Figured I'd write this up in case anyone runs into the same problem some day...
In the wee hours this morning I toddled down to my keezer for the short pour of my big chocolate stout that is my nite cap, only to have the stout faucet refuse to close! I scrambled to stand the overflowed glass in the brewery sink then raced back to the keezer as the stout poured into the drip tray - and jammed my thumb over the faucet spout to stop the flow (Yay! My thumb is stronger than the 35 psi of beer gas! )
At that point I was able to reach behind the keezer to close the shutoff on my beer gas regulator, then crack the lid open enough to reach in and pop the stout QD off its keg so I could let go of the faucet spout. Phew! Spend the next 20 minutes cleaning black beer off everything it had sprayed on, then resolved to deal with the faucet later - in the more civilized portion of the morning.
Not knowing what might be wrong I went ahead and swapped out the Taprite for my old Micro Matic faucet. The thing is totally a war club of a faucet compared to the Taprite. - which is downright elegant by comparison
Then I took the Taprite apart and here's an exploded view. Looking for a rebuild kit, it turns out the faucet is supplied to Taprite by Krome Dispense. I should have guessed that because I had always noticed the two companies' faucets looked identical.
After stripping all the other parts I had to chuck the body in a bench vise between soft pine blocks to tap the plunger out, as there was a build-up of dried stout that was impeding its movement. I should have taken a picture before I cleaned the plunger, but the build-up was around the round key shown on the plunger below that mates up with a matching relief carved inside the faucet body. I suspect a chunk of the dried beer had wedged itself in the relief preventing the spring-loaded plunger from fully returning to its resting point.
I inspected all the O-rings with a magnifier and they all looked fine, so I reassembled the faucet with a bit of keg lube on the rubber parts, mounted it and tested it with a shorty pour. Works perfectly again!
For reference, here's the Taprite exploded parts diagram for the faucet:
I was able to find the rebuild kit here: https://installationpartssupply.com/Stout-Beer-Faucet-Repair-Kit-Krome-Repair-Parts_p_8509.html
Cheers!
[search bait: Taprite SF2003, Taprite stout faucet repair]
In the wee hours this morning I toddled down to my keezer for the short pour of my big chocolate stout that is my nite cap, only to have the stout faucet refuse to close! I scrambled to stand the overflowed glass in the brewery sink then raced back to the keezer as the stout poured into the drip tray - and jammed my thumb over the faucet spout to stop the flow (Yay! My thumb is stronger than the 35 psi of beer gas! )
At that point I was able to reach behind the keezer to close the shutoff on my beer gas regulator, then crack the lid open enough to reach in and pop the stout QD off its keg so I could let go of the faucet spout. Phew! Spend the next 20 minutes cleaning black beer off everything it had sprayed on, then resolved to deal with the faucet later - in the more civilized portion of the morning.
Not knowing what might be wrong I went ahead and swapped out the Taprite for my old Micro Matic faucet. The thing is totally a war club of a faucet compared to the Taprite. - which is downright elegant by comparison
Then I took the Taprite apart and here's an exploded view. Looking for a rebuild kit, it turns out the faucet is supplied to Taprite by Krome Dispense. I should have guessed that because I had always noticed the two companies' faucets looked identical.
After stripping all the other parts I had to chuck the body in a bench vise between soft pine blocks to tap the plunger out, as there was a build-up of dried stout that was impeding its movement. I should have taken a picture before I cleaned the plunger, but the build-up was around the round key shown on the plunger below that mates up with a matching relief carved inside the faucet body. I suspect a chunk of the dried beer had wedged itself in the relief preventing the spring-loaded plunger from fully returning to its resting point.
I inspected all the O-rings with a magnifier and they all looked fine, so I reassembled the faucet with a bit of keg lube on the rubber parts, mounted it and tested it with a shorty pour. Works perfectly again!
For reference, here's the Taprite exploded parts diagram for the faucet:
I was able to find the rebuild kit here: https://installationpartssupply.com/Stout-Beer-Faucet-Repair-Kit-Krome-Repair-Parts_p_8509.html
Cheers!
[search bait: Taprite SF2003, Taprite stout faucet repair]
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