At last Tuesday's meeting, I mentioned to some people that I keg my beer in commercial Sankey kegs. I thought I'd post this link regarding how to open one.
http://home.insightbb.com/~benschoep/keg/sankey.htmOnce you get it open, it's really no harder to clean than a carboy, actually maybe easier. I will re-emphasize the need to constantly bleed the pressure, although it's really hard to turn the stem if it's still under pressure. The tiniest bit of beer inside the keg will keep releasing CO2. I haven't bought the kegman replacement ring or anything yet so I can't comment on these. It looks like Kegman.net also sells all the o-rings and gaskets one might need if using commercial kegs, but again, I have not had the need to replace anything yet (in 2 1/2 years of homebrewing).
I could put forth a list of advantages of using Sankey kegs, but I won't openly advocate here the personal re-using of these kegs for homebrew as it could start a whole debate on the ethics of borrowing commercial kegs for longterm use. But some people might appreciate having this knowledge available to them.
I'd be happy to demonstrate how to open one of these at a future meeting if there is interest.
Kegging with commercial Sankey kegs