Commercial Kegerator Repair

[kurais]

I have an offer to purchase a two door commercial kegerator on the cheap, however it needs compressor work. Could I just rip out the cooling components from a cheap fridge and rig it up? Doesn't have to be pretty on the back side.

 

[outside92129]

what are they asking?

Commercial fridges can be different from house fridges, mine doesn't have coolant lines embedded in the walls but rather a "cooling box" with a fan that blows air around the entire fridge. If the potential fridge is like that, then the best you can do is replace the compressor, which also means recharging the system ($50-$300) since you'll be cutting the lines.

 

[kurais]

Supposedly the commercial kegerator only cools to about 5 degrees below ambient temp. I wad going to have repair guy take a look at it and if it was to costly was wondering if I could somehow take the working cooling system from my old kenmore kegerator and put it on the commercial kegerator. The kenmore had all external parts except for the cooling plate.

 

[outside92129]

post some pics of the commercial kegerator, inside and out?

 

[thumpersk_a]

If it doesnt cool as you have stated. It more than likely has a leak. Its not necessarily the compressor. It could be the condenser, evaporator, or something as simple as the system service valve leaking at the stem. A way to possibly see a refrigeration leak is look for oily places on the tubing. Most of the time leaks will be on threaded joints, valves and the coils. If the leak is really small you will need a professional to use a sniffer to find it and repair it, or possibly use a leak detector solution or soapy water. You probably wont want to start cutting parts from other cooling systems and piecing them together or mixing incompatible refrigerants. If you have a buddy in the hvacr business or you know how to silver solder and have a vaccuum pump and gauge set it might be worth experimenting. But it will cost you alot to have a shop piece this together. If i am understanding you correctly you are talking about cutting open a system and piecing it together and recharging it.