Nostalgia Kegerator Dress Up

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BigTerp

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A month or so ago I converted a Nostalgia KRS2150, that was used and given to me, into a 2-tap system. SWMBO let me put it in the kitchen since the stainless matched our other appliances, SCORE!! But she didn't like the couple of dents that were on the door. They did make it look kind of rough. So I finally got around to getting some magnets to display my cap collection and a flexible magnetic chalk board to help cover up the dings in the door. SWMBO likes it, so that's all the matters.

Ignore the Northern Brown misspelling. A few beers were drank during the process....:tank:

IMG_20150917_191859_zpsxrzdutkh.jpg
 
I have the same kegerator and have been racking my head over converting it to a dual tap etc. How'd you guage where to drill the second hole and how much room do you have in the tower after the install? I run a tower cooler in mine and can't see much room being left over. My second option would be to just buy a 3" dual tower and drill through the top, carefully as to not hit the cooling plate ha! Damn 2.5" towers! Nice job on the cover up btw!
 
Thanks.

As far as gauging where to drill the holes, I had a spare 2.5" tower from an older Nostalgia kegerator and played around with it to see how I could get things to fit. What seemed to work best, for me at least, was to drill my second hole 45 degrees to either side and about 1/4" lower. It is a rather tight fit, but it works flawlessly. I would definitely error on the side of a bit lower with your second hole. I don't think mine would fit if I drilled it at the same level as my first hole.

Here is how mine is setup.

I used the stainless tower shanks from keg connection. Not sure how others compare as far as size goes. I bored out a 4" foam roller to fit snugly into the 2.5" tower for insulation. I then bored that out with a 3/4" piece of copper pipe for my lines to run through. The foam and copper go all the way up to the shank ends (not like in the picture where they are lower). I stuffed the top with some more closed cell foam from the foam roller. No issues with foamy first pours. Seems to keep my lines perfectly chilled.
IMG_20150801_221233_zpsfqv2pn3u.jpg

IMG_20150801_221253_zpsairulgih.jpg


Here is how the inside is organized. A pretty tight fit with two ball locks and 5# tank, but it works fine. Even have some room up front for a few bottles/cans. The dual body regulator made things even tighter, but I was able to orient it to make things fit nicely. There is also an 80mm computer fan sitting on the hump to keep air moving and the rest of the copper pipe.
IMG_20150802_003854_zpsypirlili.jpg


At first I thought the 80mm computer fan wasn't putting out enough air to keep things circulated, but it works great. It's wired to a cell phone charger with a max output of 9.5V. So the 12V computer fan is running at about 75%. I keep it on 24/7. So if your concerned about your tower cooler choking out any available room in your tower for another tap/line, you could go the copper pipe route to keep it cool. Also the ATP beer line from Amazon has a smaller OD compared to "regular" beer line. It makes it easier to get 2 lines to fit in the tower. Haven't had zero issues with that beer line after 4 or 5 kegs have ran through it. My buddy has run the same line on his 6 tap keezer for a few years with no problems either.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00E6BCXQ8/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20
 
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Outstanding pics and info. Thanks a ton! I'm going to attempt to mirror your set up this weekend. How's your fan mounted? Is it just sitting on the hump? I tried routing the power wires through the drain hole initially, but couldn't guide them through all the way. I ended up drilling through the side, which ticked me off cause I was shooting for a cleaner install for the tower cooler. Great find on the amazon beer line. Any space saving tips or tricks will come in handy with this set up I'm sure. Question, why did you run the copper pipe all the way to the hump? I'll assume it was done in order to draw cooler(er) air upwards the tower? Your actual beer lines exit via the original location still, correct (bottom of the tower)?? The pic looks a bit decieving ha.
 
No problem.

I had some 1" x 1" aluminum angle handy that I made legs to attach to the fan. You can sort of see them in the picture. This was just to get the fan up off the hump for better circulation. But it's not permanently mounted to the fridge in any way, It's just sitting on the hump directly under the bottom of the tower. It was a bit of a hassle, but I managed to run the cut end of my cell phone charger through the drain hole in the back and then soldered and shrink wrapped my connections to the fan. When it dies I'll have to snip the wires to get it out. I got the fan off of Ebay for just a few bucks.

