corney keg relief valve question

[OHIOSTEVE]

I recently bought several ball lock kegs fron an individual that said his parents owned a distribution company and they were phasing them out. Anyway I brought em home and cleaned em up and replaced anything that looked as if it needed replaced. EVERY ONE OF THEM leaks around the relief valve. I went to the LHBS today and bought a couple of new relief valves to put in them but some are not the pull up ones with the ring, they are a tab. Anyway they all leak. I was looking at new lids and they cost as much as I payed for the kegs...the replacement valves aren't cheap eaither. And the ones you drill out and completely replace are even more expensive. Is there any way to just seal the relief valve and use the gas in poppit to release pressure or is that dangerous? My friend owns a metal fab/ welding shop and I bet he could seal em up tight easily.

 

[Dan]

Don't know if this will help but some of the corny kegs I use leaked initially at the relief valve. I removed the valve and found sludge(?) at the bottom of the stem and the same sludge at the spot the stem meets the lid. Cleaned it out with a cotton swab and starsan. The leaks stopped. I think I had to do it a couple of times and probably also cleaned off the spring.

 

[wild]

Weld the lid or go weldless but you lose out on the 150# safety release.
I have a race track on my 3-gallon keg that will have the same problem.

 

[Nohup]

I had one that leaked like that. It was impossible to get it to stop.

In the end, I plugged it full of silicon. It wasn't worth the time to mess with it.
Weld it shut, and never worry about it again.