After buying used kegs and taking the posts off for cleaning and o-ring replacement, I’m wondering - when I put the posts back, how tight should I tighten them.
Purely academic at this point, since I basically wrenched them down until they cried out for mercy, then kept tightening until the crying stopped.
Jim…you only need to tighten them to the point they make contact with the mating surface. They are designed to just make contact and the rubber o-ring does the actual sealing. You don’t need to torque them down.
edit: they do need to be tight so that they don’t work themselves loose upon connecting and disconnecting…so just enough torque to hold them in place.
I have always spun them down till they were finger tight and d pulled them tight with my socket and ratchet. Tight is defined as “till the post stops turning without me working too hard”. There’s no need to torque them.
Paul
Finger tight plus 1/2 turn is plenty. Check for leaks w/starsan.
When you said Purely academic at this point, since I basically wrenched them down until they cried out for mercy, then kept tightening until the crying stopped. I cringed.
From memory feel…20 ft pounds sound OK?
Sounds about right. Just enough to keep the post from becoming loose upon normal use.
This. Check your lid, posts, poppets, and pressure relief valve everytime you seal up a keg.
Usually it is the lid, but every now and then a PRV, poppet, or post will leak when you pressurize w/ CO2.
Best to detect it early before you lose a whole tank of CO2.
They were used and still had soda in them. I had to sit on the keg and put my weight on the wrench to get the posts off, so I thought they needed to be that tight. Later it occurred to me that I was probably just mangling the o-rings doing that. Thanks.
I’ve had this happen to me before. If it requires excessive force to remove them, then they’re way too tight.
Can’t remember where I saw it (it was on youtube somewhere) but the guy said turn the post finger tight then tighten with a wrench a little and give the wrench one “whack”. That’s what I do.
Would that be a metric or a standard whack?
The o-ring seals it. Wacking it is just asking for stripped threads or difficulty taking it off in the future.
All 16 of my kegs’ posts stop when tightening. No need for pushing matters. Relax, getting the posts off initially was tough but no need to force anything.
It’s not a very hard whack. It’s more of a smack, really…
You know when you…wait, nevermind. :-X
Well, if it’s a smack, why didn’t you say so? That’s a lot less than a whack. Personally I think a nudge is all that’s needed. 