Ranco error E2 on Keezer

Late yesterday I noticed my beer lines and kegs were beginning to freeze.

I assumed I had let my probe rest in a poor place and the Ranco made it run too long. I set it to a higher temperature, moved the probe to a new location, put in some warm water in 2 liter jugs etc.

Well, Today I cleaned everything up and put my probe in a 2" pvc pipe with holes drilled in it so that it couldn't rest against a newly added warm keg or up against the cold freezer wall.

Cool so far. Next, I fought my Ranco controller that kept giving me an "E2" error code. That code means the programming is not set. Well I played with it for over and hour unplugging etc. It wasn't giving me the error last night and did not start until today when I unplugged it to reroute cables. Searching the internet, It seems this is not a repairable problem. I found this thread among others.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f35/ranco-controller-46665/

1. Well it is working at the moment.. Should I replace it or at least have a standby for next time?

2. What do you think about the pvc pipe method to protect the probe? I see others insert it in water or such but it seems that would make the controller too slow to respond to temperature changes.

I think some people submerge the probe in liquid. That seems like the freezer would run too long to change the temperature of liquid.

So do you think this is a good method to protect the temperature probe from contact with the cold freezer wall or a warm keg?

It's a piece of PVC pipe with holes drilled in it for air flow and a drink holder taped around the ends to keep it from resting up against anything cold..

Well the saga continues....

Mostly everything is backup and running well.

Except one tap. The pale ale is making lots of foam. I can see bubbles in the beer line. It is a 10' line with a perlick tap. I swapped it with another that is 8' with a perlick. Still the same.

I'm thinking that maybe when it froze, the dip tube split and is sucking in air. Any other ideas?

I guess I will clean and sanitize a dip tube from another keg and swap it out and go from there.

I find that I get lots of bubbles in the line when a keg warms up. It can no longer carry the same amount of CO2 in solution so it starts to come out, even in the lines. Now that you have your temps under control, that may be what's happening.

What was the resolution to your controller problem?

No resolution to the controller, except it just started working after and hour or so. I had to shot off the breaker to that room today and change an outlet and I was worried the problem would resurface.. So far so good with the controller.

I swapped out a dip tube and after drawing out a beer and a half, the problem looks fixed. I don't see anything wrong with the dip tube I replaced but I'll go over it again in better light.

When you took the dip tube out you released the pressure in the keg. If it was very overcarbed, you may see the problem recur. I doubt that will be the case because you likely had a regulator set at a normal serving pressure the whole time.