If you have a kegerator, and don't pour a draft for a couple days, you may notice that it is very hard, or impossible, to pull the handle. Stop yanking on that thing before you break something. You are suffering from stuck faucet syndrome. Symptoms This is caused because you are using rear-sealing faucets, which are pretty much standard. The problem is that they seal at the rear, near the threads, and all the beer covered moving parts are exposed to air when it is shut off. As the beer evaporates all the sticky sugars are left, which gums up the works. It also forms a pretty nice environment to grow bacteria and mold, and to attract fruit flies. Prevention One way to prevent SFS is to keep a spray bottle filled with water or sanitizer near your kegerator, and spray some up the nozzle of the faucet after using for the day. This should flush out the remaining beer in the faucet. Another often prescribed preventative action is to drink more beer, more often. This can cause some unwanted side effects though. Treatment If you do have a stuck faucet, there are two ways that you can treat it. The less invasive way is to take the spray bottle that you forgot to use the last time you poured a pint and fill it with warm water. Spray the water up nozzle and give it some time to work. Gently pull the handle, and if it doesn't come free easily, spray some more. It should loosen all the stickiness. The more invasive, but more thorough treatment is to remove the faucet from kegerator, soak it in BLC, disassemble it, brush it out, rinse it off, and reinstall it in the kegerator. Cure The best way to guarantee that you'll never suffer from Stuck Faucet Syndrome is to replace your old faucets with forward-sealing faucets. Forward-sealing faucets seal at the front of the faucet, right before where the nozzle turns down. This keeps all the moving parts surrounded in fresh beer and completely prevents the inconvenience and embarassment of Stuck Faucet Syndrome. There are several companies that make/have made forward-sealing faucets (Ventmatic, Shirron, Perlick), and there are several online discussions about which are better. I will not get into that debate, but I will say that no matter which manufacturer that you choose, you will be happy and that the new faucet will be much better than your old one.

Rear-Sealing Faucet Forward-Sealing Faucet