I ran the copper pipe all the way to the hump for 2 reasons. #1 I figured the more surface area in the fridge the better the pipe will act as a heat sink. Not sure if it makes much of a difference or not since others only have an inch or two sticking down into their fridge with good results. But, like I said, I haven't had any of the dreaded first pours of foam from a warm tower issues at all. #2 is I didn't have to permanently attach my pipe together. The friction of my foam in my tower keeps the piece of pipe in the tower very snugly. And then the friction of the rest of the pipe running along the top and down the side keeps the rest of it together. Another words, the whole setup is friction fit. Haven't had it come apart the many times I've been moving kegs around and in/out of the kegerator. And it's easy to disassemble if needed.

My beer lines go up into the tower through the T-fitting of the copper pipe. And then run inside the length of the pipe that's in the tower all the up to within about and inch of the shanks. I used 3/4" ID copper pipe, IIRC, which fits two pieces of the beer line I linked from Amazon without a problem. But does not fit regular thick walled beer line, too tight of a fit.

I used a little under 11' of line per faucet. I used this calculator to figure out what I needed, and it works well. http://www.mikesoltys.com/2012/09/17/determining-proper-hose-length-for-your-kegerator/ The majority of my beer I serve at about 11.5 psi with a temperature of 38 degrees. That's about 2.5 volumes of CO2. Pours great with that setup. I have a Northern Brown in there now set at 6 psi for 2 volumes of CO2. Just pours slower at the lower psi.

If I think of anything else I'll let you know. Sorry for the lengthy response. I know the information I found on here was invaluable when I was getting my setup worked out. Figured I'd share as much as I could with you. Good luck!!!
 
Lookin good! How long have you had your kegerator? I have the same one and I've been having trouble with ice building up between the back plate and the copper tubing, and I even have a small dehumidifier in there. I'm wondering if a fan would help
 
Not sure how hold it is, it was given to me used. I've had it up and running for about 2 months. I haven't had any issues with ice buildup so far. I also run a rechargeable dehumidifier in mine as well.
 
No problem.

I had some 1" x 1" aluminum angle handy that I made legs to attach to the fan. You can sort of see them in the picture. This was just to get the fan up off the hump for better circulation. But it's not permanently mounted to the fridge in any way, It's just sitting on the hump directly under the bottom of the tower. It was a bit of a hassle, but I managed to run the cut end of my cell phone charger through the drain hole in the back and then soldered and shrink wrapped my connections to the fan. When it dies I'll have to snip the wires to get it out. I got the fan off of Ebay for just a few bucks.

I ran the copper pipe all the way to the hump for 2 reasons. #1 I figured the more surface area in the fridge the better the pipe will act as a heat sink. Not sure if it makes much of a difference or not since others only have an inch or two sticking down into their fridge with good results. But, like I said, I haven't had any of the dreaded first pours of foam from a warm tower issues at all. #2 is I didn't have to permanently attach my pipe together. The friction of my foam in my tower keeps the piece of pipe in the tower very snugly. And then the friction of the rest of the pipe running along the top and down the side keeps the rest of it together. Another words, the whole setup is friction fit. Haven't had it come apart the many times I've been moving kegs around and in/out of the kegerator. And it's easy to disassemble if needed.

My beer lines go up into the tower through the T-fitting of the copper pipe. And then run inside the length of the pipe that's in the tower all the up to within about and inch of the shanks. I used 3/4" ID copper pipe, IIRC, which fits two pieces of the beer line I linked from Amazon without a problem. But does not fit regular thick walled beer line, too tight of a fit.

I used a little under 11' of line per faucet. I used this calculator to figure out what I needed, and it works well. http://www.mikesoltys.com/2012/09/17/determining-proper-hose-length-for-your-kegerator/ The majority of my beer I serve at about 11.5 psi with a temperature of 38 degrees. That's about 2.5 volumes of CO2. Pours great with that setup. I have a Northern Brown in there now set at 6 psi for 2 volumes of CO2. Just pours slower at the lower psi.

If I think of anything else I'll let you know. Sorry for the lengthy response. I know the information I found on here was invaluable when I was getting my setup worked out. Figured I'd share as much as I could with you. Good luck!!!


Outstanding stuff man! Much appreciated! What did you use to cut the whole for the new shank assembly?
 
Ahhhhh. Forgot to mention how much of a PITA cutting that hole was!!! The older tower I had cut without issue. The one on my kegerator must be stainless because it completely tore through a bi-metal hole saw. Not sure if you'll have the same issue or not, but it sucked. The hole saw eventually chewed its way through though.
 
Appreciate all your help BigTerp. Went to order the ATP line and Amazon has it shipping within 1-4 months.....??? Did it take you that long to receive your line?
 
Not a problem.

