Kegerator vs. conversion: which is more quiet?

[Crumbscrapings]

Greetings and Happy Thanksgiving to all. While digesting my turkey, I have been continuing my research into kegerators and was pretty sure I was leaning toward this setup from Beermeister:

http://beermeisters.com/product/dua...teel-door-homebrew-value-line-2-kegs-included

I'm fairly new to home brewing and new to kegging so I'm in need of all the equipment and this seemed like a good value. I spoke with one of their reps at GABF this year and Beermeister appears to make a quality product.

I know many on this forum suggest doing your own conversion on a fridge to make your own kegerator because of the lower cost and flexibility. However, my plan was to put this in my kitchen and I wanted something that looked clean and modern I also had concerns about my ability to do the conversion without jacking it up.

However, in doing some additional reading online, one topic that came up that I hadn't considered was noise. There seems to be consensus that a commercial quality kegerator is noisy and the Beermeister was more of an in-home unit, not of commercial quality. Are residential quality kegerators any louder than a converted fridge? If anyone has any direct knowledge on this, I'd appreciate it. Thanks!

 

[Revvy]

I don't know why you would think that a keezer/kegorator would be more noisy than a refrigerator? It's basically the same thing.

I will say that my keezer is more noisy than I want. That's because I added a computer fan in it, and it sounds like an angry bee when It kicks on. BUT that's because I'm using a cheap fan, rather than one of the "whisper quiet" ones that cost a bit more. I used one on another project and you can't hear it at all. I plan on switching it out at some point. But overall a keezer/kegorator shouldn't be noisy at all. All they basically are is a temp controller over riding the thermostat on whatever you're using. My brand new kenmore 7 cubic foot chest freezer converted to an keezer is, except for my fan pretty quiet. If I hadn't wired one in to kick on when the temp controller turned the compressor back on, I wouldn't notice it. It's in my living room, and except for the fan I can't hear anything else. And the extra fan is really optional.

 

[Hammy71]

A residential kegger isn't going to be any more louder than a DIY one. They are both just standard fridges. A commercial model will probably be louder. Larger cooling fans and such.

 

[beaksnbeer]

I don't know why you would think that a keezer/kegorator would be more noisy than a refrigerator? It's basically the same thing.

I will say that my keezer is more noisy than I want. That's because I added a computer fan in it, and it sounds like an angry bee when It kicks on. BUT that's because I'm using a cheap fan, rather than one of the "whisper quiet" ones that cost a bit more. I used one on another project and you can't hear it at all. I plan on switching it out at some point. But overall a keezer/kegorator shouldn't be noisy at all. All they basically are is a temp controller over riding the thermostat on whatever you're using. My brand new kenmore 7 cubic foot chest freezer converted to an keezer is, except for my fan pretty quiet. If I hadn't wired one in to kick on when the temp controller turned the compressor back on, I wouldn't notice it. It's in my living room, and except for the fan I can't hear anything else. And the extra fan is really optional.

Ran a line off of the heat side of my ST-1000 to the fans on my kezzer so they run after the compressor stops cut my compressor run time down by 1/3

 

[Revvy]

Ran a line off of the heat side of my ST-1000 to the fans on my kezzer so they run after the compressor stops cut my compressor run time down by 1/3

Yeah, I'm thinking that when I switch to a quieter fan I'm going to do the same thing. I just didn't want that buzzing sound to be on more than it already is.