Would I be stupid to pass this up?

I've been wanting to buy some sort of refrigeration so that I can a) start kegging, and b) to have precise temperature control for my lagers. I will eventually be building a bar in my basement and was hoping to have room for at least 6 kegs.....

So today I found this:




It has a remote compressor (which is nice because I can keep behind a wall to keep the noise down), and you can see that it is controlled via a Ranco digital thermostat.
They are asking $1100.....a lot of money for me, but I don't know that I can pass it up....opinions?

For me at least it would be total overkill. I would also think you could get a chest freezer or two to get the same amount of space for a lot less. So my vote is pass, but maybe it will work in your situation. It would be a "cool" think to have.

If you can afford it and you have the space to store it then why not? It may be overkill, but aren't most things that homebrewers do overkill anyway?

$1,100 is a great price on that if it works.

thanks for the replies so far...I don't really think it's overkill for my situation....i want a nice big impressive bar, and i brew about 200 gallons a year ... I've also been wanting to have room for a couple of ferment buckets along with the corny kegs. The thing is this already has 3 towers and all the hardware and tubing to hook up 5 kegs....I think the tap towers alone would be about $800 (brand new).....

OK....so maybe I'm just trying to justify the expense

Do the gloves come with?

That'd totally be worth the cash.

I hope you took a peek inside to see how badly, if at all, the inner shelf is rusted.

I once came across a 6 tower True model for $100 a tower. Looked shiney and great on the outside. All polished and enticing. Open it up and it looks like the Titanic took a rust crap in it.

Also, if you can. Plug that sucker in and let it run for a while (before you hand over the cash) to make sure there aren;t any thermal overload issues with the compressor.

If you don't know if you really want it or are on the fence, offer them what you wouldn't be able to pass on and see if they bite. Like offer ohh I don't know $800. But that’s just how I justify big purchases. “Honey I couldn't pass, they accepted my low ball offer":cross:

I too feel like that’s WAY overkill, but if you have the room and would be buying something like it anyway, why not? But if you do pass on it, call Yuri my understanding is “OVERKILL” is his middle name
JJ

What about the 3 door TRUE cooler in the back. That's what I use for a keggerator. Mine is only 2 door. But same basic thing.
JJ

GilaMinumBeer said:

Do the gloves come with?

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Ha -- if I decide to get it you bet I will negotiate for them.

GilaMinumBeer said:

I hope you took a peek inside to see how badly, if at all, the inner shelf is rusted.

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Yep--no rust at all. Definitely been used, but it looks to be in pretty good shape.

GilaMinumBeer said:

Also, if you can. Plug that sucker in and let it run for a while (before you hand over the cash) to make sure there aren;t any thermal overload issues with the compressor.

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They do have a 30 day money back guarantee if something like that happened....I'd of course check out the fine print on that before buying.....

Jaybird said:

... offer them what you wouldn't be able to pass on and see if they bite. Like offer ohh I don't know $800. ...

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+1 on that. Is it overkill? Yeah, maybe. But my first thought when I saw the pics was, "Wow, wouldn't that be cool?!" So I say, if you have the cabbage and everything is in working order, make an offer!!!

I'd rather buy a big ass freezer and build my own bar putting the taps from the freezer through the wall. I think I would maybe save money in the long run doing something like that if I dont count my own time. And that's a mabye. If you're not into the DIY thing then this really wouldn't be that expensive. My two cents.

maltMonkey said:

I think the tap towers alone would be about $800 (brand new).....

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2x Two tap and 1x One tap kegerator kit would run you about 600 with a single regulator and all sanke couplers/lines etc... of course, if your not going to use sanke couplers about $150 of that is a waste for you.

The digital temp controller is a little worrysome for that unit, I am NOT an HVAC expert, but I have a large true unit and read up on it a bit, and my understanding is that the thermostats on these large units are pressure controlled and not temperature controlled to stop the coils from freezing up and protect the compressor from slugging. Once the coil reaches a certain pressure, which correlates to a temperature it will cycle off the compressor for a while, and then restart when it is outside of the freezing up/damage the compressor zone. Not sure if that Ranco is bypassing the pressure controller or not? Might be something to look into as it would suck to shell out 1100 bucks and have it icing up all the time, or damage something.

Jonnio said:

2x Two tap and 1x One tap kegerator kit would run you about 600 with a single regulator and all sanke couplers/lines etc... of course, if your not going to use sanke couplers about $150 of that is a waste for you.

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There are 2 triple towers and one double + a triple regulator inside + 5 keg couplers.

