Should I Buy a Wine Cooler with a Broken Thermostat

I found a Haier 30-bottle wine cooler for $50. It's 8 years old, which concerns me, but it's main problem is that the thermostat doesn't work. But I was planning on turning it into a fermentation chamber and therefore was going to hook it up to a Johnson temp controller. So here are my questions:

1. Is an 8-year-old wine cooler even worth purchasing, or is it just too old?

2. Do I even need to fix the Haier thermostat if I'm going to use a Johnson controller? Obviously, not having to fix the thermostat would make the price only $50, which is pretty sweet.

Thanks.

If you turn it on and it cools, then it should be fine. As long as the thermostat allows the compressor to come on whenever there is power to the wine cooler, then a Johnson temp controller should work fine. If, however, the thermostat is broken in such a way that it prevents power to the compressor, you'll need to make sure you know how to bypass it and get power to the compressor.

Offer $25 buck stating that the thremostat is broken worth a shot. if the compressor is good then its ok to buy. and if it craps out after a few years then you are only out a few lunches

Thanks for the help.

By the way, Arkham, my wife went to college at Binghamton. Seemed like a really nice place to live.