Ranco vs Johnson?

What is the difference between these 2 on Austinbrew besides the big $ difference?

I have both and they very similiar. The only difference I know of is if you want to change to heating mode on the Johnson you have to take the back off and switch a jumper, on the Ranco it can be done from the front panel settings menu.

If you do some searching you can get the Ranco for $80, I got mine from an aquarium shop.

Thanks, as long as thats all that has to be done thats fine cause thats all I am going to use it for. I have a dedicated fridge for kegs and lagering when I get to that.

If you hit up your local industrial controls place you can get a ranco for under $50(unwired). Just pretend you are a contractor.

They ask in the only store around here. My brother is an electrician and Ive been in that store many times with him and they want proof. The trouble is my brother is impossible to get to do anything, even if you are paying him cash on the spot, very unreliable!

Theres a couple on ebay, buy it now for 49.99 (unwired)

Just bought that 1! Looks like Ill be placing an order with Midwest in stead for the rest of my stuff as everyone seems to be out of dial thermos or Kewler kit stuff. Out of about 6 places they seem to be the only ones who have these few products in stock.

The only other difference I can tell is that the Johnson has an Anti-Short Cycle Delay to keep the compressor from cycling off and then right back on again. I don't believe the Ranco has that.

Xakk said:

The only other difference I can tell is that the Johnson has an Anti-Short Cycle Delay to keep the compressor from cycling off and then right back on again. I don't believe the Ranco has that.

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I have 2 ranco's and I just looked at the instructions. they do not have a short cycle delay but they do have a temperature differential setting which does pretty much the same thing. I keep mine set to 4 or 5 degrees usually (temp probe is monitoring air not the liquid inside). so my lagerator is set to 32 right now but it will not cycle on until the temp hits 36. depending on ambient and how many carboys are in there (thermal mass) thats usually between 1 and 2 hours for 5 to 10 minutes

Good to know stuff!