Is this a good find?

[mmb]

I say take it and use it its free and some cleaning and some paint it would be nice resto frige. On a side note anyone know what type of tap is in the OP's picture I picked up a box of taps and there are 3 or 4 just like this.

It's a Hoff-Stevens Keg Coupler. That used to be a popular tap but pretty much everyone has moved to the US Sanke tap. There are a few places still using it but it is really uncommon now.

 

[conpewter]

I think that is awesome, as mentioned it may pull some juice, but if you are in the dorms you often don't pay an electric bill...

I think it could clean up nice as well, bare minimum give it a cleaning, new co2 and beer line, take the faucet apart and clean it then put it all together.

Since it will already fit kegs I wouldn't try to bend the cooling fin/shelf part since you might ruin the whole fridge if it tears open any.

 

[MrNate]

Since it will already fit kegs I wouldn't try to bend the cooling fin/shelf part since you might ruin the whole fridge if it tears open any.

I agree. Why risk it if there's no reason?

As for paint - definitely clean this thing up and paint it somehow. It'll look 1,000x better. Not just better than it did, but better than any of today's generic boxes o' beer. You have a real diamond in the rough there.

I recommend against the chalkboard paint unless you really, really, really want to write on it with chalk. It is going to be a PITA to work with on a piece like that, and you're going to spend a lot of time dealing with runs.

Rattlecan it, and take your time... do your prep work, thin coats, even stroke, etc. The appliance paint someone mentioned earlier really does work well if you want a hard, glossy finish. Best gloss out of any rattlecan I've ever seen. Comes in black or white.

But I still say flat black will get you back. Put a nice Rat Fink on it or something. Whatever you do, I can't wait to see it when you finish! Pics are required.

 

[springer]

Am I the only one that lost my lunch looking at that thing? I wouldn't use that for any reason, let alone beer. It belongs in the dump! Throw it away!

you have no vision!

.

I would do something along these lines if it were mine since I do paint work as a hobby

 

[The Pale Horse]

I would do something along these lines if it were mine since I do paint work as a hobby

Too bad you're in New York , any closer and I would clean it up and drive it over to let you go to town on it

 

[ChrisS68]

It's a Hoff-Stevens Keg Coupler. That used to be a popular tap but pretty much everyone has moved to the US Sanke tap. There are a few places still using it but it is really uncommon now.

Went through many-a-keg like that back in the day; mostly Old Style, who were probably the last hold-outs to use that style.
Took a real man to haul them things. then they came out with the girly kegs with the carry handles.
:fro:

 

[MoRoToRiUm]

I used a 'Bisquit' (Tan/off white) appliance spray paint on my old oven (rent, was tired of the dark puke green). As MrNate said, prep, and a good area with thin coats, works great and is really resistant to most anything.

As far as pulling juice, if it does, I ALWAYS see large size fridges on craigslist for under $50... Depending how much you feel like hassling with freon/refrigerant lines, could always get one and swap the compressor (depends on how much it draws etc etc if it's worth all that hassle).

Still, I LOVE it. I don't think it would fit in my jeep wrangler though (or my apartment; gosh darn it)...

 

[jcdillin]

holy monkey that is the coolest fridge i've seen in a long time, i'd gladly pay the electricity just to have something that amazing. Get out the simple green and go to town on it.

 

[Dpostman]

I've heard of people around here retrofitting an old style fridge like that one, with a contemporary/modern compressor. I did not get an exact price, but they left me with the impression that it was not all that expensive.

Something to think about for the future, or when the compressor on yours konks out

dp

 

[The Pale Horse]

I've heard of people around here retrofitting an old style fridge like that one, with a contemporary/modern compressor. I did not get an exact price, but they left me with the impression that it was not all that expensive.

Something to think about for the future, or when the compressor on yours konks out

dp

Thanks, I'll keep that in mind after I get the first few electricity bills

 

[King of Cascade]

I can't imagine that fridge has the original compressor. If it does the Freon probably has been changed from R12

 

[springer]

I can't imagine that fridge has the original compressor. If it does the Freon probably has been changed from R12

Why would you say that? These systems were much more durable than auto and very rarely leak. When bought my house in 1990 there was a 35 year old refrigerator in the kitchen that worked like new. Was the kind you would push a button and you could turn the whole shelf like a lazy Susan. My Uncle still has a 50's vintage Pepsi bottle vending machine that was in his car dealership that still stays cold that has never recharged or repaired he bought it new.

R-12 is still used commercially but is very expensive like 700 $ for a 30lbs tank. All you need is a 608/609 certification which every HVAC/Auto dealer/body shop repair shop has. I purchase two 30lbs at like 40 bucks each before it was fazed out in the auto industry couple of my cars use it for the A/C and have only used maybe 5 lbs.

