Tap hissing, but not dispensing

[aaronanddelania]

Longtime lurker. Love the forum.

I've have a retrofitted True three 1/2 bbl system that now holds 10 cornies and has six taps for 2 years. While trying to fill some growlers I found out two of my taps are not dispensing. When I pull the tap, gas hisses out of the faucet, but no beer is dispensed. This is happening on two taps, while the other four taps are dispensing normally.

I have tested the kegs and taps (gas and beverage are also on correct post) and they hold pressure and dispense when moved to other gas lines and kegs.

Some quick stats on this unit.
3 line secondary regulator feeds from primary regulator to allow multiple serving/carbing pressures. This exact model here:
http://www.beveragefactory.com/draf...-pro-series-secondary-co2-beer-regulator.html

Each secondary line runs into an air distributor (4-6 line).

I noticed that the first secondary regulator after the primary that feeds one distributor is the gas system where I'm having this serving issue. I'm not sure if there is something that can malfunction in the gas distributor as well as the secondary regulator. The other two downstream regulators function fine and allow me to dispense normally. These regulators look like they're in series, but clearly they might be independent.

My main questions are should I look for parts in the distributor and secondary regulator that could have failed and, do they sell these type of parts or am I out a line on my secondary regulator.

I'm mechanically competent, but inexperienced with the guts inside regulators and distributors.

Thanks in advance.

 

[MrFancyPlants]

I bet you have the tap installed on the gas line of the corny and vise versa. I could be wrong, but that would be a place to check.

edit: or maybe you are out of beer on those taps.

 

[aaronanddelania]

First thing I checked was the ball lock couplers were correct and kegs had beer (both new with >3/4 beer in keg). It dispensed some foam very slowly (not a high powered hiss) before it only hissed.

I think it's something wrong in the regulator or distributor, but I don't know much about the guts of these pieces of equipment.

But it confuses me how it can hiss when the beverage coupler is connected to the beverage post. Is there a possible failure point is within in the post that could let gas bypass the dip tube, but not pull beverage from post? Seems hard to do, but anything is possible I guess.

 

[Jim311]

If there's a hole in the dip tube at the top somewhere it will push gas instead of liquid. Basically it would be exactly like hooking up the gas to the liquid post.

 

[IslandLizard]

First thing I checked was the ball lock couplers were correct and kegs had beer (both new with >3/4 beer in keg). It dispensed some foam very slowly (not a high powered hiss) before it only hissed.

I think it's something wrong in the regulator or distributor, but I don't know much about the guts of these pieces of equipment.

But it confuses me how it can hiss when the beverage coupler is connected to the beverage post. Is there a possible failure point is within in the post that could let gas bypass the dip tube, but not pull beverage from post? Seems hard to do, but anything is possible I guess.

Are you sure there's a long dip tube in the liquid out post? Is it possible you've got 2 (short) gas dip tubes in those kegs?

Regulators have nothing to do with dispensing liquid. They dispense gas, and they must be working OK or you wouldn't hear the hissing.

 

[Yooper]

Are you sure there's a long dip tube in the liquid out post? Is it possible you've got 2 (short) gas dip tubes in those keg?

Regulators have nothing to do with dispensing liquid. They dispense gas, and they must be working OK or you wouldn't hear the hissing.

Or, the poppits are plugged with hops debris.

Start by turning of the gas to the affected kegs. Then, pull the pressure relief valve to release the pressure. Remove the "out" post and inspect it. Remove the poppit inside, with the spring, and inspect it. Make sure there are O-rings at the top of the poppit, and that there is an o-ring in good condition on both the post and under the diptube. Pull out the diptube, and wipe it off (it'll be drippy) and eyeball it by holding it up to the light. If you have any debris in any of those places, remove it. I have a long diptube brush for those diptubes, and they are worth having for sure. If you don't, take it to the tap and rinse well if there is debris in there. While you're there, lube all of the O-rings with food grade lube.

Put it back together, and put it on the gas. Check for leaks (I spray star-san solution on the posts and around the lid). Then, try again to dispense.

If it still doesn't work, try sending another keg from another tap through that tap to see if perhaps the faucet or shank is clogged.

Edit- just read again and realized the kegs dispense on other taps. That means the problem is in the faucet/line. First, take apart the black QD with a flat head screwdriver and clean that out. Then hook another keg to it, and see if it works. If not, the line and faucet are clogged and need to be cleaned.

 

[day_trippr]

Frozen beer lines on the two balky faucets, perhaps?