My buddy gave me a bunch that he had left over, so I didn't need to order any. It's Prime, so I would think even if you don't have a Prime account you would get it within a week. Do you have a Prime account? If not, I suggest signing up for a free trial and you'll have it shipped to your door for free in 2 days. I did the free trial earlier this summer for some stuff I needed to get ASAP, and it was painless. Just make sure you cancel before the free trial is up so you don't get charged the $99 for a Prime account.
 
Not a problem.

My buddy gave me a bunch that he had left over, so I didn't need to order any. It's Prime, so I would think even if you don't have a Prime account you would get it within a week. Do you have a Prime account? If not, I suggest signing up for a free trial and you'll have it shipped to your door for free in 2 days. I did the free trial earlier this summer for some stuff I needed to get ASAP, and it was painless. Just make sure you cancel before the free trial is up so you don't get charged the $99 for a Prime account.

Got ya :mug:
 
So, to keep you and others in the loop, Amazon is ridiculous! Or at least they are when it comes to explaining procedures and protocols etc. I signed up for Pime (free trial), in order to get some of the ATP line you recommended. On the product's page, it states that if in stock, it'll ship "prime", yet directly under that, it states "this product will ship in 1-4 months"!!! In order to get a better understanding, I decided to call. Long story short, they confirmed that the product was in stock, physically, but that it would take 1-4 months for them to ship it wth :confused: :confused: . I told the rep that that was the equivalent of the grocery store having 2% milk on their shelves, yet telling me that I can't purchase it til a month from now lol! Either way, I'm now on a quest for said line with said dimensions. I've found a few, but none that have the same specs. The closest thing to it is this...

http://www.usplastic.com/catalog/item.aspx?itemid=114705&catid=571

Unfortunatly, it's only sold in 100' rolls.
 
That blows!! Sorry. Hopefully you get it figured out. I would call back and see if you can get your Prime trial cancelled, but still be able to sign back up for a free trial in the future. Why they would list something as Prime and advertise a Prime account as having free 2-day shipping on Prime items and then do something like this to you is beyond me.
 
Yea, ridiculous. Good thing is, US Plastics just contacted me back and their line is not only the exact specs, it's actually better. The only thing is that they won't sell me anything under a 100'. Such is life, $44 and headed my way! If you or anybody else need some, let me know. I'll send some your way. Thanks for everything Terp!
 
Ahhhhh. Forgot to mention how much of a PITA cutting that hole was!!! The older tower I had cut without issue. The one on my kegerator must be stainless because it completely tore through a bi-metal hole saw. Not sure if you'll have the same issue or not, but it sucked. The hole saw eventually chewed its way through though.


What size hole saw did you use and how did you deterne the 45 degree angle?
 
I used a 1" hole saw. It ended up being a bit of a loose fit for the shank, but it works fine. The shank "flange" covers the hole entirely. Keg Connection sells a 15/16" hole saw, and I bet that would be a little better fit. But, like I said, the 1" hole saw works fine. And it actually might have made it a bit easier getting the tailpieces to fit with that little extra wiggle room.

I mistakenly said 45 degrees, sorry!!! Glad you caught that before you drilled your tower!!! It's actually 90 degrees. Should be pretty easy to figure out that angle. And what I did when I re-installed my tower was unscrew the tower itself from the fitting that locks into the top of the fridge and rotate it so the screw holes in the tower line up with the next screw hole in the fitting (either left or right depending on which side you drilled your new hole). So if your looking at your tower from directly above and you have screw holes at 12, 3, 6, and 9 o'clock and you drilled your new shank hole on the right side of your tower, you would rotate the tower clock wise one hole to line up with the next hole on the fitting.So the 12 o'clock hole on the tower now lines up the the 3 o'clock hole on the fitting and the 3 with the 6 and so on. This way when you lock the tower and fitting back onto the fridge your faucets with be spaced perfectly with the empty space in between them centered to the front of the kegerator.

Does that make sense? I'm sure there is a better way to describe it, but it's been a LONG day and that weird explanation was the best I could muster for you. If it's confusing let me know and I'll try to explain it better.
 
Well, I thought I understood, apparently I'm missing something ha! I disassembled everything, but can't figure out how to remove the tower mount that the actual tower screws onto. It's the ring/mount that's pressed into the fridge with the 4 helicoils for the 4 screws to mount the tower. I figured if I could remove it and re clock the mount by a quarter turn or so, it'll set the mounting points at 12, 3, 6, and 9 etc. But I can't seem to figure out how to remove it. Did you punch it out from inside the fridge or something?
 
I have the same kegerator and added a two tap tower without drilling any holes or enlarging the existing hole. The existing hole is big enough for the two hoses. I just put the new tower over the hole and attached it to the top of the kegerator by using 4 wood screws. The drip tray covers up the two front holes.

