How far can beer lines be run from my kegerator?

I searched for this one, but couldn't find anything:

I want to move my keezer out to the garage, then run the lines through the wall, under my kitchen cabinets, to a rack of faucets on my dining room wall. The total distance from keezer to taps would be 20-30 feet, depending on how I route the lines around the cabinets. My question is: will this present any major hurdles I haven't considered yet?

I know keeping the lines cool is desirable, so I was considering running a continuous line from the keezer, to the taps, and back, and circulating cold water from a bucket in the keezer to keep the lines cold. Obviously the lines would be bundled together and insulated as well. Will this work? Thoughts?

cdanprice said:

I know keeping the lines cool is desirable, so I was considering running a continuous line from the keezer, to the taps, and back, and circulating cold water from a bucket in the keezer to keep the lines cold. Obviously the lines would be bundled together and insulated as well. Will this work? Thoughts?

Click to expand...

Not only desireable but necessary, if not cooled you will be pouring large amounts of foam. There's a thread somewhere where glycol was used to cool the lines. You can also buy the lines bundled and insulated for this purpose.

http://www.micromatic.com/draft-keg-beer/hoses-cid-367.html. It is very possible to do this with proper planning.

+1 cooling the lines is pretty much a requirement. Without it the beer in the lines will quickly warm up and until you clear the lines (about 16oz liquid per 20 feet) you'll have nothing but foam.

I just finished a 10-12' run between my fridge and faucets using a continuous loop of 1/4OD copper. I had to move the reservoir to the freezer and use glycol to get the lines cold enough.

Considerations:
-Line balance. 25' feet is a pretty good distance for 1/4 ID, 30' is getting a bit far.
-Access. I don't have easy access to the back of my faucets with my in-wall setup. I spent a LOT of time thinking about this.
-Condensation. With cold shanks and lines the the area inside the wall can become a mold factory over time.
-Cold enough. I had to move the reservoir to the freezer and use glycol to get the entire length of the lines cold enough.
-The last foot. Where the lines separate to go to each shank is where it's hardest to keep everything cold, well insulated, and condensation free if you don't have plenty of access / space.

spotter said:

Considerations:
-Line balance. 25' feet is a pretty good distance for 1/4 ID, 30' is getting a bit far.
-Access. I don't have easy access to the back of my faucets with my in-wall setup. I spent a LOT of time thinking about this.
-Condensation. With cold shanks and lines the the area inside the wall can become a mold factory over time.
-Cold enough. I had to move the reservoir to the freezer and use glycol to get the entire length of the lines cold enough.
-The last foot. Where the lines separate to go to each shank is where it's hardest to keep everything cold, well insulated, and condensation free if you don't have plenty of access / space.

Click to expand...

Yeah, I think I've got the problem with the back of the shanks licked. I was planning to enclose and insulate the box where the lines come out of the wall, so from keezer to tap, the lines are always insulated, either inside the trunk line, or inside the tap box.

To counter the line balance problem, couldn't I just use a larger (3/8") ID line, with a short length of choker line between the trunk and shank?

What are you using to pump your glycol, and how did you insulate your trunk line?

cdanprice said:

To counter the line balance problem, couldn't I just use a larger (3/8") ID line, with a short length of choker line between the trunk and shank?

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From what I read, that's what the pro's do. I use about 22' 1/4" ID @ 38 degrees and 11 PSI.

cdanprice said:

What are you using to pump your glycol, and how did you insulate your trunk line?

Click to expand...

I used one of the smaller pond pumps from Lowes. Probably any size will do, I looked at the smaller ones and got one or two sizes up- nearly the same cost, figured more circulation wouldn't hurt. I ran 3 lines with a small (3/8?) OD plus a copper loop (two 1/4 OD) inside of the best pipe insulation I could find at Lowes. Works well and I have room to spare, but took some effort to assemble.

If you're going 3/8" ID you might consider pre-bundled line. Call around, you can find some good prices (bad being $10 per foot). How many lines are you planning to run?