Poppets and Connections

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nelven34

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So I was connecting a corny keg to my system and it was leaking air. As I had just killed one that connected just fine, I decided(is there a better combination of excitement and disappointment than finishing a keg?) to switch the poppets and things. I don't keg very often and when I finally switched everything out and the replacements appear to be working fine I looked at my old ones. They both have this style of poppet. With the "plug", spring, and shaft with prongs all on one piece. The other set(no picture as I didn't realize it until after the fact) had one of these, and another that had a short plug and a spring, but not the shaft and prong thing on the end. Are these equivalent? Am I not supposed to have this multi piece one? Or am I actually supposed to have different ins and outs and this keg was incorrectly fitted?
Also, the two poppets shown here have different seals. One seems like just a flat ring above the spring, the other appears to be two pieces, with one extending below the spring. The plugs are also different, as one has a circular indentation on it. Comments on the differences?

...and of course as I attempt to attach, the app says that it can't. I'll attempt to add them through the phone browser.

Edit: which now that I look at it, it appears to have worked just fine, and multiple times.

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I'm fairly certain all my ball lock kegs are fitted with their original posts, and if not original poppets, they had been replaced with identical parts as OEM. In all 14 kegs, the gas and liquid poppets look the same.

Based on that, I'd say the poppet that looks like it has two pieces above the spring was a replacement, and the other is the original style. Also, I've never seen a poppet that looks like the former; all of my poppets look like the latter.

All that said, if both poppets worked before, perhaps the side that was leaking just wasn't seating. Occasionally I have to "pop the poppet" by poking it down and letting it spring back in place and seal tight (never takes more than one "pop")...

Cheers!
 
The poppet on the top is the proper poppet for a Cornelius keg, the bottom poppet is the proper poppet for a firestone/Spartanburg keg. The firestone poppets are generally much cheaper and used as replacements in Cornelius kegs. Although they aren't an exact match they do function the same.
 

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