 

[King of Cascade]

Why would you say that? These systems were much more durable than auto and very rarely leak. When bought my house in 1990 there was a 35 year old refrigerator in the kitchen that worked like new. Was the kind you would push a button and you could turn the whole shelf like a lazy Susan. My Uncle still has a 50's vintage Pepsi bottle vending machine that was in his car dealership that still stays cold that has never recharged or repaired he bought it new.

R-12 is still used commercially but is very expensive like 700 $ for a 30lbs tank. All you need is a 608/609 certification which every HVAC/Auto dealer/body shop repair shop has. I purchase two 30lbs at like 40 bucks each before it was fazed out in the auto industry couple of my cars use it for the A/C and have only used maybe 5 lbs.

No doubt by the looks of that thing it was built tuff. I had a fridge that was old but not that old go out because the lines rusted out.

 

[Pete08]

I'd run it for a while to see how much it'll cost you. My dad had a freezer similar to that one and once it died, his electric bill dropped $40 the next month. Those older rigs draw some juice. Other than that, with a lil TLC that'll be sweet!

Do keep something in mind; this will not be used as a normal fridge if you keep kegs in it. Simply said, if it is a kegerator, you will seldom open the door=compressor not cycling so much=less energy used. Cold air "falls out" every time a fridge door is open, raising temps, then kicking the compressor on. I can have the lid open on my keezer for several minutes without the compressor kicking on; the cold air stays in the bottom as it should. Try that with a fridge! Just my .02

 

[scinerd3000]

paint some flames on that sucker. Very cool find.

 

[MoRoToRiUm]

So many flamers... I have to find the thread, but I saw an orange painted fridge like this.. BEAUTIFUL (off to search... expect an edit)

<edit>
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f35/show-us-your-kegerator-29053/index49.html

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f35/old-kegerator-72348/

Not the ones I was thinking of, but NO FLAMES and quite unique. I'm happy with my silver/black Sanyo conversion, but if I had that fridge.... so many ideas...

 

[MrNate]

Dangit... Now I want to go and paint my fridge.

 

[Duckfoot]

Reminded me that I needed to get some pics of the future kegerator that I got from my recently deceased grandmother....

Need a fresh coat of paint (spending hours on end at the auto body shop are going to go a long ways with this) and a temp controller and I will be done for now... The Fam isn't too excited about the idea of putting holes in a 'treasured family heirloom'

Door still seals like a submarine door and at the "warmest" setting, it is sitting in the 30*s.... Nothing like crash cooling a pumpkin ale...

 

[Baja_Brewer]

Wow, I picked up a classic fridge that looks a good bit like that one, a little different on the inside. I painted it black with my room mate and ordered taps and stuff...it looks great! one of the taps was defective, so im waiting to get another one from the store and then ill be putting up pics!

Good score! (they look great in a glossy black, IMO)

 

[The Pale Horse]

alright, so I went home this weekend and checked out the kegerator, everything was going good until I decided to go to my LHBS and grab a used keg to size everything up, and this is what we ran into.....

sooo, I am wondering if I can alter this "freezer" thing???

it looks like the left side and bottom is the actual cooling unit and the right and middle can be cut off or something, but then again, I don't know much about refrigerators, so this is my update for now, hopefully I can figure something out, because I am kind of attached to this thing now

(ps, do you like that spider in the last pic? hahahaha)

 

[The Pale Horse]

on the positive side, this is my work in progress that I was working on before the other one fell into my lap, someone in the dorms was throwing it out because the door hinge on the bottom is faulty, so I brought it home, cleaned it up, painted the door with chalkboard (was that brushed steel look), and now I am just waiting for some money to order the parts

 

[bad coffee]

+1 for the jamesons bottles...

 

[MoRoToRiUm]

Back to the original posters last post...

I'm sure you can figure something out (necessity is the mother of invention). It's hard to tell in pictures; It looks like it's mostly mounted and fed at the top, but it looks like a secondary line going in on the left front and back? It looks like you could undo those screws on the side and eliminate the shelf bracket in the center, but I am concerned that is a freon in/out.

Is there enough clearance if you were able to gently bend the lower shelf flat? I had a dorm fridge that I had bent the cold plate for the freezer to the top (Friend uses this now with picnic taps). They're normally pretty darn mailable, but then again, that's probably American made back when they did it right. Might be a little harder to do...

 

[Skins_Brew]

Man, nice man cave! I saw a similar fridge on CL that was restored for $1500.