Getting into kegging with a bang

So, I was poking around looking for a basic kegging setup and came across a 6 tap commercial kegerator (2 towers, 3 spouts each) dirt cheap. Assuming that it is in working order, is there anyone familiar with these larger kegerators? It's about 7ft wide and a bit over 4ft tall. I guess is there something different about these large ones compared to the traditional more compact kind? I just want whatever info I can get before purchasing it.

Picture of it can be found here.

It'll most likely have Sanke keg connections inside instead of the 5 gallon corny ones so you'd have to put up some bux to get new fittings. Those are cheap though, like $5 a fitting and two per keg.

Is it going to come with a CO2 tank, or do you have to buy that separately?

And how much is it, and where can I... erm, where is it?

Yeah I actually am a little worried about giving all the details should someone here yank it out from under me. It wouldn't come with a co2 tank so that will be purchased along with a regulator undoubtedly. It does have all the hoses though so that's something saved.

Nothing that special about a bigger kegerator. You may want to go ahead and replace the hoses just for santitation's sake. If it's old and cheap, it's probably dirty as all get out too. Disassemble the towers and taps and put some elbo grease into cleaning everything up. Take the panels off to expose the refrigeration unit and clean everything there too. The condensor coils will probably be clogged with all kinds of dust bunnies and hair and who knows what else. If it has lots of thin metal fins, be very careful not to bend them. A paint brush is a good tool for removing that gunk. Also, any hardware store will likely have an aerosol spray can of cleaner for heat pump condensors that will help get the gummy stuff out of the coils. BUT be sure to use that stuff outside as the fumes are really nasty. Scrub out the inside of the cooler with soapy water, rinse, then mix up some bleach water, dip a rag in that and wipe it out. Let it air dry and you're golden. The best part about converting that thing to corny kegs is the extra space you'll have Perfect for cold conditioning bottles or the next keg(s) in the pipeline. Nice find but we want pics

For the price elbow grease is well worth it. It's 6 years old so for commercial equipment it should still have a lot of life in it. Oh, and is that Lonz Winery I see on the island in the distance in your avatar? Judging from location that would put you on the tip of South Bass where it connects to Buckeye island.

That's the same brand that I have. Mine is a 3 kegger though and it only has 2 doors. It will fit 3 full kegs and a pony on the compressor shelf. I don't know how many cornys will fit yet but I'm sure I can get all I need to in it. Mine is set up with 2 towers with 5 faucets. My 2 concerns were could I afford to run it but so far the power bill hasn't increased much. The other is can I fill it up? Right now I have 3 kegs of beer,1 root beer, and a batch almost ready to keg. I'll crash cool it in the carboy before filling the keg which is another good thing a kegerator is good for. You're gonna love it. Mine was a mess when I got it but it only cost me some doors for a cabinet that I had to build which I had done in about 4 hours. I cleaned it up and replaced all the hoses and now I'm enjoying draft beer everyday.
I timed a batch going into the keg versus bottling. It took me 35minutes to sanitize, keg the beer, and clean my equipment when I was done. It sure beats 3 hours to bottle! You can check out my album to see before and after shots. http://s219.photobucket.com/albums/cc18/gaffrig24/kegerator/

Keith

Two words for you man:

BUY IT!

If it is cheap and works it can be converted to anything you want, hell you could slap a couple of tires and a B&S motor to that sonofa and ride it to work!

I don't know how cheap "dirt cheap" is, but if it is within your budget and you have the space for it you need to get it right away. Even if you aren't using it at its full capacity now you might in future. you can just convert the taps as you have the cash. Worst case senario you don't like it and can spin it to make a buck.

Well, unfortunately this seems to have fallen through. It was up on ebay and in the end I was bid sniped. I had gone to the store for SWMBO against my better judgement but she had said she would bid on it for me. She bid with about 80 seconds left, and ended up getting sniped with about 3 left. I was thinking of doing the same to the other guy and not bidding on it until 5 seconds left either. So, no, I won't be getting that kick ass $2500+ commercial unit for $175.

On a positive note, SWMBO felt a bid bad about that and has loosened the purse strings some so that I can go ahead and look into a more normal kegerator such as one based on a Sanyo 4912.

Don't blame it on sniping if you were being too cheap to post a proxy bid for what you were actually willing to pay for it

Sniping will only work for somone if they outbid you. If you had put in a proxy bid of $300 (or whatever you were willing to pay) the sniper would have had to outbid that to win the item.

I had been outbid, and sniping would have worked in this case, the other guy had his initial proxy bid at 175 after he outbid me. Plus, my budget hadn't been that large to begin with. It was only that this was such a crazy deal that I was even considering it. Proxy isn't always the best choice for bidding.