Kegorator upgrade

[Gymrat]

Memorial day weekend I went to grab a beer and it was room temperature. I felt in my kegerator and it was not cool at all. I tried turning the controller up to max and it wouldn't come on. This was Friday night. I called around Saturday morning and found a repair man willing to come look at it. This was through Sears BTW. While I was waiting for him to get here I started removing the controller so I could test it to see if it was the problem. I couldn't get it squeezed by the copper pipes coming from the compressor and was afraid to try to bend them so I waited until he got here. When he did he asked me what it was doing and I told him it was doing absolutely nothing. I told him I was an electrician but not a refrigerant guy and I was wanting to see if the problem was just the controller. We plugged it in and by golly it did nothing. So he showed me I could go ahead and bend the copper tubing enough to pull the controller out. Once we got it where we could see it we plugged it back in and it came on. This proved I absolutely have a faulty controller. The schematic is on the back of the kegerator, looking at that I couldn't see why I couldn't take the wires off and splice them together and use a Johnson Controller. He saw no reason that wouldn't work, we talked a little while, he seemed interested in my job as a railroad electrician. Then he said he was going to call in and tell them I had called and cancelled so there would be no charge.

But I digress (I have always wanted to say that) today I got my Johnson controller. Installation was a snap. I just shoved the temp probe in next to where the original one is. I did get lazy and just turn the old controller to max instead of cutting and splicing the wires to it. I figure if it fails again I will bypass it at that time. That option will be open and will only take a couple of minutes.

I really like the Johnson Controller better than the original. The original was on the back, in next to the compressor, where it was difficult to reach and impossible to see. I mounted the Johnson on the wall right behind the kegerator. I like how instead of setting to a number then waiting to see what I have before readjusting I can actually see a temperature I am setting the thing at. Plus I can see what the temperature actually is at a glance. I have it set to turn on at 38 degrees and shut off at 33 degrees. I figure this way the beer should come out at about 36 degrees, then when it hits the 66 to 68 degree glass warm up to around 40. I can control the temperature span between off and on but left it on the factory default setting. If you get them too close the think will be kicking on and shutting off too often and run my electric bill up plus wear the compressor out sooner.

The End

[Beer-lord]

Nice, happy ending.
I continually read that most kegerators on the market only last about 5 years. That's not good. And I have little patience when things go to crap.

[Gymrat]

This one isn't "most" kegorators. The one I bought is now selling for $1600. I don't know what's up with that controller but the rest of the thing is built like a tank. I would think it would last 20 years or more.

[Beer-lord]

I'm not in that league.

[Gymrat]

Neither was I. I got it for $630 on sale from the Beverage Factory. Then paid another $150 for shipping. I was amazed when I looked it up on amazon to see if I could get a new controller for it.

[Beer-lord]

I remember now when you got this. I had thought it was a larger size. Can you fit 3 corny's in there plus a tank?

[Gymrat]

I remember now when you got this. I had thought it was a larger size. Can you fit 3 corny's in there plus a tank?

If at least one corney is the new style yes. The old style are too tall to fit in the rear. Shortly after I got it I upgraded to a dual tap tower.