Draft Tower trouble

[gopauletti]

Hey everyone, I bought a used draft tower and want to install it onto my mini fridge, but am unsure how to do it because it did not come with any hoses. The tower has singular small silver tube in it, then two larger copper pipes on both sides of it. It looks like the pipes were just hacked off, how do I connect fittings to this in order to complete my set up? Any thoughts?

 

[birvine]

Not sure without seeing it - but likely a local hardware store witll have fittings and/or ideas to get you going.

B

 

[BigJerk]

pics?

 

[woodstone]

Hey everyone, I bought a used draft tower and want to install it onto my mini fridge, but am unsure how to do it because it did not come with any hoses. The tower has singular small silver tube in it, then two larger copper pipes on both sides of it. It looks like the pipes were just hacked off, how do I connect fittings to this in order to complete my set up? Any thoughts?

Single tap, double tap?

Should be easy enough to pull apart...top should pop off. Or, open the taps, blow through them and see which line feeds them. If the lines have been hacked off, you might just have to force a line over it and use a worm clamp.

Single tap...silver might be the line and copper might be a former glycol feed/return.

Double tap...I'd bet the copper lines are the beer lines...silver???

Good luck and let us know!

 

[gopauletti]

Thanks for the thoughts...it's a single tap...like you said woodstone, I think the copper are the glycol feed/return and the silver (or whatever metal it is) is probably the beer line. How do I connect that to the shank that I put through the fridge?

 

[davesrose]

Thanks for the thoughts...it's a single tap...like you said woodstone, I think the copper are the glycol feed/return and the silver (or whatever metal it is) is probably the beer line. How do I connect that to the shank that I put through the fridge?

Normally, shanks are used in upright fridges and the faucet connects directly. A single tap tower is bolted on top of a mid-sized fridge. You should have 4 holes on the bottom of the tower which you can bolt to the fridge. You have a hole drilled out in the center where the line goes from the faucet to the keg Since you don't have any lines, and if you're going for a small kegerator, I would try to have it air cooled. If the bottom of the tower is hollow, then you can drill a 2.5 inch hole. As I understand, some glycol towers don't let you drill such a large hole. If that is the case, then you can look into getting a glycol system.

 

[gopauletti]

Thanks davesrose, the line in the center is only about 1/8" diameter and shaved off on the bottom, how do I connect anything to this? Just a regular coupling to the hose?

 

[davesrose]

Thanks davesrose, the line in the center is only about 1/8" diameter and shaved off on the bottom, how do I connect anything to this? Just a regular coupling to the hose?

I'm confused. First, let's make sure you want to use a beer tower, and not a direct shank/faucet on the front of the fridge. So you are wanting to mount a tower, like this, to the top of your fridge right?

http://www.temp-rite.us/servlet/the-74/Temp-dsh-Rite-Refrigeration-Glycol-Cooled/Detail

AFAIK, even glycol systems don't have 1/8 inch holes in the bottom, because they need a big enough hole for both the beer line(s) and glycol line(s). A picture of the top tube/ hacked pipes that you're talking about, as well as a picture of the bottom of the tower would help immensly. The basic minimum you'd need is a hose clamp securing a 3/16" line going to your keg.

 

[davesrose]

OK, being more curious about this subject: it looks like glycol cooled towers are more popular in the commercial beer dispensing area. You can cool multiple beer lines in a more confined system then if you have to keep the tower cool with air. You have a big line called a trunk, then a glycol in line, glycol out line, and then numerous "product" lines within the outer trunk casing. I'm not sure if it would be that easy to find trunk tubing with one product line and glycol lines, but this might be what you're looking for now:

http://www.micromatic.com/draft-keg-beer/glycol-pid-CDI232.html

It says the outer diameter is 2-1/4"...so that might fit in the bottom hole that you see. You would then strip the trunk at the top to be able to attach the lines to the tube/pipes. You would then need to get a glycol system for those cooling lines. If your tower is large enough, another option might be just to drill a larger hole in the bottom to be able to get cold air blown up into the tower: a kegerator is a relatively small space and I don't have any problems keeping my beer lines cool with air. When I first set up my kegerator, I was contemplating installing a computer fan to be able to blow air up into the tower....but I've found my hole is large enough to keep the lines cool.