Kegerator Cleaning Help

Hi guys,

Jeez, been awhile since i've posted on here. How is everyone?

Anyway, for my birthday on Friday, my girlfriend was gracious enough to buy me a used kegerator (Haier HBF05EABB) off of a friend. It's been sitting in his garage for quite awhile, and the cosmetic cleaning was easy. I've dis-assempled the tap and cleaned that in Straight-A, easy as pie.

However, the hose is disgusting. It's yellow and filled with gunk. I'd like to just replace it, but it's clamped down with hose clamps and i have NO idea how to re-clamp it...no tools or anything. Because of the clampage, i cant get it through the hole in the top to give it a good clean like i do with my brewing hoses.

So i dont know what do to. I'm attaching pictures so you can decide what i should do. I guess i could cut it and drive down to Banner for replacements to be made for me, or should i just run BLC through it 800 times?

Thanks everyone!

buy new hose. those are oeticker (sp?) clamps. not reusable. you need to use pliers to take them off, or just cut the hose. but you are best just replacing all the hose.

Berserker_Brew said:

buy new hose. those are oeticker (sp?) clamps. not reusable. you need to use pliers to take them off, or just cut the hose. but you are best just replacing all the hose.

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That's what i figured. Can i just buy regular hose clamps for the replacement hose?

yea. nothing wrong with just using worm drive clamps. I used Oetiker clamps for a bit, but went back to worm drives for anything not permanent.

Berserker_Brew said:

yea. nothing wrong with just using worm drive clamps. I used Oetiker clamps for a bit, but went back to worm drives for anything not permanent.

Click to expand...

Last question: Can buy replacement hose at Home Depot, or should i wait til i can get to my LHBS?

you want food grade tubing.

Looks like an ear clamp. I would cut the existing clamp off (or cut the tubing as close to the fitting as possible and pry it off), replace the tubing and re-attach with a worm clamp which uses a screwdriver to tighten (and loosen - which will make it easier to replace in the future).

Another question:

It came with a 5lb CO2 tank, which still seems to have CO2 in it. While it has a regulator (it shows PSI), i have no idea how much is in there.

What's a safe way to bleed out the gas so i can safely learn what the hell i'm doing with this thing?

From your first pic, looks like you only have a single gauge regulator with no high pressure gauge (which would give you an idea of what's left in the tank). Regardless - why bleed it off? When you have your first keg ready, hook it up - you'll know when it runs out.

In the mean time, locate a source for future CO2 needs. Some will fill tanks, some will swap tanks.

pdbreen said:

From your first pic, looks like you only have a single gauge regulator with no high pressure gauge (which would give you an idea of what's left in the tank). Regardless - why bleed it off? When you have your first keg ready, hook it up - you'll know when it runs out.

In the mean time, locate a source for future CO2 needs. Some will fill tanks, some will swap tanks.

Click to expand...

I guess i'm just nervous...i've never used CO2 before and would prefer not to blow anything up.

Plus, that metal thing the regulator is on doesnt feel very tight. I can spin it around, and i dont want it shooting off or anything.

Not sure which metal thing you're talking about - but try this. Fill your keg with water and hook it up to the gas (around 10psi or so - doesn't really matter, but you want some pressure). Next, brush all the couplings/fittings around the tank, regulator and keg with soapy water to check for leaks. If possible, also hook up the tap and run some of the water through it. Even better is to do this while you have cleaner (PBW, B-Brite, etc) in the keg (it will help clean the keg, pickups, hoses, taps, etc).

There's not much that can go wrong, but you could do all of this outside (no need for the fridge to be plugged in for any of this). Definitely makes sense to spend some time getting familiar with the system (and how to clean it) before you add beer.

pdbreen said:

Not sure which metal thing you're talking about - but try this. Fill your keg with water and hook it up to the gas (around 10psi or so - doesn't really matter, but you want some pressure). Next, brush all the couplings/fittings around the tank, regulator and keg with soapy water to check for leaks. If possible, also hook up the tap and run some of the water through it. Even better is to do this while you have cleaner (PBW, B-Brite, etc) in the keg (it will help clean the keg, pickups, hoses, taps, etc).

There's not much that can go wrong, but you could do all of this outside (no need for the fridge to be plugged in for any of this). Definitely makes sense to spend some time getting familiar with the system (and how to clean it) before you add beer.

Click to expand...

I dont have a keg yet, but that makes sense. Same leak checking procedure as my propane burner for brewing.

Thanks much