Keg maintenance interval

[Craig Dhonau]

I’ve been reading on the Micromatic website that the maintenance interval on spears is 7-8 years. In other’s experience, does that number hold true for a keg that has had an “average life” of use, with regular filling, cleaning, and distributor use/abuse? The kegs I’m looking at are five years old, no overhaul that I’m aware of. Trying to figure out the cost effectiveness of used keg purchase vs new.
Any thoughts appreciated.
Thanks,
Craig

[sbradt]

I’ve been reading on the Micromatic website that the maintenance interval on spears is 7-8 years. In other’s experience, does that number hold true for a keg that has had an “average life” of use, with regular filling, cleaning, and distributor use/abuse? The kegs I’m looking at are five years old, no overhaul that I’m aware of. Trying to figure out the cost effectiveness of used keg purchase vs new.
Any thoughts appreciated.
Thanks,
Craig

Hi Craig,

Just to clarify, that Max of 8 years is based on a combination of cycles and simple age. "Average" cycles depends a lot on where the kegs come from. A mega brewer may see average cycles through the brewery of only 2 per year, while many smaller breweries can see this number of cycles in a month due to local-only distribution patterns. If there is abuse in the market it is often visible abuse such as nicks and gouges in the rubber CO2 valve. Less visible damage can be caused in the breweries by poorly designed keg washers that wear down the valve springs or damage from storing kegs outdoors in the sunlight. All of those factors aside, will every valve fail at 8 years - no. Will you begin to see a significant uptick in failures - yes. I hope you find that information useful. Feel free to contact me if you have further questions.