Johnson Controls

I recently purchased a kegerator on craigslist and it doesn't seem to be getting cold enough. I have the temp gauge on as cold as it will go and it just doesn't seem to want to get my beer below 45. I purchased a Johnson Controls A419, wired it (since it did not come wired), plugged the fridge into it and it into the wall. Then I set the temp I wanted per the instructions and it doesn't seem to be overriding the thermostat of the kegerator. Any ideas on what could be wrong?

Thanks,

Is the temperature going lower without the controler ?

Double check your wiring on the controller.

Mathieu,

It is not getting colder. It doesn't seem to be overriding the thermostat.

Gritsak,

I checked the diagram that was in the instructions and seems to be wired correctly. There is power to the control and I can set a temp. It just doesn't seem to be overriding the fridge.

Is there something I need to do to the actual kegerator other than plugging it into the control? I was under the impression that it was a plug and play sort of thing.

Johnson controllers work by cutting the power at the temp you want so it doesn't get colder than that.

If the kegerator won't get colder than 45 by itself, the Johnson controller won't make it get colder.

Really? I thought the idea was for it to "trick" the kegerator by resetting something to where it basically tells the kegerator to keep working.

So how do I make my kegerator colder if not using the Johnson Controls?

rjwidman said:

Really? I thought the idea was for it to "trick" the kegerator by resetting something to where it basically tells the kegerator to keep working.

Click to expand...

We use them a lot to "trick" freezers to not freeze.

rjwidman said:

So how do I make my kegerator colder if not using the Johnson Controls?

Click to expand...

That I don't know. What kind of kegerator is it?

my guess would be the thermostat is bad in the kegerator or low in freon or whatever refrigerant it uses. Or both. Have a refrigeration guy look at it and he will get you up and running

rjwidman said:

Really? I thought the idea was for it to "trick" the kegerator by resetting something to where it basically tells the kegerator to keep working.

So how do I make my kegerator colder if not using the Johnson Controls?

Click to expand...

Not necessarily. Chest freezers and fridges typically attain temps colder than recommended for serving beer. A temp controller allows you to accurately stop a cooling device at a particular temperature - oftentimes WARMER than the fridge's original thermostat would allow.

And for what it's worth, 45* is probably as perfect a temp as you can get for serving ale. It's what I have mine set to.

It is a Sunbeam SCK02SMWBS.

I am not an electrician or an HVAC guy but I would assume that cooling unit continues to run until the thermostat or something tells it to stop. I have the setting as cold as it can go. I have my control set at:
SP = 36
DF = 6
ASD = 1
OFS = 7
SF = 1
Now the controller as well as a thermometer I have in the fridge is saying the temp is 51.
Do I have to do something to kegerator itself? Do I have to adjust the thermostat? Overload protector? Starter (PTC)? Or compressor? And if so what?

If you have plugged the fridge directly into the wall and set it as cold as it will go and it still doesn't go below 45 you have a mechanical problem with your unit.
As they said above you need it looked at.

If you can rip out the tstat in the fridge you can short the compressor run and common, it would run all the time like that, you can use the johnson to shut it off.

To figure out if its the compressor or the tstat, plug the fridge in directly to the wall, turn it to coldest setting and see how long the compressor runs. If it routinely cycles off, short or replace the stat. If the compressor runs all the time check both sides of the copper lines in the back, if one is cold and one is hot (be careful), is the door sealing properly? If they are both about the same temp you might have a leak or a compressor issue.

Good luck!

It runs on cycles. I will look into taking out the tstat and using the johnson control as my tstat.

Thanks,

You may want to check the compressor and the "radiator looking thingy" on the back...

...we have three dogs and one cat. Our entire house is hardwood flooring...I noticed the after awhile my old kegerator would not cool down past about 48*. I figured it was just old and tired but decided to pull it out, clean off the radiator looking thingy and blew everything out back there with an air compressor. After that it was tricky to keep it from freezing everything in the kegerator.

I think sometimes they just need a good cleaning