GuateBrewer said:

The digital temp controller is a little worrysome for that unit, I am NOT an HVAC expert, but I have a large true unit and read up on it a bit, and my understanding is that the thermostats on these large units are pressure controlled and not temperature controlled to stop the coils from freezing up and protect the compressor from slugging. Once the coil reaches a certain pressure, which correlates to a temperature it will cycle off the compressor for a while, and then restart when it is outside of the freezing up/damage the compressor zone. Not sure if that Ranco is bypassing the pressure controller or not? Might be something to look into as it would suck to shell out 1100 bucks and have it icing up all the time, or damage something.

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Wow--that's something that would never have occurred to me. I basically know zilch about this stuff....I'll have to check that out. Thanks for the heads up!

Well, I went down and talked to the lady.....

Offered her $750 cash and she paused for a good minute, then said that if she didn't have to guarantee the compressor she would let it go for that. She said that it might be low on gas, and since it's a stand-alone compressor it's easy to break during transit, so it might already have an issue, or I could easily break it moving it into my house. It's a newer compressor, and she said if I had to have the gas refilled it could run me $300-$400.

I told her I would like to see it running in the store so she is going to call me next week when she gets a refrigeration guy in to take a look at it.

So..........knowing nothing about refrigeration I'm now a little nervous about this transaction.....partly because she accepted my low offer right off the bat, and partly because she's letting me know that there [might] be problems with the compressor.

What do you think?

Ask her what the lowest amount she will take and still guarantee the unit. What ever she tells you, offer her 1 or 200 less (with CASH in hand) and snatch it up. thats the way I deal. Not everybody feels good about dealing that way.
JJ

I wouldn't sweat it too much if your willing to take the gamble. I have done similar pricing before on deals. If someone is willing to forgo a guarantee I figure out about what it could cost me and then either split the difference or somehow make them get a better price with a lower risk for me.

She probably did some figuring in her head and said, well there is an X % chance that it will need freon or whatever, and an X % chance that it will need a new compressor, so its worth it to be rid of it at $750.

Jay's method may work as well, but have a game plan on if your willing to walk away and risk losing it or not. I gave a guy my bottom dollar on a car I was selling and he had cash in hand offering $100 less. I told him I would just keep it and wasn't interested in losing money on the deal (he ended up coming up with the $100). I was willing to lose the sale, he wasn't willing to lose the car.

I sure as hell wouldn't want to pay your electric bills. BTW you did check out to see if your service can handle this thing, right? It'll work on a 120/240 system, and yours has enough power to handle it, right????

I bet it's old enough to be a R12 system, your screwed should you pay to have is sucked out, moved, sucked down and recharged. As posted above the electric bill as that is a rarther large unit for home use. Impressive yes, worth the trouble I would say no.
I would look for something smaller with R143a gas and not let the towers, valves and bling get to you as a must have item. JMO's

OK, Here's the deal:

The lady called me at 10:00am yesterday and said it was running. I went down about 5:00pm and it was running like a champ, sitting at about 40°. She said the coolant had leaked out due to a loose nut. Her refrigerant guy fixed the nut, and refilled it with R409.

She went down a bit more to $725, and she has arranged for her guy to pump the gas out of the box into the compressor and unhook the compressor for me, then when I get it all settled into my house he will come out and hook it back up and pump the refrigerant back through---all for $120.

So I'm looking at $845 for the entire thing setup and working.

After looking at all the included equipment, it is actually already completely setup to attach 8 full size kegs. I already have a CO2 tank and several cornies, so I shouldn't need to buy much if anything to have 8 beers on tap soon.

I'm not to worried about the electricity -- ok, so it is a 47 cu.ft. unit with not-so-great insulation, but it seals well, it will be sitting in a 67° environment and only cooling to 45° (at the most), and electricity is cheap. Also my basement is unfinished and I can easily install another dedicated fuse for this thing to run on.

So....long story short, and after weighing all the pros and cons....

....I'm buying it

When that baby is all set up in your house, please post some more pictures.
Good dealing too, BTW.

when it's home and working, turn it off, dry it out THOROUGHLY, run fans through it with everythign open, then come back and seal up the inside with bedliner, at least the floor and about 1" up the sides, and in cracks, shelves, etc. You can buy the bedliner in a gallon can for cheap (truck bed liner). It will stick great to a well cleaned surface and keep you from having more rust issues.

If you need co2 tanks, just watch craigs list. THey are on there all the time.

Gonefishing said:

When that baby is all set up in your house, please post some more pictures.
Good dealing too, BTW.

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will do--I will eventually build an entire bar around this, but that's a little ways off.

nathan said:

when it's home and working, turn it off, dry it out THOROUGHLY, run fans through it with everythign open, then come back and seal up the inside with bedliner, at least the floor and about 1" up the sides, and in cracks, shelves, etc. You can buy the bedliner in a gallon can for cheap (truck bed liner). It will stick great to a well cleaned surface and keep you from having more rust issues.

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nice idea -- thanks.