Is this a good find?

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The Pale Horse

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Ok, so I am at school and have been trying to build a kegerator out of an old dorm fridge, but as most of you know, money is tight when you are in college.......so I get this call from my dad saying he pick up a kegerator for free!!!! The people said it had been in their garage for 4 years and hasn't been touched.

He sent me some pics and says he plugged it in and it works, but I don't have a clue on what I need to do to get this ready to go, or if it will even be ready to go. So any help or advice will be appreciated. thanks everyone

DavidsKeg-1.jpg


DavidsKeg-2.jpg


DavidsKeg-4.jpg


DavidsKeg-3.jpg



hey, at least it runs
 
damn! I don't know if it would be worth it for you, but I would love to get a cool old fridge like that and rebuild it and fix it up. Those units have style out the wazoo
 
Cleaned up with some nice paint and clearcoat it would look awesome! Then, just never open it.

I love how they used to style fridges like cars back then.
 
Dude. That thing is awesome. If you say it runs, clean that bad boy up. With a little more work, you may be able to hook up multiple taps.
 
I mean, I am going to at least clean it up and make it nice looking, but how do I go about making it work for my kegging purposes? Replace the lines? Is that possible? what else?
 
It would look great cleaned up and running, but now the downside....How much does it cost to run a big old appliance like that?
 
Well, you might lose some money in operation, but you could def spend some time cleaning and painting, and yes, you can replace the lines. You can do what you want!
 
thats too awesome......im thinking a cherry red high gloss with some chrome addition make that baby a hot rod of a kegerator!
 
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.
DavidsKeg-6.jpg
 
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.

Yeah I am kinda wondering the same thing
 
I agree...it's free! Clean it up, run a new CO2 line, a new beer line and a quality faucet (keep the handle, though!) and you'll be in business! See how many kegs you can fit in there; you might be able to add a few more taps if the extra kegs fit.
 
I'm really excited to go home this weekend and check it out lol I'll start cleaning it and post some pictures after I get it cleaned up.

Is that all I need to do, new CO2 line, new beer line? what about anything else?
 
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!
 
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!:drunk:

I'm really excited to go home this weekend and check it out lol I'll start cleaning it and post some pictures after I get it cleaned up.

Is that all I need to do, new CO2 line, new beer line? what about anything else?

I would try an take out all of the shelving and shelf hardware, that will clear up room. then, i would consider bending the cooling unit on top so that it took up less space. I would also replace the seal around the door, chances are it is cracked and won't seal the fridge very well. this is all on top of general clean up.

as for kegging equipment, you will want a new tap and shank (that one is probably far beyond repair), new gas and beer lines. Replace all the hardware where the gas enters the fridge on the left hand side.

you could also install some more taps, because just guessing from the pictures, if you took out all the extra hardware in there you should be able to fit ~3 cornies.
 
Thats an older style of tap - yuengling used to use them, the top was threaded and you screwed it on. haven't seen anyone use one if 5 -6 years at least though
 
I love the retro look of the kegerator. It reminds me of those big silver RVs with similar curves.

+1! Bleach/some scrubbing... I'd take off the chrome and find some appliance paint (Lowes and them have spray paint appliance paint) and refurb that bad boy.

I can picture the shiny chrome, curves, and fresh paint now; classy.
 
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!
 
I think it is cool as hech - of course, I restore antique tractors for a hobby as well. I just appreciate taking something that is considered junk, and fixing it up to a usable item rather than scrapping it.

On the practical side - it is FREE, it is COOL looking, it can be a great CONVERSATION PIECE, and would take very little MONEY to get it to suit your needs (even without restoring it). It is a no-brainer to me - get it!

But - post pics back when you get it cleaned up.

Dan
 
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.

hoff-stevens-keg.gif
 
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.
 
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.
 
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.

hoff-stevens-keg.gif


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:
 
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)...
 
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.
 
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 :tank:

dp
 
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 :tank:

dp

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