Oops. Just saw that you were talking about drilling a hole in the tower itself for a second tap. I just bought a new tower. Good luck.
 
My tower was held onto the tower mount by 4 screws. Can't you just unscrew the tower itself from the mount?

Mine is the same. For some reason I thought you had unscrewed the tower from the mount, then somehow figured out a way to clock the mount (with the 4 helicoils in it) by 15 degrees so to speak in order to obtain the screw (new position) positions in the 12, 3, 6 and 9 positions. I'm probably nuking this a bit. Right now my mount had screw positions at 2, 4, 8 and 10 ish so to speak lol. If I were to leave those mount positions as such and just clock the tower itself them I don't see how I'd obtain the desired position of the taps. As you have them in your picture. One would be facing left and the new one would be centered. Make sense?! I've been working on this thing for 2 days now...maybe it's my OCD lol. I can't be that difficult.
 
What I did was leave the mount installed the way it is. When I reinstalled the tower itself I rotated it by one screw hole clockwise since my new tap is 90 degrees to the right of the original (the tower not the mount is what is rotated). This should put your taps like in my picture.
 
Huge thanks to BigTerp for helping out with this project. I did a few things differently, but all in all, I couldn't be happier with the result. At some point, I'll have to update the fan I got for recirculating, it barley pushes enough air around and towards the copper pipping to make a difference. Now I sit and wait, as a honey oatmeal stout ferments! OG 1.074!!




















 
Nice!!! That extra tap will sure come in handy.

FWIW, I have an 80mm computer fan in mine. It feels like it barely pushes any air, and after I first hooked it up I thought I made the mistake of not buying a big enough fan. But it does perfectly fine keeping the air circulated within the fridge. I have it directly under where my copper pipe enters the fridge. Not sure if it helps keep the lines cool, but I have zero issues with foamy first pours or anything related to warm lines.

Nice work man!!!
 
Nice!!! That extra tap will sure come in handy.

FWIW, I have an 80mm computer fan in mine. It feels like it barely pushes any air, and after I first hooked it up I thought I made the mistake of not buying a big enough fan. But it does perfectly fine keeping the air circulated within the fridge. I have it directly under where my copper pipe enters the fridge. Not sure if it helps keep the lines cool, but I have zero issues with foamy first pours or anything related to warm lines.

Nice work man!!!

Thanks man! I ended up upgrading to an 80mm myself last night. I got it in the same location as you do. Made some foam feet about 2-3" tall for it and sat it right under my copper pipe as well. It's a lot quieter than the 40mm I replaced it with. At the highest rpm setting I can't even hear it with the door closed! I ended up using reg beer line in mine which made things a bit tight in my pipe. Cleared that issue up by applying a thin coat of keg grease to the portion of line that ran through the copper lol! Can't wait to try it all out. The only other mod I might eventually do is a digi temp controller. Although I believe it would not be too beneficial seeing as this model kegerator lacks an auto defrost mode as well as the capable to maintain cooler serving temps ( to my liking anyways). Coldest brew temp I've gotten out of mine was 37f. Adding a controller and setting it to anything lower would more than likely burn the compressor up, or lead to an iced plate every time etc. Did I mention that mine can be pretty loud at times when it cycles?! Other times, quiet as a mouse. Happy about everything overall!
 
Sounds good. And great idea on the keg lube!!

Based on the output of my cell phone charger and the capacity of my fan, I think it runs at like 75% and makes zero noise. Seems to work well though.

I did the thermostat adjustment to mine by adjusting the gross screw on the thermostat by removing the cover. At first I only turned it like a quarter turn. Only got the fridge down to somewhere in the mid forties. I then turned it a full turn and it froze a cup of water. After a final adjustment it sits nicely at 38-40 degrees. Beer pours at right around 40.

I, so far, haven't had any issues with the cold plate icing up. I do keep one of those mini dehumidifiers hanging on the inside of the door. It needs recharged about every 2 weeks. I'm guessing that keeps the moisture down in the fridge which, I think, is what leads to ice up.

My compressor seemed fairly noisy at first, but I don't notice it now. May be that I got used to it. But it sits at the threshold of my kitchen and living room and my recliner is close to it (ALMOST close enough to get a beer without getting up) and it doesn't bother me while watching TV. More importantly, it doesn't bother my wife. When I first had it setup and running I timed the compressor on time to be about 12 minutes with an off time of 25-30 minutes. That seems like a good cycle time, but I really don't know.
 
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