poppets, rather than the universal replacement types. The only type I can find that 'I think' fits standard cornelius ball-lock posts and takes normal O-rings are the 'Becker' style poppets. They add up in price though, so though I'd ask for some opinions:

1. Do the Becker style poppets sound right?

2. Norm seems not to do this type. Morebeer do them for £2.21+vat and CanDirect for £2.38+vat - both +P&P, whatever that may be. But I need loads - is there anywhere better to get them from?

3. I'm 'presuming' the inside of the posts would be largely as new and not need replacing - but does that seem a safe assumption ?

EDIT: more beer's website wanted to charge £40 for shipping, candirect £7.40 so that more or less decided it - the candirect site added VAT at source so no chance of slipping through but it was still cheaper.

Cheers
Kev

[Fil]

Hi Kev,

i have a few kegs which need extra attention after disconnect removal. i have at least one post with an Italian brand 'AEB' R-style poppet going by your poppet info, is this Becker style poppet suitable to replace these?

I agree the poppet appears to be the weak link in the system, its not covered by a standard oring replacement kit sold as complete to us punters, and its the bit that gets most use... then when i consider the known history of my kegs...
a poppet refit for all makes sense. especially if your replacing those that cant have oring refits.

AS for if the post gets wear and could it be a problem? well i dunno.. but i would think the poppet oring would need to fail prior to any wear on the post occurring, which if in use, would get the keg/post immediate attention before any damage could occour?

[Kev888]

Thanks Fil, good point about the post wear in particular!

I wouldn't claim to be an expert, but 'if' I'm correct then the becker ones:

seem pretty comparable to the common sort of cornelius ones (the yellow plastic is sometimes black):

in size, whilst what I think are the AEB posts are a tad taller and take a slightly longer poppet with splayed-out toes (that hold it in the post even when the post is unscrewed):

The AEB poppets seem not to be very common as a separate item, though there are some that look like them on the candirect site - however mine take an O-ring as standard, so I wasn't intending to replace the whole poppet for those, they're a pig to get out though.

These are the posts that I have; the first takes what I think are the becker and more common cornelius poppets:


The second (with its taller hex-part to the base) takes what I believe to be the AEB sort and usually come as a ready assembled pair:

It looks narrower in the pic but it isn't, thats just the photo (there is a narrower sort about though!)

Glad you think my plan makes sense - when I look at the total cost of this I do slightly wonder if I'm being excessive. But its getting pretty annoying now that my cornies have multiplied and its hard to keep track of their individual quirks - as about one and a half cylinders of CO2 and substancial floods of precious beer recently testified.

Cheers
Kev

[Fil]

I will check out my posts, a very usefull bit of info Kev Cheers.. another of your posts worthy of a bookmark..., so unless the post is taller with a more substantial nut its unlikely to be an aeb one??

I have one dodgy poppet with longer legs, it fell out of position during reassembly and got its leg pinched and mangled.. the long legs led me to believe its an eab type but the fact it fell out is contrary to your detailed research..

I also have keg posts with a star shaped spaner fixing rather than the standard hex, and consiquently have no idea what they are hidding,

But having invested in replacement orings, and soft lid seals for all my kegs recently i would like to service the poppets too, perhaps not replace all, but those that have already shown problems, then i would like to exchange both on those kegs assuming both posts have had similar wear...

[Kev888]

so unless the post is taller with a more substantial nut its unlikely to be an aeb one??
I have one dodgy poppet with longer legs, it fell out of position during reassembly and got its leg pinched and mangled.. the long legs led me to believe its an eab type but the fact it fell out is contrary to your detailed research..

Yes, so far any posts or poppets I've seen described as AEB do indeed have the deeper nut section, however I don't think the reverse is necessarily true as there are other taller posts that aren't AEB ones - they too have poppets with longer legs, but their toes don't point outwards in the same way to wedge themselves in.

I also have keg posts with a star shaped spaner fixing rather than the standard hex, and consiquently have no idea what they are hidding,

With my shorter posts, the product ones are all plain hex shapes, but the gas ones can either have nicks out of each corner or else be the star-shaped ones. It seems to be just a different way to identify the gas post though, as internally both the nicked-hex and star ones are the same - in my case at least!

I don't pretend to be an expert in this, just trying to muddle through - its a real minefield. For instance the poppets that I supect your longer ones 'may' be, I've seen described as a type of pin-lock poppets even though they fit some ball-lock posts!!

At some point we should perhaps try to sort all the various options out with pictures and so on, and add it to the site's corny info pages or something like that.

Cheers
Kev

[Fil]

Thanks for the insight and info, i will be following your progress...
i got a bit excited with the prospect of a universal poppet that you could buy a set of and replace any with as and when needed.. it would make an invaluable spares box addition.

its amazing just how many variances there are considering its a standard fitting keep up the trail blazing

[Kev888]

Yes, there are at least four post types I've run across even just in ball-lock, and even more poppet varieties. Universal poppets seem like a great idea if you have a mix of posts or are unsure, though I've seen some retailers water down their claims to fitting 'most' cornies, or 'some better than others' or as 'temporary' replacements so possibly the claims may be a bit over-enthusiastic..

Personally, the whole point of my refurb means that I want to do this as well as possible, to achieve as much certainty and consistency as I reasonably can, and with 48 posts to refurbish theres a significant cost involved too, which needs a degree of certainty to justify. So I'd prefer to get the specific, original, as-new, poppets for my posts really.

BTW, Lee/Deller12 has recently tried making some in a similar style to the universal ones (here), AFAIK he's not claiming they'll be compatible with the world and its dog, but presumably they'll work out as well as the current commercial offerings. He's kindly offered to send me a couple to look at as well, which should be interesting - for the reasons I mentioned, I'm not sure this style of poppet is what I'm wanting in this particular venture, but they do seem to have a lot of potential.

Cheers
Kev

[Kev888]

My poppets from CanDirect arrived recently. They look pretty good and take standard O-rings when it comes to replace them (rather than the special rubbers in my original cornelius versions). A couple had black O-rings as pictured on the website but most were a brownish red so presumably silicone.

The only negative I've noticed is that their central spine/shaft is somewhat ribbed, I guess from rapid machining, so it could catch against the hole in the foot if it became miss-aligned - this doesn't seem to happen in the posts I've so far tried them in though. Otherwise they seem almost directly comparable to the cornelius ones I'm replacing so I have high hopes that they'll perform exactly like the originals before their rubbers aged.

Cheers
Kev