Cheers!

 

[aaronanddelania]

Wife's going to do yoga and dinner at her friend's tonight so I'm going to get up under this keggerator and figure it out.

I can dispense on all faucets by not using the gas lines from the other two regulators & distributors. When I switched the gas line on these kegs, it started adding gas to the affected keg and begin to dispense from the faucet. That's why I think there is something wrong with the first of the secondary regulators.

It's just strange that the first regulator may be failing but all downstream regulators are fine. I get a lot of condensation in the unit that sometimes drips down the regulators and I'm wondering if I'm getting some freezing in this regulator (secondary mounted vertical on back wall) since it's closest to the evaporator. Either way I may just need to buy a regulator kit, rebuild it and see how that works.

 

[IslandLizard]

I think I understand the problem you're having better now.

Does the hissing come from the regulator, not the faucet? If so, there's definitely something wrong with the regulator. It's either leaking and/or not supplying gas. The pressure in your keg may actually get released back through the regulator, hence no pour.

 

[agrazela]

What kind of faucets?

 

[tnorman93638]

Pictures of your setup would be helpful. You said you have a secondary regulator is it plumbed correctly. Gas in and gas out?

 

[mongoose33]

What if you hook a picnic tap up to them and try to dispense from that?

 

[aaronanddelania]

The hissing was from the faucet (Vent-matics). I think the regulator is not dispensing much gas from the first secondary regulator. I did a little tinkering today to see if I could get some answers.

I opened the faucet after purging the keg and hooking up to the suspect regulator's distributor line. It barely foams (like a small post nasal drip) for a second and then stops quickly.

The sound of this suspect line filling the keg when I hooked it up was not that normal high pressure filling sound until it hits serving pressure (10 PSI on my unit/line set up). It was a slow weak sounding flow that cut off quickly. I think the regulator is no longer dispensing at a true 10 PSI (what it's set at on the gauge)

I think the original hissing and foaming was the carbonation released out of solution from the beer in the line when the regulator failed in the interim between pours (probably a few days). Then when I opened the faucet it did this weird hissing and foaming number. Either way I think I'll just grab a regulator rebuild kit for Kegco brand and look into rebuilding that one regulator.

Am I maybe off base here?

 

[stratslinger]

The thing is, if the regulator is pushing gas, and everything else is correct (dip tubes on the proper posts, QD's on the proper posts, etc), there is no direct path for gas to get from regulator to tap without pushing liquid.

What you're describing, to me, sounds like you have the liquid dip tube (long one) on the gas post, and the gas dip tube (short one) on the liquid post. That way, the CO2 goes directly into the beer - which isn't a problem, it's the same way SANKE's work - but then whatever CO2 escapes the beer is what gets out the liquid tube, along with a little of the foam that is being created as the CO2 escapes...

But you said that connecting these kegs to your other gas lines results in normal pours? Maybe, just maybe, the QD's themselves are a problem - when was the last time you took one of those apart? Focusing on the liquid side QD's, could an internal gasket be missing or damaged? Could those QD's, rather than the posts, be clogged up with hops, along the lines of Yooper's suggestion? Are your kegs leaking in the kegerator/keezer around the QD's? If things are connected correctly, liquid HAS to be coming out of the keg - the question is where is it going?

 

[SGTSparty]

The hissing was from the faucet (Vent-matics). I think the regulator is not dispensing much gas from the first secondary regulator. I did a little tinkering today to see if I could get some answers.

I opened the faucet after purging the keg and hooking up to the suspect regulator's distributor line. It barely foams (like a small post nasal drip) for a second and then stops quickly.

The sound of this suspect line filling the keg when I hooked it up was not that normal high pressure filling sound until it hits serving pressure (10 PSI on my unit/line set up). It was a slow weak sounding flow that cut off quickly. I think the regulator is no longer dispensing at a true 10 PSI (what it's set at on the gauge)

I think the original hissing and foaming was the carbonation released out of solution from the beer in the line when the regulator failed in the interim between pours (probably a few days). Then when I opened the faucet it did this weird hissing and foaming number. Either way I think I'll just grab a regulator rebuild kit for Kegco brand and look into rebuilding that one regulator.

Am I maybe off base here?

Seems like you could be on the right track. If you can hook other kegs up that tap and pour normally (w/ a different gas line) and you can poor from that keg w/ a different gas line & Tap then the gas-line has to be the issue. if all other regulators' taps are working then its has to be between your secondary and your QD. If the secondary is hissing i'd start there, like you're doing.