Pretty sweet kegerator score

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nostalgia

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I've been keeping my eye out on Craigslist for a lowboy fridge to incorporate into my home bar. Today a Beverage-Air DD68 popped up in my feed.

Two hours' driving and $450 later, and this bad boy was in my house. It's missing the towers and needs a good cleaning, but it runs cold, so I think I got a decent deal.

Looking forward to getting it put together. A blacksmith friend of mine is going to work with my for a U-tower design :rockin:

bevair1.jpg


bevair2.jpg


bevair3.jpg


bevair4.jpg


-Joe
 
Nice. I also scored one of these, coincidently for the same price.

kegerator.jpg


The doors are off for painting. I am replacing the evap fan. While mine also had a bit of rust damage, the inside of the cabinet was clean. I hammered and ripped out the rust damage and Bondo'd the hell out of it. After a lot of bondo, sanding, painting, and SS polishing, it's turning out pretty good.

Oh, and ignore the Busch and Bud Dry (people really drank that?!) tap handles.
 
Thanks Nurmey. I checked there first and they do have a manual and spec sheet, but neither lists things like how to get at the drip tray, replacement part numbers, an exploded diagram, etc. They're pretty useless, actually :)

-Joe
 
Thanks, I did check that too - it's just a complete parts list for every appliance they make. It doesn't even tell you what fits what.

I did find a few thirds party sites that list parts by appliance, so that helps a bit at least.

-Joe

Edit: it does appear the model numbers are listed. I had to search for them, since there are only 7 parts in the whole list tagged DD68.
 
Well I tried to help. :p
Seriously, call a restaurant supply shop and they can hook you up. Every time I'm in our restaurant supplier, I am drooling over the nice new one they have on the floor.
 
Thanks Nurmey, I appreciate the effort :)

A few more questions for Bev Air owners. Can you replace the drain lines? If not, any suggestions on cleaning them? These are NASTY.

bevair5.jpg


I assume there should be some kind of drip pan under here? Is that where the drains from the tap's drip trays run?

bevair6.jpg


What should have been attached to these 4 bolt holes?

bevair7.jpg


Thanks,

-Joe
 
This reply may be useless, but....

I don't see any reason why you couldn't replace the drip lines....a hose is a hose, right? Mine was ghetto rigged by the previous owner, so I intend to come up with my own drip line solution.

I do not have a drip tray below my compressor. It is also exposed just like yours. I plan to fabricate some kind of screen to hide it.

No clue about the bolts...
 
Thanks. The line wasn't moving when I yanked on it, so I was concerned it might be foamed into the wall of the cooler. There is a sticker on it that says if the lines get clogged, don't use a wire to unclog it because if you puncture a line you have done "permanent damage" to the unit.

-Joe
 
Result! Partstown has a box in the top right of their website where you can download the service and parts manual. It's got exploded diagrams of everything. That's what I've been looking for!

-Joe
 
Awesome, I have this one:

dd58-b.jpg


Which I obtained for $150 but underwent some damage during the relocation process.... Now I need a place to put it, then I'll get it cleaned up... I already know I can get 12 kegs in it, and I'm pretty sure it'll take a 12 tap U-shaped tower...
 
12?!? The manual for mine says 8. That's a lot of kegs :) I'm going to have to put in some guest taps :D

-Joe

Ah yes, the manual may say that but I took 12 kegs and put them in there :D Just stagger them out all tight next to one another...

I gotta figure out how to fix the damn dent that we put in it... Any input? https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f14/craigslist-score-finally-my-turn-132409/ (just the first post...) after that I'm gonna need to get a tower on, rig up gas lines... its gonna be a project... not to mention prepping 12 types of beer to put on tap!
 
Just for fun....here's more pics with the doors on....

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I didn't think it would clean up this well, but now I think I might be able to justify having it in the house. The pics make it look a bit rougher than it actually is.
 
Nice. I also scored one of these, coincidently for the same price.

kegerator.jpg


The doors are off for painting. I am replacing the evap fan. While mine also had a bit of rust damage, the inside of the cabinet was clean. I hammered and ripped out the rust damage and Bondo'd the hell out of it. After a lot of bondo, sanding, painting, and SS polishing, it's turning out pretty good.

Oh, and ignore the Busch and Bud Dry (people really drank that?!) tap handles.

Sweet man, I picked up one like yours for 400 bucks a little over a year ago. My buddy is a flooring installer and we put duraceramic tile on the top of mine because I didn't like the dents in the stainless up top. I have the same two tower, 4 taps config. I ran a temp a analog temp controller in it and it works great for lagering. Cool to see someone with the same equip. Enjoy your fridges guys :mug:
 
My buddy is a flooring installer and we put duraceramic tile on the top of mine because I didn't like the dents in the stainless up top.

The top of mine is in pretty good condition. There was one sizeable dent that I was able top pop out with a hammer (lucky).
 
And the refurb commences. First I spent a few minutes with Barkeeper's Friend and I could see myself in the floor. Literally 5 minutes' work. The stuff is amazing.

bevair_cleanfloor.jpg


Then I pulled down the evaporator housing to see what was inside. EEEeeewwww.

bevair_evap_beforepaint.jpg


So I shot that with the cold galvanizing paint.

bevair_evap_afterpaint.jpg


As well as the rusted spots over on the left. I was going to do the whole inside, then realized that it's the inside of a refrigerator and I need to be a little less anal-retentive :)

bevair_afterpaint.jpg


-Joe
 
I found out the hard way the thermostat is on the fritz. It's just an on/off switch, right? So I could replace it with a digital temp controller like the Love TS?

Does anyone know how the Love would handle being completely inside the fridge? Because I would want to just put it in place of where the t-stat knob is in this picture:

bevair4.jpg


The only thing I'd be concerned with is condensation, since that's right near the evaporator core.

-Joe
 
Instead of just putting the analog thermostat back in, I decided I wanted an electronic controller. I stole the Love from my fermentation freezer to test it out.

I wired it in using the existing connectors so I wouldn't alter the factory wiring. It's also wired in where the old thermostat was so it only switches the compressor on and off - the interior lamp and tower fan still works even when the controller is off. The wiring goes down through the hole that I believe was supposed to be for fresh water. The final installation will have the controller box mounted in some kind of stainless enclosure where it is.

It works perfectly! The temp matches the thermometer I put inside exactly.

love_bevair1.jpg


love_bevair2.jpg


-Joe
 
**COUGH**80bucks**COUGH**

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But no, really, good score man!
 
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