Going price for used kegerators?

[matt_m]

Curious what people are paying for used mini-fridge style kegerators? I see a lot of them listed in the 4-500 range on Facebook Marketplace here. Many for weeks. The quantity and time lead me to believe if/when they sell they are going significantly lower than that and am thinking it might be a good way to add another 2 taps.

 

[Carolina_Matt]

I think it will vary greatly, depending on whether someone is just trying to get rid of it asap or if they're looking for top dollar. I bought a 2-tap Danby kegerator last July for $135 on Nextdoor. It came with a fan to blow cold air up the tap, but it didn't come with the taps. It fits 3 kegs, so I spent about $150 for a 3-tap Intertap tower with duotight fittings. After selling the original tower on craigslist, I wound up just over $250 all-in.

 

[matt_m]

Thanks. I'm definitely trolling for a deal since I don't NEED one. Good point on the extras. I'd might want better taps though I also have thought that if I do this it could be used for my nitro tap and hard seltzer.

 

[jrgtr42]

I've been watching on Craigslist and Marketplace, and built up keezers rarely come up for under a few hundred bucks. |Chest freezers and mini-fridges aren't much less than their new prices. I don't know if that's just my area or what, but I see people commenting around here about finding folks almost giving them away.
|I'm wondering later as the virus winds down and peeople go back to normal (whatever that is...) if chest freezers and small fridges will be flooding the market - the stores couldn't keep them in stock last year.

 

[matt_m]

They are advertised between $300-515 here. Both of those have been listed for 2 weeks, hard to say how many times they've been relisted.

 

[ATLBeer]

I paid just under 500 for a fairly new 3 tap kegco with ss perlicks, 3 kegs and an extra co2 tank from CL.
a little more than I wanted to spend, but used saved hundreds and everything is working great.

 

[Nate R]

@matt_m any reason you want a kegerator over a keezer?
I only ask because i sold my kegerator and made an upright keezer.
I personally hate the towers... without a glycol line, the first pour of the day is heavy with foam.
With an upright fridge or freezer, the stainkess shanks are right into the door, so no foam on the first pour.
Also, there are great deals on upright's too...
Just a thought.
If space is an issue, than that's that.

 

[matt_m]

Appearance mainly. I have a nice keezer built into my bar area but most are white and wouldn't meet with approval where I would want to put it. A typical mini-fridge style unit with a dual tower would get easy approval.

 

[Nate R]

Yup- i get that. I had a Danby style also. Paid like $550 but it came with (very cheap quality!) Tower, taps, faucets.

My opinion... you get what you pay for on these. The models i want are like $2k but have solid referigeration, better tower cooling forced air, etc...

 

[matt_m]

Yeah wouldn't buy one new. But if I can get one cheap, maybe?

 

[Nate R]

Yeah wouldn't buy one new. But if I can get one cheap, maybe?

I sold my whole setup with upgraded tubing, perlick flow controls, 5# co2... all of it for $200... but that was too a friend.

However... i bet you can find a good setup for $200 or so... craigslist and facebook marketplace

Good luck!

 

[rockdoctor]

Would you be willing to put in a little elbow grease? If so you can build your own kegerator out of a mini fridge for as little as $160. I bought a used Danby 4.4 cu mini fridge for $40, two Perlick 425 SS taps with shanks for $45 each, and a 5lb CO2 tank for $20 all on Facebook marketplace. Took me only a few minutes to drill two holes in the door and install the taps, but took me a little longer to drill a hole for the CO2 line via the drainage hole only because I didn’t have the right tools for it. Lines and clamps cost me about $10-$15 from the LHBS, and I put the whole thing on a $10 table from IKEA so I don’t have to bend down to pour a beer. I have 2 2.5 gallon kegs in the picture, but I know these do fit 2 5 gallon kegs if you cut the hump on the bottom.

 

[matt_m]

I wouldn't be opposed to a project but the height of that or a keezer would be an issue so I need to go with something with a tower (the tower sticking up won't be a problem.) For a project, I'm probably looking for something that started off life as a kegerator. If I need to convert a junk single tower to a multi-tap tower and rebuild the rest of the gas and liquid system I'm fine with that if the overall price works out. My keezer that's behind the bar I have set up nicely with Perlick flow control faucets mounted in dual 2-tap towers and secondary regulators for each of the 4 kegs so I probably won't want to lose those features on a second unit.

 

[Dr_Jeff]

With COVID things have changed.

But I have been able to find commercial kegerators, BeverageAir and True for 75-250, some have worked great, needed no repairs, others have needed minimal repair, a thermostat or a fan, sometimes a door seal, but all those parts are cheap and easily replaced. Often times they would come with a single faucet tower which I would replace with a triple faucet tower and add a gas manifold. Usually I would have more in the upgrades than the original price of the unit. Several time I had to drive an hour or two in each direction, but big deal a Saturday afternoon drive to get it was worth it to me. Occasionally I would get enough extras, empty keg shells and CO2 bottles, that I sold the extras and had nothing in the kegerator itself. They can be found, one has to be patient and diligent and watch for them. For a while I had an app on my phone that watched Craigslist and would notify me if anything in one of the search terms was a hit. Currently I have three smaller units with triple faucet towers and a larger box with two triple towers and a single tower with a nitro faucet. I had two smaller units BM-23 that I sold when I bought the big box, then would run across another deal and pick it up too.

Good luck.

 

[matt_m]

I just committed to buy a Kegland unit that's fairly new, rated for commercial use (though its no True) and already has Intertap faucets. It'll hold 3 kegs but only shipped with a dual tower so I can upgrade at some point, maybe an excuse to do the custom tower I didn't have time for before. I paid $400, probably a little high appears to be a good step up from an Danby or Insignia and the forward sealing taps.

 

[Dr_Jeff]

Congrats on locating a suitable unit.

 

[Carolina_Matt]

FYI, you can buy something like this if you want to add a tap without buying a brand new tower.

https://shop.greatfermentations.com/product/3in-single-faucet-tower-extension/kegging-towers

 

[matt_m]

I've seen those and wondered how well they work. Ideally I'd love to get a T tower.

 

[matt_m]

Here's what I ended up with. I already redid the liquid lines, added my tap handles that fit our basement theme, and found a deal on a round 3-tap tower that should be here Wednesday. I need some hardware and a secondary regulator to hook the gas up to my existing 20lb tank. Really the only minor appearance issue is a big scratch on the side--of course the side that is most visible but its doesn't stand out too much. One nice surprise is the built in tower cooler that works far better than the one I made for my kegerator--need to rethink that.

 

[Dr_Jeff]

Nice looking unit, congrats again.